January Thaw

 We were blessed with the most beautiful January Saturday.  The temperature was in the fifties with bright sunshine and a beautiful clear sky.  This is my Christmas gift from my hubby...a membership to the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  We have visited once this year with our babygrand to see the Holiday Wonderland Express exhibit.   Since we had a day with our girl, we headed back to the gardens.

 We brought the stroller in case of tired legs...mostly Grandma and Grandpa's.  Sometimes our girl is so tired, she can't walk another step...and we are too old to carry 40+lbs around the gardens.;-) The truth is this was the last time she sat in the stroller, she ran for our whole visit.

 After a cloudy and rainy week this day was truly a gift.

 We visited all the greenhouses.  So sweet to see flowers blooming...

 and topiary bears, a big gummy bear is what Penny thought of this guy.

 Spots of color...

 dappled sunlight...

 tropical trees and flowers.

 Delicate orchids and

 sturdy leaves...

 ...proud grandparents.  Yes, Penny took this photo.  Our girl is amazing...and almost five.

 These were Penny's favorite find of the day, Snowball Cactus.  They looked almost cuddly.

 Grandma and Grandpa have a soft spot for bonsai.  I photographed these before, outside in the summer.  They live in a light filled hall during the winter.

 So elegant. They are living works of art.

 Some might walk past a pile of sand and gravel, but not our girl.  She saw it as a opportunity to make sand castles.

My daughters Kris and Charlotte were marching in the Women's March in downtown Chicago.

I am so proud that they represented all the women in our family.  Kristen carried tokens of her grandmother, best friends and a penny for Penny and me. Chicago's march had 250,000 marchers.

At one point during the march, Kris looked over to see a man with a name tag she recognized.  It was our old and dear friend named Floyd. Floyd was marching with the Sierra Club.  She introduced herself as Penny's daughter... I am sure that Floyd was amazed to see Kristen, now a beautiful grown woman.  It has been such a long time since we had last seen Floyd.  Kristen never forgets a face, and a happy reunion ensued. What are the odds?  They left me a message on my answering machine at home.  It was so sweet.

That daughter of mine is amazing. It was a significant day for all women, made more so by Kristen's fierce determination to make the world a more tolerant, inclusive and peaceful place to raise her daughter.  Charlotte walked on a painful foot determined to have her feelings known.  I am so proud of my girls.

Later on Saturday evening Penny got to visit with her cousins, well, cousin cats.  Mike and Amanda invited us over for dessert and some cat cuddling.  Penny is a cat whisperer and loves Henry( the cutest cat ever )and Oden and Luna.  We had such a nice visit and Penny was in cat heaven.  Mike and Amanda have settled into life back home.  They have a cozy and welcoming home, and we are so glad to have them close.

 Silly that I need to share,  but I got a delivery from Pottery Barn!  I received gift cards for Christmas and after not finding anything at my local store, started searching the web.

 I choose this wire hamper.

It is so cool.  One other gift will arrive next month.  Thanks to my generous hubby and kids I got to shop PB, just for fun.  Of course I got sale prices and free shipping. 

I have Valentine's to craft, crocheting to do, laundry awaits.  Another gloomy day, but memories of our happy weekend will warm my heart and get me through.

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy this beautiful day.

Love, Penny