So much for winter - but what a winter it was! Did you see the incredible icicles that Martha Kenton spotted “growing” outside the City View Dining Room? Somehow the wind currents in that area was causing them to grow at different angles. As Sallie Engelson said, “They're defying the laws of gravity.”

It's officially spring. But you knew that. The trees and bushes and flowers are all announcing it by budding or blooming or just leaping out of the ground. I've especially enjoyed the yellow Daffodils/Jonquils? in several of the Cottage gardens - Adelle Graves and Ben and Ellen Henneke's in particular. In some ways this time of year Tulsa is at its showiest - it's a shame that the spring colors are with us so briefly. St. Simeon's always takes a bus to tour the Azalea Gardens - be sure and sign up for a real treat.

Another sign of Spring in Oklahoma is tornadoes. Did you know that for the last 100 years Tulsa County has averaged one tornado per year dropping out of the clouds to touch the ground? But St. Simeon's seems to be at a pretty fortunate location because no tornado has ever struck up on this hill. Actually Orlando, Florida averages the most tornadoes per year of any part of the country. The difference is that they have puny ones that don't cause the kind of damage that just one of our “Oklahoma twisters” does. Have you ever experienced a tornado up close and personal - how about sharing your story with us?

We've recently had a wonderful donation of almost two dozen Itaea shrubs. Ivey Dempsey had heard from a friend about the beautiful grounds here and when she decided to replace her Itaea shrubs with evergreens she thought of us. We have one Itaea of our own already in the Gazebo Courtyard. The variety of shrub that will be transplanted here is Virginia Sweetspire. It has creamy white flowers in the spring and the leaves turn purplish red in the fall. Most of them will be planted in the Courtyard across from the Gazebo Courtyard in front of the long bare privacy fence, so look for them there.

Drop by the plant light cart just outside the Garden Gift Shop and see all the seedlings the residents have planted. The seeds seemed to literally sprout overnight. Thank goodness the packages they came in are there or we would have no idea what they all were - over eight different kinds of flowers including Zinnia, Alyssum, Moss Rose, and Cosmos. In a couple of weeks the residents will transplant them outside into pots and beds. New this year will be a flower bed outside the Hilltop Dining Room in the Health Care Center.

Also on the plant stand are the new crop of African Violets which will start from the single leaf the residents have planted - but we need to be patient for those first baby leaves to appear. Notice the egg carton with an eggshell in each compartment. Each shell has been planted with a red seed from Adelle Graves Dogwood Tree. We've saved them all winter and now we'll see if we can really get at least one to sprout. If successful the “tree”, complete with eggshells (a natural nutrient) will be planted outside.

Okay, who turned the spotlight on the rain gage that now sits in a pot of pansies outside the City View Dining Room? It does look attractive illuminated at night - we can see that we received a much needed 2 ¾ inches of rain recently.

And when you think of something customarily illuminated at night - that would probably be our nation's flag. Lou Ella Walker received from her son and daughter-in-law (Jesse and Liz) a beautiful photo of a Floral American Flag growing near Vandenberg Air Force Base, in Lompoc, California. It contains more than 400,000 Larkspur plants each with 4-5 flower stems for a total of more than 2 million flowers. The size (and it is the exact flag dimensions) is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide. Each star is 24 feet in diameter; each stripe is 30 feet wide. It must be breathtaking to see. I hope the day comes soon that Americans will be planting flowers in Iraq.