Serve by Design

More than thirty-three years ago, we moved our family to central Illinois and bought our second home. This modest ranch-style house is situated on a half-acre corner lot and has five mature trees, numerous shrubs and flowering bushes that serve as habitat attracting a variety of birds and small animals. One of the most prized of our collection is the stately Rhododendron that always has a bird nest or two each season. If I get too close to the bush during spring cleanup, I hear squawking that warns me that anxious mother birds are protecting baby hatchlings! May Celebration Time! Every May this native Rhododendron puts on a magnificent display of flowering beauty. The variety of our Rhododendron has purple flowers that attract early pollinators to the trumpet-shaped flowers with their brilliant petals and multiple stamens in perfect symmetry.. There are times when I’d like to trim and prune this large plant back. But then, I think about how often we have used the Rhododendron as a back...

We have had a beautiful ornamental shrub in the front of our house that has played a prominent role in every graduation we have celebrated over the past 28 years. The delicate, purple-colored petals of this rhododendron have been the backdrop to many photos during the latter weeks of May. Annually, it has bloomed at the perfect time for us to celebrate elementary, secondary, and college graduations! Although they won't be around to get that special picture, we do have two special grandsons - Brady and Ben - who will be celebrating their 8th grade graduations in the next few days and their passage into high school this fall. Oh, how those years have passed so quickly! And there are more celebrations coming! I said to our grand daughter, Chloe, just the other day, "Sweet Girl, someday, you will be standing before the 'ole rhodie' mugging for the camera in all your youthful beauty as we mark for all-time the accomplishments represented by your graduation." While I ...