This is what hope looks like: little periwinkles planted where they will get the full force of the Texas summer sun…

I planted 3 flats of periwinkles at my house and 2 more at Mom's. They are everywhere!

I had great luck with periwinkles last year. They fill out and flower all summer long and really can take the heat.

Mom and I went flower and shrub shopping Friday morning. After cleaning house, I spent the rest of Friday and a good part of Saturday getting everything in the ground. I have to say that I am glad to have it done! 

This is a Knock-Out Rose, above. We planted 2 of them at Mom's last fall and they are already flowering. This rose bush should grow to be about 3'-4' in both directions.

You can't really see it but I planted a lilac bush just beyond those pink salvias. It should be around 4' tall if it survives. I have not had much luck with lilacs but the man at Twin Oaks said that he had had luck with this variety. To me that lilac is the essence of hopefulness.

And here are the kids, in the pool for the first time this summer (taken last week). 

The other excitement this weekend is that I lost Mom. She didn't know she was lost – she just forgot that we had a lunch date. I've done a similar sort of thing but what she didn't know was that 3 of her good friends from OKC were coming to lunch to surprise her. The big surprise was that I couldn't find her. Luckily they were running late.

I had about 90 minutes of mounting panic. I got helpers to drive around looking for her (after I had already driven to the likely spots). I called the hospitals, the library, Target, th police… I really thought that she might have been abducted.

Lorna suggested calling the bank to see if her card had been used. I did and then three things happened almost at the same time: I finally got the bank to tell me when she had last used her debit card (20 minutes before), Mom drove into the garage, and a nice policeman showed up at Mom's front door. Mom was surprised to hear that she had been missing (and she was thrilled to see the policeman).

We did go to lunch with her friends and she had an excellent visit. I had a glass of wine with lunch and felt much better. 

What did we learn from this experience? Mom says she won't forget her cell phone any more. I will wait longer to panic. And we are both hopeful that that this doesn't happen again.