Apologies on the late posting, but I forgot about the new feature. I will try harder for next time. It’s been a whirlwind week for real-time activities. I won’t bore/depress you with what many of them were. On the bright side, younger son and his wife gave us an impromptu invite to Grand Rapids to meet up at Meijer Garden for an hour. They’d told us yesterday that GR had had a tornado that had taken a lot of trees down and oh yes, there was direct evidence of so many trees’ limbs ripped off and so much tree litter along so many roads we traveled. Meijer Garden and the surrounding area were in a power outage but they were still open and running on a generator. The lady at the ticket counter said the tornado hit 110MPH.
We walked in one of the newest gardens today, which is in a central location right near the entrance and is also seen all along the central interior walkway. The fountains were shut down but still felt cool to splash a little in. It’s a gorgeous space with mostly flowers, shrubs, and trees, but little sculpture. The grandbaby had fun running the sidewalk.
My favorite flowers of the many in that space were the red hibiscus. Ooh la la!
Tao Talk 
110 mph…I can’t imagine! that hibiscus is totally beautiful… glad you had a good day out with the family.
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Me neither and I’m glad it headed in the opposite direction after leaving GR. Me too on time with family. We had to take an alternate route home because the highways were all jammed, and it took awhile. When older son and I got back to town we stopped and had dinner. Got a lot of good conversation in today with him :)
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The power of a tornado makes you believe in a higher power…you don’t play with Mother Nature…glad you all weren’t directly affected execpt with an alternative route.
Jen, Bailey and I are spending tomorrow together…so I hope we get the same.
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Yes she doesn’t play! They said it was a 100 yard wide path and the number of trees either down or had limbs ripped off was startling. All along 96 we saw trees toppled and then when we got onto the streets we saw it up close. She had to have been really ticked off.
Aw, that’s good to hear you three will be spending time together. Got anything particular planned?
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We had them a few years ago…ripped up Nashville really bad.
We are going out to eat and may go antique shopping…we all like doing that…just to spend the day togther. Jen and I look for 70s stuff and Bailey looks for old cameras and things like that.
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Can’t wait to hear about the treasures you come across at the antique shopping. Sometimes just seeing the treasures is enough of a treat. I know you will all have fun together.
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A beautiful flower Li. Good to have time with family.
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Thanks, Sadje, and yes, it is <3
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❤️❤️❤️
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I love hibiscus! Tasty, too!
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Never thought of eating one. I know Irene at A Taste of Mexico has a recipe for battered zucchini blossoms.
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I haven’t actually eaten the blossoms, but the liquid is tasty when steeped. Popular in Mexico, where the flower (and drink) is called Jamaica (hah MY kah, more or less – since you pronounce both the a and the i in the second syllable). Also the base of Red Zinger tea.
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Oh that is interesting. I should have nabbed a blossom and brought it home for tea.
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That hibiscus is absolutely gorgeous. I’m sorry about your nutty week, and I’m glad you at least were able to you enjoy one nice activity with your family. Hope that largely compensated for all the BS life can throw at you!
I didn’t realize Michigan gets tornadoes relatively frequently. 110 mph sounds scary and I hope not too many homes were impacted. Unfortunately, tornadoes seem to become more frequent in New Jersey. When we moved here some 15 years ago, this was unheard of.
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Thanks for the kind words, Christian. This coming week will hopefully see the resolution of some of the issues. Seeing the grandbaby run and play is always therapeutic.
We saw MANY trees toppled and limbs ripped off of others but did not see any damage to buildings first hand. In that video a tree fell on a car and on part of a house. We’ve seen a few bad wind storms here where I live but not sure if they got to the level of tornado, at least not recently. So sorry to hear NJ is ramping up on them. Do they come off of the ocean?
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Tornadoes are a scary thing! The damage they wreak is awful. However, that hisbiscus is gorgeous.
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It was the dark and the light rolled into one.
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Yes, indeed.
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Some of my neighbors have red hibiscus – I think I may even have some of my own close up photos… somewhere. :D
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Have you ever tried steeping one for tea?
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I think I’ve seen red hibiscus on tea packages.
But I don’t have the flower and wouldn’t pick my neighbors without permission.
Have you?
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No, but “half-fast” said he had, which got me wondering…
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I’ve heard you can also make your own ‘rose-hip’ tea.
“Boil a pot of water and pour the hot water over the rose hips. If using fresh rose hips, use ¼ cup of hips to 1 cup of water. If using dried rose hips, crush them up and use 1 heaping tablespoon per cup of water. Let the tea steep for 15 minutes covered, and then strain out the pulp.”
Perhaps it is the same with hibiscus?
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I do brew rose-hip tea, but with rose-hips I bought. I sometimes throw a few in with a blend. Half said Red Zinger tea has it in it. It almost tempts me to get a hibiscus plant :) Also, did you see I posted about your package (and linked to you.)
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Thank you – I just went to the post and commented! 💕
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You’re welcome <3
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💌
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My dad was active as an adult with the local (Saint Louis) famous garden that I think had been even more open than it is now to the public when he was growing up nearby it. I always think of him when I see this kind of hibiscus. He had one of these, and I had the audacity to ask him for it. 🌺
I’m glad you had a lovely day.
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Marleen I’m guessing you now have the hibiscus <3
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