Visit with daughter in Maryland

G and I just returned from a four day visit with daughter.  One of the highlights was a visit to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. G has been listening to a biography of Leonardo da Vinci so was thrilled to see a painting of his: Ginevra de Benci.  This is the only painting of his in the Western Hemisphere. Leonardo is one of Gerry's heroes.

A second hero of his is Einstein. 

Seems his daughter likes him too.

I enjoyed the museum and memorials but am always drawn to nature.  On the way to MD we chose a scenic route instead of on the toll road.  The leaves are just starting to come out in Ohio. This is Lake Tappan. 

I will win!

As some of you know I am playing the Minimalist Game with my daughter, son and daughter-in-law. You can read about it here: http://www.theminimalists.com/game .  Basically the rules are that you get rid of one item on day one, two on day two, all the way to 30 on day 30 ( or 50 on day 50 which my son has set up on the spreadsheet).  Today is day 18.  It is becoming a challenge.  After all there are other things to do in your life too!! My strategy is to collect everything of one category so I can choose what to keep and what to throw.  These pictures show what I did today. This first picture is the pile of everything.

The second is what I am keeping.

The last is what is going away.

Cheery Crocus

The other day I noticed the crocus were poking their heads through the straw so I removed most of it. This is what greeted me today.

When warmer weather comes, our upstairs windows are full of ladybugs.  I caught them and took them outside. This last picture shows one on the flower with a honey bee.

The warmer weather motivated me to do research on planting vegetables in the garden.  I made a calendar to help me know when to plant the various seeds.  The tricky part is scheduling the planting so they are not mature when we are on one of our vacations.