Habitat Retreat & Crabapple Tree

I serve on the Board of Directors of my local Habitat for Humanity affiliate. This morning we had a retreat to learn about and discuss some very important options for the future of our affiliate. We had an excellent facilitator and it was time well spent. I gave a short presentation to the Board on Marketing Habitat in your Everyday Life. One of our major goals is to increase the awareness of the work of Habitat for Humanity Lansing in our community. Our Board of Directors is a dedicated group of volunteers who are passionate about Habitat for Humanity. This is my sixth year on the board and have found that the other members are some of the most dedicated people I have every known. I really enjoy working with all of them. Board members taking a little break for pictures. Erica is waving for the camera
Amy, a board member and Heather, Habitat staff.
Board members deep into the project.
Still working on the project.
Doak, our facilitator, organized our thoughts and ideas to assist us in creating a timeline and order of priorities.

After the board retreat, I retreated to my backyard for more work in the gardens. The weather was perfect, very sunny but not too hot. I sprayed the poison ivy as I promised. Dug up a few dandelions and other weeds. In addition, I put down some lawn patch and sprayed for weeds on the patios. I did more spring clean-up in the large garden area across the back of my property. This contains my shade garden as well as a part that gets substantial sun. Yesterday my "Prairie Fire" Crabapple was beginning to bloom, today it was on FIRE! Isn't it beautiful?

"Prairie Fire" Crabapple

View of "Prairie Fire" from the shade garden.

"Prairie Fire" on fire.


This evening my friend Lisa and I took a walk around the Tollgate Pond and saw a very unique bird, one that neither of us have seen before. It was much smaller than a heron but its legs and flight were similar to a heron. Its body was about 8 to 12 inches long and it was blue and dark grey in color. It had a long narrow beak. We watched it for a while to get a good look and after our walk we checked my bird books. We couldn't find any bird that had the right coloring or size to match the bird we saw. If you know what kind of bird this could be, please leave a comment.