Good Morning sunshine

I couldn’t sleep last night but I finally managed to close my eyes and drift away around 3:30 AM. Imagine my surprise when I woke up at 6:15. Oh, good grief. I’m going to warn you at this point that this is kind of a long post, ok?

I’ve had a quiet week off and after attempting on Tuesday to do one day trip with my husband, came to the conclusion that it’s best he stay at home. He agrees.

It is what it is and there are no complaints. Thank heavens that home is a good place.

 

The coffee was already made when I got up. This is one thing my husband does really well anymore, and he knows how much I appreciate it.

Need coffee ~

 

I took my cup and my camera and walked around outside in my bare feet. The lawn service came yesterday so I didn’t have to worry about bees in clover.

I’ve been doing chores around the house and the grounds that I hadn’t had time for with working so much. My son helped and we got some bushes trimmed and vines taken care of. When we moved here, the vines were climbing up the house.

Remember when I lost all of my images when my EHD crashed a couple of years ago? Well, here are a couple that I’d saved online at Photobucket. They were taken when I brought my husband to look at the house on October 12, 2008. I had already arranged for us to move in and had been given a tour of the inside. I brought my husband over that weekend to see the outside.

 

October 2008

 

 

And what it looks like today:

 

 

My husband always took care of the bushes and the outside of the property. The owners have a lawn service that comes every two weeks in the spring and summer but they don’t trim bushes or keep vines at bay.

 

I broke down and put together a couple of simple hanging baskets this week.

They make me happy.

 

This crazy bush thing isn’t a really bush at all. My son helped me cut it back one morning this week because the vines were over the picnic table and hitting the ground. This is an old stump from a cherry tree that fell several years ago, splitting the lilac bush (in foreground) in half. The lilac is recovering; my husband removed the tree himself. Pieces of it are standing up next to the bush and in another photo further down.

 

Steam rises off the roof in the early morning sun.

 

This planter was empty and looking lonely, so I filled it with sphagnum moss and plants.

 

 

This is where the rest of the cherry tree logs dwell. It’s a contraption that my husband built that serves several purposes. For a long time, I considered it an eyesore, but now every time I see it, I smile.

It fell down in a storm this week and my son helped me put it back together. One branch helps to hold up the wire that stretches from the dogwood to the side of the house (my husband’s ingenious squirrel-defeating system). It also acts as a place for birds to perch so that I can photograph them, and to hang suet from for the woodpeckers.

My husband is not able to fill the feeders anymore, so I’ve been doing it. It’s a pleasure, actually. When he sits at his place in the breakfast nook, he can see the birds that come to visit. At least, I hope he can see them.

 

I also did a major cleaning job on the kitchen & breakfast nook floor. This is something I haven’t done for a couple of years. Oh, I mop it regularly . . . but to get it this clean, I have a system that involves hours of hard labor but it ends up gleaming.

There is going to come a time when I’ll have to stop working to care for my husband, but so far things have been ok and work is kind of an escape, actually, although I dread going back on Monday. Just too busy . . .

For now, though, it is quiet. It is comfortable. And today I’m going out to look for a sofa for my husband. It’s a long story and one I won’t go into at this point. I just want him to be comfortable.

Hope your weekend is lovely ~

Thanks for coming by today. It’s always good when you’re here.