A week without "work"

Of course I don't mean I'm just lying about, but this is the first week out of school so to speak. Bellevue got out last week and OCA has half-day exams most of this week. So really, I'm out of school for the summer. I do love substituting, though. I love the teachers I work with at OCA, I love the action at school. I love kids. AND I love leaving it there!!!

I've finally planted my flower pots on the deck. Well, got started anyway. I'm so totally out of fresh ideas that I went to the store and couldn't even see what I wanted. I ended up with petunias, dusty miller and ageratum. Guess I'm in the red, white and blue mood. I've kept my hanging geraniums alive through the winter, so I will probably cut them back, repot them and hang them up again. I couldn't resist buying lantana. This variety is yellow when it first buds and then the flowers turn hot pink. I've put it in a pot out on the pool deck. In Italy it flowed over fences around the pool park we used to go to. So I have sweet memories of it. Also, I think Maureen grew it on her balcony across from us. I'm NOT bringing it in in the winter, though. There are ENOUGH plants coming in! However, I think the rosemary has had enough. One pot has a branch or two still alive, the other looks a little better. They are both outside now getting sun from early morning to late at night. We'll see how they fare this summer. I'm sure they must be root bound. I've had them in various size pots since I bought them the summer of 2000!!! Not bad, huh?
We had our willow tree cut down while we were out of town for Will's graduation. It was very large, very old, and much of it very dead.( BTW, the guy who cut it is named "Vinny Palermo". How do you like THAT for an Italian name??) Now we have a huge stump and an empty place in the back yard. Our yard slopes quite a bit, so we're trying to figure out how to landscape it to improve the bare look and fit in a fire pit area. It's very hard to come up with good ideas. Den and I are not idea people! I wouldn't mind the pond idea either.
My other project I'm working on is a letter to the pastors of our school students. I've never worked with mail merge, so I'm trying to work that out! I just gave up and started writing this instead.