A bit of color, a bit of Maddox

This is actually a week old post. I posted it to Multiply and Multiply promised to post it to Blogger. Multiply lies. Anyway, most of the news will be old to just about everybody. But here goes.

Well, what's in bloom? Not much, and what is in bloom is usually so unobtrusive the only thing that notices the flowers is the wind. But there is plenty of color left in Oklahoma right now. We are just starting to think about fall, and not thinking hard since today the high is supposed to be about 75. But I was out running around this weekend and saw some color to show y'all.
Is there any question why I love Chinese pistache? Not only is it one of the most hardy trees for Oklahoma, it can stand being planted right by the street without tearing up sidewalks or dying from the exhaust and it has fall color like this! Absolutely wonderful.
Another favorite, crape myrtle. You get flowers throughout the summer, from white through pinks and reds to purples, fall color like this and when you tree the plant up, such beautiful bark interest in the winter!

And now for one I don't particularly like except in the fall. Bradford pears are usually weak limbed so they split in windstorms (and one thing we have in Oklahoma is wind!) in the Spring their flowers... well, they just stink! Rotten fish wafting on the breeze. But I have to admit, their fall color is impressive. Reds, purples, and even in years of drought (which Oklahoma also has), they show their color well.
I'll put more fall pics in my album.
The only thing more fun about fall than the color is Maddox. Jill, Jeff and Jeff's parents, Diane and Harvey, took Maddox to Haunt the Zoo last night and brought him by so we could see his costume.

He's not real happy about the mask, actually he's not really happy about the costume, but he's still cute as the dickens!

Well, the only other interesting thing we did over the weekend was bring the tropical plants in. Amazingly enough we only brought in 14 and put a half-dozen in the cellar. Maybe that isn't amazing to you guys but just a few years ago we had 60 something potted plants that we had to find places for. Trust me, by February, Kathy was going nuts to get them all out of the house! One or two in the bedroom or bathroom isn't too bad, but when you can't turn around without getting slapped in the face with a leaf (or worse, a thorn) it gets a little irritating. We were a little later bringing them in this year but the weather has been so mild and the porch is so protected that we just left them out there.
Susan is doing well the last I heard. They got all the tumors and she is quietly (for Susan) recovering. I went up to see her Friday but Kathy and I decided to let her rest over the weekend. We'll bother her later. Thank you all for your prayers for her, and my daughter and my mother and me and Kathy and all our kids and grandkids and... Well just thank you.
Take care of yourselves and be good to someone today.
Wayne