Grandpa Brezine would be so Proud ....

I never had the pleasure to meet my Grandfather on my Mom's side.  He unfortunately passed away too early in life.  My Mom would share lots of stories about him.  He sounded like a very fun, kind and generous person.  It was obvious that he was very well liked/admired by so many, because when he died his funeral procession was miles long.  Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration but it was long enough for people to take notice and probably annoying for drivers who were stopped waiting for it to pass so they could cross an intersection.

My Grandfather worked for the city in the "tree planting" department.  He planted hundreds of trees throughout the city of Cleveland.  My Mom would proudly point out the trees on certain streets.  I must admit these streets looked awesome because the trees on the "tree lawn" were all symmetrical and beautiful, making a beautiful canopy of lush tree branches over the street.  The trees gave the proper amount of shade during the hot summer months.

When I moved into my home, my Mom gave me a shovel to use to plant our bushes in our front beds.  She told me to hold onto to it.  I knew it was my Grandfather's and I was tickled and proud to be the new owner of this special shovel.

This shovel runs rings around any other shovel I've used.  I almost feel bad that my Mom gave me this awesome shovel.  I wasn't home one day and Jon gave my shovel to a neighbor to use.  I almost lost it. I told him he had to go get it and apologize but the shovel is an heirloom and I covet it like it's one of my children.  My strong attachment to it is because this is the only thing I have of my Grandfathers.

I ordered trees online on Easter Sunday.  We are in desperate need of some shade in my back and front yards.  So we decided on a Tulip Poplar Tree for our backyard - which is the tree you see pictured above with the shovel.  This tree is supposedly a very fast growing tree and should grow anywhere from 6-10 feet a year.  The height of the tree should be higher than my house and the span of the branches can be in excess of 40 feet.  It looks like a little "twig" now but I have high hopes that it will exceed my height by this time next year!  It has unusual leave and blossoms with cute yellow flowers in the spring and in the fall the leaves turn a very bright shade of yellow.  A picture I had seen on the website from which I purchased my trees, was so breathtaking that I just had to have this tree.  Fingers crossed that my tree meets my expectation.  Although, lets start with hoping the tree lives.  I know if Grandpa Brezine has anything to do with it from Heaven - it will be a beautiful tree.  So I plant this tree in honor of him and as a memorial for my pooch, Zoey!

We also planted a tree in the front yard.  We purchased a Maple tree called - October Glory.  This tree is supposedly another fast growing tree giving me 4-6 feet in additional height every year.  Our hope is that it will give us some much needed shade in the front to help cool off the front of our house.  The South exposure in our front yard heats up the brick making the bedrooms upstairs saunas in the dog days of summer.

This is our maple tree and I'm looking forward to watching it grow and being able to admire the beautiful shade of red the leaves will turn into during the Fall months.

Jon is not a man that likes to play in the dirt or do "manual" labor.  So I was blessed that he agreed to help me dig holes and plant these trees despite not really wanting to do this.  I told him I had so much fun doing this, and his response back to me was "I had fun hanging out with you!".

My body is already showing signs of "soreness" from all the digging in the hard dirt and clay.  The shovel was a godsend because it dug us some mean holes!

Grandpa Brezine give these trees a sprinkle of magic "fertilizer" from Heaven so they can grow tall and lush!