Calhoun Street

When this blog was started we agreed not to make political statements. But I can not let the vote by city council allowing the changes to Calhoun St. go by without comment.

Once again the views of the majority are disregarded. It seems its more important that city traffic planners get their way than a park like street scape be maintained. Do I smell Quid pro Que. I only hope that the 2nd district gets some new sidewalks.

This is another example of why more and more people are disenfranchised.

Critical Mass July 2009

I just want to thank everyone who helped when I fell during the ride last night. The morning I am scraped, bruised and swollen, but fortunately I am fine. The worst part was not being able to finish the ride. We look forward to the ride every month and last nights ride was really a nice pace. Once again, thank you.

Denise

At The Races

We had great fun Saturday at Parkview Cycling Festival. Marsha's son Brian was racing in the corporate race for Tower Bank so we went to cheer him on.

A couple of teams dropped out so the Rivermet Gang was asked to Race.

Just relaxing and watching the pros race.

Mother’s Day Disappointment

Every Mother’s Day our daughter and I take my mother to Dewald Gardens purchase plants for her Mother’s Day present. Dewald’s was my favorite place to go for plants, so naturally last year when we decided to put in the rain garden, I went to Dewald’s to purchase the plants. We also had agreed to participate in the home and garden tour for the neighborhood association, so we purchased many more plants from Dewald’s to redo an area of the back yard. During many discussions with Rhea, we were led to believe they would stand behind their plants and at one point when we thought the milkweed was dying; they had offered to replace it. We gave Dewald Garden a lot of free publicity, our rain garden was featured in the newspaper and now on public access and we always mentioned Dewald’s. We even put a small sign in the rain garden advertising for them during the home tour along with telling everyone how they were a great place to go and they would stand behind their plants. We believe this is part of the reason Dewald’s is one of the city’s selected gardens to purchase plants for the city’s rain garden program.

Imagine my surprise when on Mother’s Day I spoke with Rhea about several of the plants that did not make it over the winter I was told “We don’t do that.” with a shrug. My heart sank. We lost all six of the Cardinal Flowers they recommended for our garden, I had even mentioned I have had problems with Cardinal Flower in the past and was told I should have no problem with these. We lost about 14 plants in all. Anyone who shops at Dewald’s knows these plant were not cheap and some of the plants we could have purchased at Lowes, (they stand behind their plants.) for less money. Our mistake, trying to support this local business.

Turning the River Green

What a nice spring morning to go on our first bike outing. Being there able to meet friends and neighbors enjoying this tradition. Ending a fun filled day was a dinner at Marsha's home where an honorary Rivermet Gang member Karla was able to join us. The evening of fun, food and drink was enjoyed by all. We are all excited about our next outing.

So Ready for Spring!!!!!!

We went to the Home and Garden Show at the Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. It was so nice to see flowers and new ideas. Now I really have spring fever. We had a chance to speak with the representatives from the city about the rain garden program and we were happy to see they had a rain barrel on display and instructions on making them. We also had a chance to speak with Rhea Gratz from Dewald Gardens; she was excited to tell us that Dewald Gardens in on the city’s list of the places to go for information on rain gardens.

I am ready to finish cleaning up the twigs from the ice storm and dig in the dirt. I am also anxious to see if the was any damage to our rain garden from the tree falling on it and then the people walking in it to cut up the tree. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

We are looking forward to so many things. It won’t be long before we will be watching baseball at Parkview Field, going on our evening bike rides, planting flowers, going to the Patio at the Gas House, (I am having Saloon Salad withdrawal.), walking downtown for the various events, and spending long hours on the front porches of the Rivermet Gang.