Memorial Weekend

    The 500 race has a new winner. Alex Palou, a Spaniard, won the race that was marred by early light rain and several crashes. We were able to watch it live this year as the blackout of the Indianapolis area was lifted due to a sellout. The temperature today was in the 60s, the 4th coldest in history. I believe the low temperature was instrumental in the way the cars handled.

    This past week was cooler than usual, with one day not even reaching 60˚. We didn't need air conditioning, and I turned it off and turned on the furnace.

    Four hours from now, the Pacers and the Knicks play in Indianapolis. Can the Pacers win three in a row against the Knicks? Yesterday afternoon, Indianapolis' WNBA team, The Fever, played at home, but lost by two points to the New York team. The sports scene couldn't be more crowded this weekend. The weather was perfect yesterday for the 500 Parade in downtown Indy. All 33 race drivers participate in the parade. 

    Yesterday, with beautiful weather, I finally transplanted my aloe plants. I had to discard many plants from the overcrowded pots. 

It's a messy job, but the patio table worked well.

    The flowers in our patio planter are doing well. We've had occasional rain, so I haven't had to water them, and they are beautiful right now. 

    When shopping at Kroger yesterday, I found some rhubarb, and this afternoon, I made a rhubarb upside-down cake. This is our Memorial Day special treat!

GO PACERS! WIN #3!

Basketball in May

    In Indianapolis, the month of May is dominated by events surrounding the 500 race. This year, basketball is making headlines as the Pacers defeated the Cavaliers at home last Sunday evening, winning 129-109 in Game 4. We stayed up on Tuesday night to watch Game 5 in Cleveland, as the Pacers asserted themselves in the third quarter to beat the Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs, 114-105. Next, they will play the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, with the first game scheduled for Wednesday. 

    Yesterday, the WNBA Indianapolis Fever played their first game of the season, winning over the Chicago Sky 93-58.  Caitlin Clark scored her third triple-double in her WNBA career with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. She also has four blocks and two steals. We'll be watching as many games as we can.

    We enjoyed talking to Bart and Persephone on Wednesday afternoon via Zoom. Persephone has been looking for a summer job without any success. Her semester finals were completed, and she only has a few more days of classes remaining, and then she'll be a Senior!

    At the end of March, I wrote about an experiment in which I planted some wildflower seeds. The seeds sprouted, but they did not thrive. Even though I moved the boxes outdoors when the weather allowed, it was apparent that my experiment was doomed. The boxes are now planted with Verbenas and line our driveway. 

This is Gaillardia SpinTop, a perennial 

    I planted this flower near our front door in a spot that had been occupied by mums for the last several years. The prettiest mum did not survive the winter, so I opted to dig them all out.

    I thought it was time to change the mantel display since the Memorial Day Holiday is next weekend. I brought out last year's decorations, and we're ready with a patriotic theme. 

Decorated for the Season

Mother's Day 2025

     The day started with sunshine, and it's still shining as I begin writing. However, we had a rude interruption when the car didn't start as we headed to church, and we had to call for road service. Fortunately, we had a jump start in 30 minutes and arrived at church to hear most of the sermon. I will admit that I was the culprit who caused the battery to drain. Yesterday afternoon, I vacuumed the winter debris from the floor mats, but I wasn't aware of the damage I was doing.

    After church, we headed to Joe's house for "pizza by the yard." You make your own pizza with the ingredients, starting with a hollowed-out loaf of French Bread. We had many options, but I went traditional with ground sausage, pesto, diced peppers, sliced mushrooms, sauce, and cheese. When several pizzas were made, they were popped in the oven to bake for about 15 minutes. It was easier to make than rolling out pizza dough; best of all, we could eat it without a fork. I'll be trying this at home soon.

This is about 1/3 of our "yard of pizza."
And it was delicious. 

Kylie & Me

Dustin & Me

    Dustin presented flowers to all the mothers, including a small bouquet in memory of the mother we all miss--Nancy.

I arranged the flowers in a
quart jar vase when I got home.  

    Tonight is the fourth game in the playoffs between the Indianapolis Pacers and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's a home game and a critical one for the Pacers. They lead the series 2-1, and don't want to return to Cleveland at 2-2.

Date Night

    A couple in our bridge group gave us tickets to the Indianapolis Symphony, which they could not use. The timing was a perfect 5:30 start on a Saturday afternoon, meaning it would be daylight when the concert ended. It's been some time since we've driven to downtown Indy, even with construction, we arrived on time and had excellent seats in the main auditorium. The symphony played two Mozart pieces in the program's first half, and Mahler's Symphony No. 4 after the intermission. While none of the music was familiar, we enjoyed hearing something new, and the soprano who accompanied the symphony. We stopped at Olive Garden for a late supper on our way home. I thought it was a perfect date night, something we hardly ever do.

    With all the rain we had in April, gardening is a challenge, but I planted a celosia in the planter on our patio with some nemesia around the perimeter.

I'm hoping to attract a hummingbird.

    

Last fall, I transplanted some plants in the bed in front of our house, and here's how it's looking this spring.

In front of our house

    When we moved five years ago, the peony plant had too much shade, so I moved it to its present spot. I wasn't sure it would survive, and several years later, it had one blossom last summer. There are about half a dozen buds this year, which makes me happy. 

    The daylillies weren't doing well the first two years we were here, but I learned to spray them with rabbit repellent every spring, and last year we had beautiful blossoms. I added the coral bells and hosta plants, but when the coral bells crowded the daylillies, I moved them to the background last fall. I'm happy they survived the winter and seem happy in their new location. Coral Bells are also known as Heuchera. I loved the ones we had at our house in Monrovia, but these don't have the light coral bell-shaped flowers I remember. They are sturdy, however.

    We enjoyed the Greenwood Community Band Concert at 6 p.m. at a local high school. Two band members were featured with solos on the tuba and clarinet. It's been a misty day, so we had to use our windshield wipers. We are hoping for some dry days this week.