spa days!

Mema went to the salon today to have a pedicure.
We found out that it was her first pedi!
She kept telling Hilary,
"I never knew people had this kind of stuff done to their toes!"

Now, I am thinking,
that surely she must have painted her toe nails
when she was a girl or teen?
But as I hear more stories,
and remember my Grandma when I was a child,
it probably wasn't something she ever did for herself.

She was raised on a farm with many brothers and a sister,
They were not wealthy by any means.
She was married when she was sixteen,
and worked long hours before and after that.

I am so glad that she is enjoying these days now!
When she got home,
she took off her shoes and socks to show Larry her toes.
"Aren't they pretty?!"
She kept wiggling her toes, and looking at them.
This is unusual, because Mema wears shoes and socks all the time.
When I came over, she took her shoes and socks off again,
just to show me!

Last year I took her to the salon for a facial.
Again, she had never had anything like this done before.
She loved the steam, and the arm massage, and all the lotions.
Especially the lip balm.
She kept smacking her lips together all afternoon.

What a lady!
I am so proud to know her!

Plants

I took Mom and Mema to Granger today.
Everyone seemed to have spring fever
and cabin fever at the same time.
We went to a garden store.
We had coffee, after finding someone to find cups for us.
We sat and talked of plans for gardens, and the sun.


We wandered about in the coffee area for a bit.
There were metal bugs for the garden on display.
Brightly painted, huge eyed, one foot tall bugs.
Lady bugs, bumble bees, praying mantis...all types.
Mema fell in love with them.
She giggled and said she could just imagine
looking out of the window or walking in the yard
with their smiling faces greeting her!
I must make a trip next week to buy her one or two.

As we walked into the water garden area,
Mema kept commenting how her mother would have loved it here.

"Oh, she used to go into the woods every spring for her flowers.
Daddy would take his little shovel and a burlap bag for her finds.
We never bought our flowers.
Mother had the most beautiful garden.
She even had a table full of plants in the house.
It was my job, every Saturday to dust those plants.
Every Saturday.
I hated that job.
I think that is why I have always hated gardening.
Omer loved to garden with vegetables, but I never did.
Every year for Mother's Day, one of my kids or a neighbor
would send me the prettiest flower plant.
I enjoyed it until it began to die, then I would throw it away.
Sometimes, the neighbor would plant it outside,
and then I would have to remember to water it.
Most of the time I "forgot", and we had to throw it away then.

I used to have a big spider plant in the living room.
I hated taking care of that, but hated to throw it away!
It was a happy day when it died."

We walked around the tropical plants and Mema saw,
what her mother had called a mother in law plant.
It was a snakes tongue plant.
We looked all through the bushes and trees.
We all had a good time!
Mema loved the little garden critters the best.
The turtles, squirrels, and bunny statues.
I will have to get her some of these as well.

Nice deck chairs are in the plans so Mema can sit outside
when the weather gets warm.
She can watch the birds and squirrels and garden friends.
That is when she isn't exploring the neighborhood, and visiting.