I need a little help please....

....there are several plants in my backyard that I cannot identify. I know many of you are skilled in this area so I'm hoping you can help me determine whether they are plants I want to keep or plants that need to be yanked.

The first flower -- possibly balloon flowers?

And it's ready to bloom state ~~


Next, I seriously think this could be a weed ~~


Now I know I planted a Phlox and something called Chelone in the spot next to the shed. I'm not sure either took but maybe this could be one of them?

It's about 6 feet tall right now and looking quite unwieldy. Maybe it needs to be cut back?

I thought this was an Astilbe but now I'm thinking I'm way off ~~

It produces a berry that the birds seem to go nuts over, judging by the purple bird poop I find.

I have to admit that I was embarrassed when my neighbor behind me asked to come into my back yard to retrieve a wayward tree branch she had cut down on her side of the fence. I really do want my yard to look better than it does but I have so little time to devote to that effort. Don't you wish there was some sort of magic button you could push to sprout up all sorts of lovely plants in your yard? No maintenance required.

Of course that's not possible. Anything in life that's worth having requires work.

Today I visited my parents. Dad's knickers were all in a bunch because a new person was moving into his building and their family had the door to the building open while they carted in all sorts of belongings. Worse yet, the new person was moving into the room next to Dad. Dad didn't greet me by name, and never did utter my name, but he did seem glad to see me. He kept asking me to take him away from there. At least this time he didn't mention my dead grandparents. He had a few good moments with me and even smiled his infectious smile for a bit. But he never said my name and that was sad.

At Mom's she told me twice in less than a half hour about her visit with Dad that morning. How the podiatrist had clipped his toe nails, how another gal had given him a foot and hand massage. I just looked over at Denise as if to say 'see, that's what I'm talking about.' I think Mom was pleased when I told her he mentioned her visit to me and that he had called both her and Denise by name.

I guess I need to lower my expectations about my visits to see my Dad. Just being recognized is going to have to be good enough from now on.

Tomorrow I head back to work after 11 1/2 days off. It's so nice to be off but I know I'll have tons of email and plenty of work waiting for me when I get back. I hope there hasn't been any drama there while I've been off.