Mom's Magnolia Tree

FROM Pattie:

Matt,

I don't know if you know the story of the magnolia tree. Mom loves them and when she and dad were first married, they planted one. Then they had to move. Then they planted another one and then they moved again. This went on until Mom finally stopped getting magnolia trees for fear they would move again. When she moved to her house after Dad died, we thought to get her one, but figured she'd think she would have to move...the final move. So we didn't.

When she was diagnosed I thought about it but didn't do it fast enough. I went to Armstrong's and they had a tree (a stick really) that had a few blooms. Next to that was a stick which looked to have some buds that I thought would bloom.

So I brought it home to Mom and planted it. Turns out they were just the leaves. Since I had waited too long, we figured it wouldn't bloom again until the winter. December or January. So guess what I found Thursday on the stick (Mom's term, not mine)? That's right...it appears to be blooming.

Mom is very excited about it. Anyway, I thought you could put these pictures up. The last one is the new double finch sock thing that we got. Mom is loving that too. The birds are all going crazy as usual.