How gracious, how benign is solitude

I had a quiet weekend. It was one that had been planned in advance to have me visiting my niece in Philadelphia for an overnight stay. My sister and her other daughter were also on board but I had to cancel because I just didn’t feel that it was wise leaving my husband at this time. Although he’s stable, he is still not good.

So my sister and her daughters came to me. How nice of them! We met in Wilmington for lunch at what has become one of my favorite restaurants. Will try to have photos up tomorrow.

On Sunday morning, I sat outside for a little bit, trying to catch a photo of a hummingbird. Geez, those little suckers are fast.

 

Resting on a branch in the morning light.

 

 

And feeding on the flowers of the aloe plants which are a favorite of theirs.

 

 

I bought a little photo prop this year - a hummingbird swing from the Isabella catalogue. But I have yet to see one of our little ones sitting on it. I’ll try to entice them with something.

Hummingbird Swing

 

A black-capped chickadee fluffs itself after a dip in the bird bath.

 

 

And George gives me the eye as he waits for me to throw the frisbee again.

And again.

And . . .

Oy.

 

 

We don’t have many goldfiches this year, but this could be due to the fact that we don’t have any sunflowers planted. I swear, they love them. They also seem to prefer thistle seed over the oiled sunflower that I offer in the feeders.

 

 

A partial view from my chair.

 

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This week promises to be really busy at school. I’m fine with busy. And the weather has been nothing short of pleasant which is such a relief. Hope your week is off to a good start. Will be back tomorrow hopefully with some cell phone pictures taken in Wilmington.

 

When from our better selves we have too long been parted by the hurrying world, and droop. Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, how gracious, how benign is solitude.    ~ William Wordsworth

Camera phone images and lovely weather

My husband turned 57 today and the weather has been the most pleasant it’s been since May. It feels like Maine weather and I love it. His folks came to visit for a little bit this afternoon and it was quite nice. His mum came bearing a homemade trifle (his favorite) and my husband’s eyes lit up when he saw it. I had told him that for his birthday, I would pick up crab cake sandwiches for dinner and now we could have trifle for dessert. But after they left, he told me he’d rather not have a big dinner, and asked if we could do something small. I know him . . . he wanted to have room for the trifle and if he could have had only that, he probably would have.

The following images were all taken with the camera phone in my Samsung Galaxy S4. I think I opened one or two up in PS to process and the others were edited using Aviary, a free download on the phone.

 

I took this one coming up the driveway last week when it was hot hot hot. Got the frame at Pave Sigaut on Flickr where there are a number of cool textures and frames – all free.

Pave Sigaut on Flickr

 

George gets a new toy.

And he hasn’t let up for days with wanting it tossed.

Over and over and . . .

 

I had blueberry pie last week that I warmed in the microwave and topped with ice cream.

 

 

The sky one recent evening.

 

 

And the new sofa, which arrived yesterday afternoon from Ethan Allen.

I ordered one in their Express line, which took just over three weeks from the date of sale to the arrival date (and it was on sale).

It’s much easier on my husband than what was there before. We won’t even go into that story, but I will say that what was there before was the small part of the old sectional and it was very uncomfortable.

I don’t really have much else so I’ll be back later.

Sunday morning

We finally have some blessed relief from the oppressive heat of late. It came in the form of thunder and lightning and a little rain last night.  The thunder wasn’t too loud but I’m sure George would beg to disagree as he was glued close to my side all evening while I continued to watch the first season of Call the Midwife. OMG – I love this show. Cannot believe I hadn’t viewed it until now.

Any time spent outdoors lately has been pretty horrible and I’m grateful that we have some rooms air conditioned here and that I work at a place that is kept cool.

This morning I woke early and spent a little time on the back patio enjoying my coffee. I haven’t been able to do this for weeks. The sky was full of clouds but I could see patches of blue to the west. I played a little frisbee with George, then sat down to take some photos with the long lens.

 

George has adapted to things that have been going on here lately, specifically the fact that his master isn’t the same anymore. I love this dog because he is a gentleman, and because he knows when to back down (always). It’s sad but he doesn’t look so sad, does he? He’s fine. I should take him for more walks. I know I should . . .

 

Patches of blue.

 

 

Even the birds are happy.

 

 

I keep the feeders full and the birdbaths fresh.

 

 

And some day, I’m going to ask my son to help me move this pile of garden stakes along with the old spade and hoe. I left everything the way it was on the last day my husband realized he could no longer work in the garden. I think it was at some point in April. He had planned to stake all the tomatoes (a huge job) and I’ve left it where it’s been partly because it looks like they’re ready for him to come outside and use them. I mean, I know that will never happen. But it looks like it could happen.

It’s not denial. I’m just selective about the reality I accept.

As for the tomatoes . . . they’re in the garden under the weeds somewhere. I had to give something up and it was the tending of the garden. I just cannot do it all and gardening is at the bottom of my list right now.

We’ve been enjoying some delicious sweet corn and cantaloupes from the farm stand down the road and last night for dinner, I made hot dogs and corn on the cob. Haven’t had hot dogs in a couple of years and they were great. I added some cheese and diced onion and kosher pickles.

Here’s to a good week ahead. My new sofa should be here by mid-week, too. Woot!

Pinterest finds

Just because I feel like it, I’m posting photos from a couple of my Pinterest boards. Speaking of which, I cannot for the life of me embed a photo from Pinterest either directly on Blogger or on Live Writer. I found how-to instructions for Word Press, but that isn’t helping me any.

There are mostly from my What’s Up Pussycat board.

Because I think they’re kind of cool.

 

The Marlon Brando was quite the find, and the following are just images I really like.

 

It’s caliente outside and is supposed to be that way all week. Tomorrow is a long day at Hopkins and my husband is getting quite tired of it all. I’ll say no more on that score.

George wants to play. I wish I weren’t so dadgum tired.

Little lost pup

I got up bright and early this morning, knowing that it was dump day here at the Casa de George. Our son would soon be home from his night shift, and he would want to get right at the chore. We loaded up the Element with all the recyclables and the household trash and headed 20 minutes away, my son chatting the whole trip (which is nice) while we listened to a CD he’d just downloaded that he thought I would like.

I always like vintage Van Morrison. And I was deeply touched at his gesture.

When we got home, he heard something whimpering under the patio bushes and came running inside to ask for my help.

 

 

A pit bull mix puppy with an injured leg is what came from under the bushes at my son’s coaxing, and while we waited for Animal Control (no kill) to come and collect him, we fed and watered the friendly little boy, my son petting and comforting him the whole time.

The photo above was taken with my son’s iPhone 5.

The photo below was taken with my Samsung Galaxy S4.

No editing was done to either photo.

I’m just putting that out there ~

 

The sweet little thing continued to whimper, but after its belly was satisfied (we didn’t give too much), he calmed some and began to lick my son’s hands.

I took a photo of the dog and went to the neighbor’s houses – you may have heard me mention the gun people and their lovely neighbor’s – the dirt-bike people? Well, I got there by going down our drive, out the lane, round the side of the hill and up their little road only to find that no one seemed to be awake at 9 on a Saturday morning. This was probably a good thing, in retrospect because I hadn’t been there for at least a couple of years after the time I went to discuss the dirt bike issue. I stayed close to my car, calling them and beeping the horn a few times. But I quickly left, thinking that even if they did own this dog, this is no place that it should be living.

I don’t understand how people can live with trash and crap strewn over all their lawns and their driveways chock-a-block with rusted out cars. I don’t ever plan on going there again. It gave me the creeps, and it still gives me the creeps knowing that they’re just on the other side of the woods from here . . .

Right on the other side of where the Animal Control truck is in the photo below.

 

Bye-bye, Marvin. (My son was calling him this).

The kind Animal Warden came fairly quickly to collect the injured pup, saying that there was no way that the dog could have come from our illustrious neighbors because it was too well-cared for. He did a micro-chip search which came up negative, and will take the dog to the vet he uses and try to either find its owners or a forever home.

 

So how are things in your neck of the woods?

and ps – I like the Samsung photo better. Sorry, iPhone.

In no particular order

Hello, my friends. This post is coming to you completely off the top of my head, in no particular order and what few images there are all came from my cell phone.

First off, I want to state that I should not have bought that bag of Keebler Grasshopper cookies. I guess I wanted to see if they really tasted like the girl scout thin mint cookies. But seriously, I really didn’t need to know. That they do. Especially after you put them in the freezer. And now I know that they’re excellent on top of vanilla ice cream. This is also something I did not need to know.

 

 

I took this image of my side view mirror one day last week in the early morning, while driving down the driveway heading to work. I always roll down the window so that I can wave goodbye until I reach the bend and he can’t see me anymore. That’s my husband just to the right of the orange Element, waving back. It’s what we have done every day for several years.

 

 

I broke down and bought a new smart phone last Friday. I went to the Verizon store, marched up to the counter, and asked to see the iPhone 5 which I was determined to get. I had done some research and had thought it was what I wanted. I came home with the Samsung Galaxy S4, however, which I am in love with.

 

I am an Android girl.

 

Did I mention that it has a 13 megapixel camera?

 

 

Every evening, George and I go outside while my husband takes his after-dinner nap on the couch. George chases squirrels, sniffs around the edges of the property, finds his frisbee and brings it to me while I water the container plants, freshen the water in the bird baths, and fill the feeders with seed. It’s become a nice kind of ritual doing all the little chores that my husband used to do. I know he would love to be able to still do them.

 

 

So this is some little thing my phone does with the camera. I was walking around the property, snapping pictures and inadvertently touched something on the top of the screen that I couldn’t seem to make go away. It put this little picture in the corner, and without my reading glasses on, I couldn’t tell what it was. But then I realized it was my finger and by the time I took the picture, there I was in the shot.

 

Hello.

 

 

Our son is coming out at the end of the month to stay the weekend with his father so that I can go visit my niece in Philadelphia. My sister and her other daughter will be there as well and we’re planning on having a girls night at home. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to seeing them and just getting away for a night and a day.

 

 

 

One of the first grade teachers brought me a gift and a card this week. In the card, she told me how much my help and kindness has meant to her over the years. She thanked me again for a print I had given her that she has hanging in her classroom. She said that it calms her just to look at it. It’s a black & white image of a stand of trees with bare branches that I had completely forgotten I had given to her. I then remembered that I did it when she was having a hard time of it earlier this year. The gift she gave to me was a book on photography, specifically the art of photographing trees.

 

I love trees.

 

I nearly cried.

 

Kindness really does matter.

 

 

[Posted by George Young on Pinterest]

 

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And on that note, I bid you farewell.

 

Until next time, my friends . . .

Good Morning

Happy Independence Day to all that live in the States and a Good Morning to everyone else. I have off today and to celebrate, I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Yum. Served ‘em with pure maple syrup. Then I put on a load of wash and swept the kitchen floor after I did the dishes.

My life is so interesting, isn’t it?

 

Placemat courtesy of Hilary at Crazy As a Loom. (Pssst – it’s really a dish towel). I love the fun colors. Photo was edited using Greater Than Gatsby’s One-Click Perfect Color, a free download that has quickly become a favorite of mine.

Today’s weather is a mix of sun and shade, threatening rain clouds, and a general air of mugginess. We’ve had more rain than I ever remember seeing in early summer but whatever it is, we pretty much have to live with it, don’t we?

 

Whether the weather be fine,

Or whether the weather be not,

Whether the weather be cold,

Or whether the weather be hot,

We'll weather the weather

Whatever the weather

Whether we like it or not.

~ Children’s Weather Poem

 

 

I know I use this stamp often, but it’s how I really feel.

 

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Today is quiet here at the Casa de George. He played frisbee this morning with me and I may take him for a little ride this afternoon. We have no plans other than to enjoy the quiet. I’ll make something good for dinner, and am planning on making {this} for dessert. So tell me ~ what are your plans for the Fourth? Are you swimming, or sizzling, or grilling, or under an umbrella? Inquiring minds would like to know.

 

Until tomorrow then . . .