2011 Project 365 – Week Twenty-Four

I’d like to say thanks to everyone who commented on Thursday’s post. I have to say that Friday was the best day I’ve had in a while – I got a lot of work done, I had energy, I finally reviewed my surgery packet & allayed some of my fears. I think I’m ready for surgery now, whereas before I kept thinking about canceling it. I felt so good after pouring out my heart & getting all that feedback that I thought maybe I could benefit from therapy. But, you know, blogging is free & it seemed to be pretty effective. So the next time I need some mental help I’m just going to come back to you guys!

Sunday, June 5^th

Dr. M & I had a great time touring the Adena Mansion & Gardens. Go here to see more pictures (including sheep & a camel!), but here are a couple not on that post. I had forgotten to show interior pictures of the upstairs of the great barn we saw. It’s a pretty fabulous barn.

And here’s the State of the Bug – happy to be sitting down! As I mentioned in my other post, those are not white stockings on my legs. Those are my actual neon white legs. Sigh.

Monday, June 6^th

I decided to dress up one of Dr. M’s sheep for the possibility of rain.

Here’s our patriotic hanging basket – it just keeps getting prettier and prettier.

 Tuesday, June 7^th  

The Tax Time Pig. There really is some gender confusion here. In case you can’t tell, that’s a bikini top & a tutu. Yeah. The false eyelashes just slay me.

Dr. M took this picture of a woodpecker – looks to me like it’s gotten its beak stuck in that nut block. Silly bird!

The moon!

Wednesday, June 8^th

On this day I posted a poem about Dr. M’s mom. But even though I was sad, I came home & saw that Dr. M had taken this picture of the petunias at the entrance to his school – in the school colors of course. Made me smile.

Gorgeous sunset!

Thursday, June 9^th     

On Thursday I posted something wondering if I have some depression going on. And then I came home & took some pictures of flowers (or potential flowers) in our yard. We’re gonna have lilies soon!

I love this vine.

The weekly squirrel. It looks like it’s saying, “Please sir, can I have some more?” But Dr. M is waiting on the “I’m all right” soundtrack to start.

Friday, June 10^th

Today I had a great day at work. I worked hard, I felt alert, I had energy. It was great! And then I came home & saw these great pictures that Dr. M took of a temporary marshy area by the road – from all the rain. Herons!

Here’s a close-up of the one on the right.

An egret.

Saturday, June 11^th

Dr. M found another toad in front of our house. This one is darker than the one a couple of weeks ago.

We decided to go on another ramble. We had a Subway picnic (my favorite part of eating Subway is Sunchips – oh & it’s cheap) & then explored a short trail with a waterfall.

Love this little mini fall beside the big one – looks like a grotto to me.

I’m thinking, “OK, let’s head back to the car now. I shouldn’t have worn flip flops & I’m thirsty!”

Then we drove around awhile looking for a mythical covered bridge Dr. M remembered seeing. And then we actually found a covered bridge! It was a good day.

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants.

Rugby Jam

This week for the Poetry Jam NanU provided a few picture prompts. I chose this one:

Rugby

You probably don’t
know this about me
but I like to watch
baseball.
All the other sports are
too loud
too quiet
too fast
too slow.
But baseball is
just right.
March is pitchers
and catchers.
April makes me giddy.
The long run to the
All Star game is bliss
and then there's the
mad dash to October
when I’m bereft again
until spring
(perhaps this is why
I don’t like winter).
Did you know that with
fewer than two outs there
are eleven ways to bring
a runner home from
third base?

{You were expecting
a poem about rugby
weren’t you?
I don’t know a thing
about rugby. Go Braves!}

Go here to read more serious responses to the prompts :)

Not Quite Thankful Thursday

Is this what depression looks like? I am daydreaming about winning the lottery. After thinking about what charitable bequests I would make and considering the matter of trust funds for niece & nephews & other children we know, I get down to the nitty gritty. What special wonderful things do I want to have money for, for myself?

I would pay off our bills.

I would pay someone to clean my house.

I would get to sleep late.

I’m obsessed with sleeping. I want to put a pallet in a spare office at work so I can take an afternoon nap. I want to (but rarely do) go to bed at 9:00 pm every day. I never want to get up in the mornings – whether it’s 6:00 on a work day or 9:30 on the weekend. The idea that I might have enough money so that I don’t have to get out of bed is bliss.

I go through the motions of prayer (using the Anglican rosary that Dr. M gave me), but I really don’t want to have anything whatsoever to do with God. I skip church. I do the happy dance when Bible Study is canceled. I glance at God sideways and go, “shoo!”

On the other hand, I’m happy with my job and my husband. I love our little house & the things we’ve planted and the birds that make us laugh. I don’t even mind my long commute because I get to “read” a lot more books that way (currently playing: Whisper to the Blood a Kate Shugak mystery by Dana Stabenow).

I’m content, except for that business of wanting to sleep late. Perhaps my dreams are filled with the God I’m avoiding and I think that five more minutes will provide the secret to life. Hmm. I think I’ll pay closer attention when I do my rosary tonight. 

Or

Or

We’re keeping vigil.
We’re not there.
We work and eat
and talk about
baseball and lilies.
But every cell
strains toward
that distant bed.
We listen without
realizing for that
distant breath
or its absence.
Is she still
in this world
or has she
flown away
into the peace
that passes
understanding?
And when she does
fly away in a
week or a month
or a year or a day
will we find peace?
Or just an empty
inner room where
we kept vigil.


Dr. M's mom's liver is failing. As we are held in tension waiting on "that call" - which could come tomorrow or in six months - I'm reminded of the tension I felt when my own mother was dying. It's a delicate dance between living our lives and waiting on death.

Road Trip to Chillicothe

On Sunday Dr. M & I took a road trip to the Adena Mansion & Gardens in Chillicothe, Ohio. It's a beautiful estate, and the home of the sixth governnor of Ohio, Thomas Worthington.

There is a really nice museum showing the history of the area. It also has some nice exhibits showing a store and tavern - and lots of hands on things for children.

The house was built in 1807 and is pretty fascinating - mostly because of the garish color schemes that were popular at that time. Made my head spin just a little bit! Here are a few examples:

It was also interesting to me because this family was quite wealthy, so the furnishings and their lifestyle was different from a lot of the historic homes I've visited. One feature that I especially loved was this serving cabinet - the servants could put food on it and then spin it around into the room. There was one in the drawing room & in the dining room. Sorry for the fuzziness - a result of low-light no-flash photography:

While I enjoyed the house a lot, I loved the gardens. I went a little overboard on the pictures.



We visited some of the outbuildings - there was a field hands house that is apparently used for school children's visits. Here I am trying out one of the games. I think I could have mastered it after about 500 more tries. {Please note the extremely white legs - no, I am not wearing white stockings!}

It seems like everywhere we go there are sheep. I'm not sure how this happens, but I think Dr. M is a sheep magnet. They were in this fabulous barn.

We also saw a field with a few burros in it.

And, inexplicably, a camel. ????



All in all, a great day - and free if you're a member of the Ohio Historical Society (which, of course, we are).

Monday Miscellany

I have a big post planned for an outing we took yesterday, but I was just too worn out to mess with it last night. We had a great time and got a lot of walking in. So, to tide you over, here is some other stuff:

• Just FYI, for anyone who might be interested, do not listen to the audio book, Reliquary, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child while eating your breakfast sandwich in the car. Really, don't do it. You will thank me. It is, however, a great book so far.
• The boy next door just might send Dr. M and me over that mythical edge any day now. He knocks on the door many times a day wanting to borrow shovels & watering cans & ask questions about growing plants and show us his snake and give us a new whirligig for our potted geranium and make my heart melt. He has the best smile. I'll try really hard not to give him any reason to stop smiling at us.
• I won't be writing a new Magpie poem this week - the prompt gives me the willies. Go ahead & click here to see it. You know you want to. (Except Dr. M - honey you really don't want to go see it).
• My boss is on vacation for two weeks. I am resolving to be creative, pleasant, and resourceful in my attempts to get things done for people in his absence. We'll see how long that lasts. Heh.
• I finally opened my surgery packet this past weekend, figuring that there might be things I need to know ahead of time. After reviewing all the information (I have to hire home health care, really?) I decided that my hip just really doesn't hurt all that much & perhaps Dr. M should have surgery instead. I promise to be a good nurse. Once I finish my little freak-out I'll review the info more calmly & then call my doctor's office with all my questions. Or cancel the surgery. Maybe I'll flip a coin!

OK, that's enough stuff for today. You may now proceed with the rest of your Monday.

2011 Project 365 – Week Twenty-Three

The star of this week is a wily squirrel – made me laugh out loud. But that’s not until Saturday…

Sunday, May 29^th

We haven’t given up on my tomato seedlings, but we decided to get some more mature plants just in case.

Monday, May 30^th

Here are a few more pictures from our ramble through the fen. Go here to see some of the others.

Tuesday, May 31^st  

The cement pond did a brisk business this week.

Wednesday, June 1^st

I stopped to take some pictures of wildflowers that I pass on my commute to work. Makes me smile every day.

Thursday, June 2^nd       

The Tax Time Pig dressed for Memorial Day. Semper Fi! Although I’m pretty sure he’s not a Marine.

Our first hummingbird picture of the season!

Friday, June 3^rd   

The State of the Bug. I was trying to capture the glazed look I had after doing some online training at work. But really I just look psycho.

I got to follow this for a short stretch on the way home from work – what’s with the farm equipment on my commute? That’s usually Dr. M’s dealio.

Downy headed woodpeckers enjoying our new nut block. I read the ingredients – I would have been eating it too if Dr. M wouldn’t have thought I was crazy. Heh.

I thought this would be the squirrel of the week, but no.

Saturday, June 4^th

Dr. M posted these pictures on Facebook this morning. I’m just going to post them with the captions he used.

The Jungle Squirrel stalks its prey...

Pounces!

Munches on fruit and nuts...

Looks at me as if to say "What?"

And sulks off as I go out to relocate the woodpecker treat, laughing out loud!

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants.

Shy Jam

I'm the cooker this week & I must say that I was uninspired by my own prompt - swimming. You may check it out here. However, I managed to write something about which I have a lot of experience. Sometimes being a grown-up means you have to do things that you'd really rather not do. Although there are a lot of people who would be astounded that I used to be shy. I guess sometimes we do grow up!

The Bug, 2004

Shy

In her mind she is a river otter
All grace and fur and deep brown eyes
She dips her toe into that chattering stream
Pulls it back with a diffident sigh
It’s cold and menacing and three miles high

Over her head and out of her league
clichés crowd the room in groups of three
Retracing her steps to the flower filled wall
She lowers her eyes and watches her feet
They’re cold and trembling and three miles deep

Two cleansing breaths lift her feet from the mire
Watching the current she gauges her stride
And wades right in with a resolute smile
She lets the otter be her ebullient guide
And cuts a swath through the room three miles wide

Go here to check out other poems about swimming.

Thankful Thursday

Ah June! Let’s see what’s making me smile this lovely June day…

• Hallelujah! The coughing left me on Tuesday. I coughed all day at work (apparently drove my boss to leave work early), but by the time I arrived home it was over.
• There are growing things in our garden – tomatoes, bell peppers & zucchini. I’m excited to see all the green against the dark brown earth. I have the same feeling I had last year – I don’t even care if we harvest anything because the growing of the things is so much fun. Especially since The Watering Man is on the case & all I do is take pictures (I’ll post some on Saturday). Heh. However, eating a home grown tomato would be pretty sweet so I hope we have a nice harvest like last year.
• The weather has been hot & sunny and I’m loving it. I don’t usually tolerate heat very well (my cooling system doesn’t really work very well – I don’t sweat enough), but my hip loves the heat so I am not going to complain about it.

Now it’s your turn – what are you thankful for today?