friday favorite

Did you ever know that I love red geraniums? I do and they are everywhere. I wish I had some in my yard but I haven't gotten to that yet. I was thinking I was at least going to do a pot to put on the front porch tomorrow. I think I got my love of red geraniums from my Grandpa Milligan. He must have liked them too. Why else would he have a whole greenhouse full of them? Whenever I smell them, I think of trips to Logan and me as a kid exploring my grandparent’s backyard. I remember thinking it was so big, was it? It had so many different places to explore. I remember the Lily of the Valley on the side with the planter boxes and clean sheets drying on the lines above. The big pine trees with long needles that covered the ground below. You could always swing on that orangish swing with one of your cousins. For some reason I always remember I never wanted to sit on it because it seemed so dirty to me and I thought I would get my clothes dirty. I do remember vividly the greenhouse, the muggy heat and the smell of those geraniums. Sometimes Grandpa would be piddling around with something. He was wearing his khaki pants, and an off-white short sleeve dress shirt and his straw work hat. I don't think he liked the grandkids playing in the greenhouse but I never remember getting in trouble for going in there. I remember there was a huge dirty sink in the greenhouse. After that you could meander out to the way back but I never liked it back there unless we were doing an Easter-egg hunt, it seemed a little creepy way back there. I remember dinner picnics on the back patio. I remember the patio floor. For those of you who can't remember it was made of large slabs of rock. I liked certain portions because the rock was pearly & sparkly; I liked to stand on that part of the patio. I thought it was beautiful. Another cool thing was the picnic table, not your plain-Jane picnic table with two benches on either side. Remember the weird round seats that stuck out on either side? When you think about our Grandparent's house they must have been pretty hip, lots of cool 60ish decor.