I found this list as of today so I hope I found an accurate list. You can begin posting the horse you choose as the winner. (Will also count if it comes in 2nd or 3rd). Do not choose a horse that has already been chosen by someone else.

Burnham Square

Sandman

Journalism

Rodriguez

Tiztastic

Tappan Street

Sovereignty

Final Gambit

Coal Battle

Chunk of Gold

Citizen Bull

Owen Almighty

East Avenue

Publisher

American Promise

Flying Mohawk

Grande

Neoequos

Luxor Cafe

Admire Daytona

Jeanne, count me in......

And my horse choice Tiztastic.

• Burnham Square
  Sandman
  Journalism
  Rodriguez
  Tiztastic......ANNIE....ANNIE.....ANNIE......ANNIE
  Tappan Street
  Sovereignty
  Final Gambit
  Coal Battle
  Chunk of Gold
  Citizen Bull
  Owen Almighty
  East Avenue
  Publisher
  American Promise
  Flying Mohawk
  Grande
  Neoequos
  Luxor Cafe
  Admire Daytona0

I am going to sit this one out since craft season has started and I will be glued to my machine to get stuff done. Will pop in and say hi here and there. I have 3 events in this month so far.

Jeanne ~ sign me up for the swap. Also, I don't know much about horse racing so I am choosing this horse because of his or her name :)

And my horse choice AMERICAN PROMISE

Burnham Square
Sandman
Journalism
Rodriguez
Tiztastic......ANNIE....ANNIE.....ANNIE......ANNIE
Tappan Street
Sovereignty
Final Gambit
Coal Battle
Chunk of Gold
Citizen Bull
Owen Almighty
East Avenue
Publisher
American Promise......NICOLE
Flying Mohawk
Grande
Neoequos
Luxor Cafe
Admire Daytona0

Count me in for May. I choose Final Gambit.

"Send a card and a small item to your swap partner"

A Mother's Day or any card is good with me. Homemade, recycled or bought.

And for me, one of your favorite go to recipes would be great for the "small item". Just an Easy Peasy idea.

Thank you for hosting Jeanne. Sounds like a fun month.

Burnham Square
Sandman
Journalism
Rodriguez
Tiztastic......ANNIE....ANNIE.....ANNIE......ANNIE
Tappan Street
Sovereignty
Final Gambit.........Ruth
Coal Battle
Chunk of Gold
Citizen Bull
Owen Almighty
East Avenue
Publisher
American Promise......NICOLE
Flying Mohawk
Grande
Neoequos
Luxor Cafe
Admire Daytona0

I'll go with Sovereignty. Wonder if I spelled that right? I'll have to check. Also I just saw that Tappan Street will not be running so don't pick him. He has an injury. As for picking horses, I also look for names I like. If I get time I look at their racing history and their sire and dam. It's all for fun and especially with the Derby it's hard to pick because the field is so crowded.

I will also be swapping. Will try to update on who is swapping soon. Thanks for keeping up with the selection of horses. Makes it easier to know which ones you can pick.

As for gardens, I am back and forth to my house almost every day. We had beautiful Spring flowers there but it got so hot so early that they are kind of winding down. I totally missed seeing the Spanish Bluebells. A few irises in bloom today. Here at my new place, I have mostly shade plants and they are on my balcony and nothing where the blooms will be noteworthy but that's fine with me. The trees and flower beds in the common areas have been beautiful. Mostly a mixture of dianthus and foxglove and all different colors mixed in together - stunning.

Burnham Square
Sandman
Journalism
Rodriguez
Tiztastic......ANNIE....ANNIE.....ANNIE......ANNIE
Tappan Street
Sovereignty .... JEANNE
Final Gambit.........Ruth
Coal Battle
Chunk of Gold
Citizen Bull
Owen Almighty
East Avenue
Publisher
American Promise......NICOLE
Flying Mohawk
Grande
Neoequos
Luxor Cafe
Admire Daytona

Hey everyone! Please include me in the swap Jeanne 😊

Any card is fine with me (homemade, recycled, or bought). I could use dwarf tomato seeds or any vegetable seeds for a small thing if you happen to have some to share.

I pick Flying Mohawk for my horse pick 🐎

Burnham Square
Sandman
Journalism
Rodriguez
Tiztastic......ANNIE....ANNIE.....ANNIE......ANNIE
Tappan Street
Sovereignty .... JEANNE
Final Gambit.........Ruth
Coal Battle
Chunk of Gold
Citizen Bull
Owen Almighty
East Avenue
Publisher
American Promise......NICOLE
Flying Mohawk ........ Sharon
Grande
Neoequos
Luxor Cafe
Admire Daytona

Hows everyone spring garden and porch plants coming along? I've been busy planting. My early planting of cherry tomatoes are coming along and should be ready for pickin in the coming weeks. I planted some seeds for a fun plant of buzz buttons aka toothache plants. Heres a pic of the small starts in my hanging plant.

My long island mammoth dill is growing good and was able to dry some for later use. Saving to make some homemade pickles later.

Lastly a neighboring Japanese Plum tree was dropping seeds like crazy and I was able to pot some starter plants from it.

Sharon, what is the secret to growing dill? I can not get it to grow from seed ......

Good Morning all.

Sharon, your plants look great. Japanese Plum trees, wow. I've thought about buying either Santa Rosa or Methley.

Annie, last year I threw a lot of different seeds in an area. One dill plant came and did really good. Often they end up being a critter buffet.

Most of my asparagus is up. Long beans are up. I replanted okra seeds as the first ones only had two plants so far. May end up with too many. Tomatoes have blooms. Lots of rain and wind yesterday, so not sure what the plants look like today.

Anyone have extra Rooster Spur Hot Pepper Seeds? I'm looking for a few for my neice. I think it's too late to plant pepper seeds this year but she is wanting to try it.

Annie, I start my seeds in a small pot first. I place the pot on the outside table and water daily to keep the soil moist. When the plant gets to be 2-3inches tall, I transplant into the spot in the garden I want it to grow. Heres a pic of my seeds sprouting in the pot.

Dill; This common culinary herb will attract butterflies to your garden who use the aromatic plant as a host for their caterpillars. Specifically, the caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail and Anise Swallowtail butterflies feed on the leaves of dill (Anethum graveolens).

Sorry I haven't been posting more. Love the discussion on dill. What impacts me for growing it is it doesn't like hot weather so it has to start very early in the year and dies once the heat shows up. Love to use it recipes. None planted right now. In fact I have planted no seeds this year. Have attempted a few cuttings.

Okay, Back to the swap and the Derby.

For swapping I have:

Jeanne (Sovereignty) JOURNALISM

Annie (Tiztastic) LUXOR CAFE

Sharon (Flying Mohawk) CITIZEN BULL

Nicole (American Promise) RENDER JUDGMENT

Ruth (Final Gambit) CHUNK OF GOLD

If anyone else is joining in, let me know. I'll post partners tomorrow. Whoever sends to me, any type of card is absolutely great. When you look above, the horse you chose is shown in parenthesis. I added a second horse at random for each person. That one is in CAPS.

I'm going to try to set up the TV to record the Oaks and the Derby. Next on my list.

Anyway, I'm still busy trying to complete my sorting and get things moved out of the house. Exhausted. The hot weather has begun, too. Not feeling super, but I think it's just stress and the wear and tear on my body. So ready to be done with it. Also last weekend my dog started getting sick so I have been to the vet twice and now she is on a second type of medication. Hopefully this one will take care of the problem (which is not diagnosed yet.)

Okay, first 2 questions. Which flower is associated with the Kentucky Derby?

Which herb is associated with the Kentucky Derby?

First to get the right answer to either will get the point/points.

Oh Jeanne, I am so happy you did not choose a favorite for me....I love long shots....LOL!

Q # 1... The red rose is associated with the Kentucky Derby.

Q # 2....The herb of mint is associated with the Kentucky Derby.

********************

Jeanne, how did the online sale for items in your home work out?

And thanks for the info on DIll Sharon and Ruth......

2 Points for Annie. Yes, the red rose is featured at the Kentucky Derby and mint in the form of the Mint Julep.

Back in 1883, ladies who attended the Derby parties around Louisville all received a red rose.

The Churchill Downs President at the time, Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, saw what a success the roses were and decided to make the association between the flower and in 1904, the red rose was given the status of official flower of the Kentucky Derby.

I have the Kentucky Oaks races on the TV now. Here are 2 more questions.

What flower is featured at the Kentucky Oaks?

What color do you see in lots of clothing worn at the Oaks? (No extra point for this part, but do you want to guess why?)

Now some updating about the Derby. It sounds like Grande is not running, but that doesn't impact our choices and Raeza has been added.

Time to list partners. Odd number participating and I decided to go in alphabetical order.

Annie will send to Jeanne

Jeanne will send to Nicole

Nicole will send to Ruth

Ruth will send to Sharon

Sharon will send to Jeanne

What flower is featured at the Kentucky Oaks?

Stargazer Lily

What color do you see in lots of clothing worn at the Oaks?

Pink

The purpose for the pink is twofold. One is to celebrate the stargazer lily, which is the garland of lilies given to the winner of the Kentucky Oaks, and the other is to highlight breast cancer and ovarian cancer awareness.

Jeanne, a Q..........

Looking at partners, do I send to you or does Sharon send to you? You have it written where we both send to you....haha.

Derby day....YAH!! Good luck!!

I think I was meant to send to Annie? Just waiting for confirmation 😊

Thanks for keeping a watch for my errors. Sometimes I post late at night and am pretty worn out by then. Partners (who you sent to) is corrected below.

Annie will send to Jeanne

Jeanne will send to Nicole

Nicole will send to Ruth

Ruth will send to Sharon

Sharon will send to Annie

So the races were lots of fun this year. As it turns out though no prizes for anyone for the races. No planning for this on my part, but the horses who came in first and second were picked by or assigned to me. None of us had the horse that came in third. Interesting that most of the field had never run on a wet track so the betting was more of an adventure this year.

Another question for points. Before the race there is someone special who calls out "Riders Up". Does anyone know who that was at this year's Derby?

Gymnast and Olympic winner Simone Biles called "RIDERS UP" prior to the Derby race yesterday.

Sharon, I mailed your card today.

I was planning to work in the yard, but it's raining here.

Jeanne, I mailed your card today.....

Ruth ~ Your card will be mailed out tomorrow. Amazon will personally deliver your goody by tomorrow hopefully :)

Annie your card went out with today's mail 😃👍

Nicole, I mailed your card yesterday. Have a Happy Mother's Day!

I did a little horse research that ties in with Mother's Day. I'll post it a bit later in the week.

Nicole, awesome gift. Lately if I go out without gloves, hubby brings some out to me. So these will get used. I love them. Thank you so much.

Thought I added pic to post above.

I popped in with another question. Who can guess this one first for a point. At the Peakness they talk about the "Run for the Susans". However, in researching the Preakness are the flowers at the Preakness really Black Eyed Susans?

The Viking Poms are used instead.

The Black-Eyed Susan blanket is created shortly before Preakness Day and it takes about eight hours for four people to construct it. It’s made up of black matting, a layer of green felt, a layer of a variety of Ruscus and then a layer of Viking Poms, which is a substitute for actual Black-Eyed Susans, which bloom usually after the Preakness is run from June through October.

Another point for Sharon. I had to look up the specific name. Didn't know that! I did know that they don't use Black Eyed Susans because they are not in bloom when the race is run.

Sorry I haven't been posting more. My days for weeks now have been work as hard as you can days often followed by totally worn out days. I would like them all the same, but it just can't turn out that way at this point. Searstone has a special Mother's Day Tea for us this afternoon in honor of Mother's Day. So it's time to head out and run my errands and get back. Have a good day!

It's late in the day but I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day! I hope you had a really enjoyable day. We had a buffet brunch here so that was my midday meal and then I went to have dinner with my daughter and her family who live in NC. A bit of rain off and on all day, but it was never a severe storm so I appreciated that.

Annie, I received your card and tuck-ins. Thank you. Yes, I will enjoy some special coffee on you. Seldom splurge for things like that.

I had planned to post some information about the mothers (dams) of the horses who came in 1st and 2nd in the Derby. It was quite interesting looking into that. Guess who wrote notes about them and now can't find the notes on Mother's Day? If I find them soon, I will post the information. I was surprised how many dams had a prior racing career and earned a significant amount racing. If not the dam herself, she seemed to come from very good bloodlines. Of course, we're talking big money for most of these racehorses.

Still keeping busy clearing out the things from my house. I am getting very close to finished. I have things to do tomorrow but will get back to a day working there on Tuesday.

I received my card from Ruth today! 🥳💌 Thank you Ruth for the Rainbow Blend and Ace 55 tomato seeds! Looking forward to try these out, both are new to me! I will definitely use the chai spice and vanilla spice tea packs you sent too. I enjoy making tea. Thank you so much for the sweet card and goodies you sent! 🥰👍

Sharon, hope the Rainbow Blend has something you love in it. I couldn’t find any dwarf and ordering would have taken so long to receive.

Nicole, I received your sweet card today with the Chamomile seeds and magnet. I love growing herbs and have never had luck with Chamomile. Hoping these will change that. Thank you so much.

I wanted to post a reminder that if anyone is interested in watching the Preakness, that race will be this Saturday. Several days of rain in a row here and I saw they posted a flood warning for 2 a.m. in my area. I've never been anywhere around here where there was flooding, but I do try to stay in if there's a lot of rain. Hoping to go to my house to work there tomorrow so we'll see what happens overnight. I think when there is flooding it happens in low places so they caution drivers to watch for water accumulating on the roads. With retirement if it's a really stormy day, I just rearrange my schedule. (Obviously not commenting on the areas in NC that have had severe flooding in the past. Just observations for the area I drive in.)

The fire alarms went off at my new place this evening. I don't know what that was about. It's very loud and with flashing lights so my pets definitely didn't like it. So far no explanation on the portal about what happened.

Jeanne, I will be watching THE PREAKNESS....my $$$ will be on long shot PAY BILLY.

Happy Thursday!!

Jeanne ~ thank u the card/goodies, appreciate the handmade items of tags.

Got mail......

Sharon, thank you very much for the happy card and tuck ins including Oakleaf Lettuce. I have not grown lettuce in forever......

Happy weekend!!

Ladies, I haven't been a very good hostess this month and I'm sorry. Just so busy unboxing things at the new place and finding where to put them and trying to finish up at my house so it can get listed. Every week I think I will finish by the end of the week and it hasn't happened yet. Maybe this week will do it! I've tried taking cuttings from plants I put in at my house. So far no luck rooting them, but maybe this time the stems will be right. I don't have much place to put them but if a few of them root, I will be happy. Hope you've had a good weekend. The Preakness was fun to watch. I hope some of you got to see it. I'll try to post who sent and received in a few days.