lunches, surprises, pain patch and rain

Last weekend I seemed to fall into the 1950s TV "The Donna Reed Show".  Bug had never seen it and as we were flipping channels, there she was, Donna.  She was wearing a fitted front button blouse with a peter pan collar and what in black and white looked like the same color a 9 gore skirt with a thin belt.  Her little bow in the perfect curl on the right side of her head, and comfortable short heeled pumps.  She was sitting in an easy chair reading the newspaper.  The Dad was trying to teach the son a lesson and through a series of misunderstandings the boy actually taught the Dad the lessons and Donna was there between her two "boys" so pleased and happy.  It seemed to short circuit my DNA and that day I made a pound cake, candied orange peal and sugar violets.  I made the cake for Garden Circle and sprinkled candy orange peal and then then sugar violets and it was a perfect cake for the Garden Circle.  There were only four of us at circle, but we had a lovely time and since I had made the cake for Carolyn's birthday, and she was not one of the four, I stopped by her house after the meeting and cut her a couple of pieces making sure she got lots of the orange peal and violets.  She was delighted and sufficiently satisfied that I had baked her a birthday cake and pretty sure that I would drop it.

But no, not me.  I had already lined up some of the ladies from the Opera House Stage Company.  Carolyn and I were in our first play there together.  I played the first man shot and she played the bankers wife, the first woman with lines in the play.  The play was Casa Blanca.  We have been in other plays together, murder mysteries and radio plays.  We used to work setting up the dinners and sat around the table at the end of a play and laughed with our fellow stage company friends.  I sent out one email just suggesting we have our first monthly ladies out to lunch on Wednesday early at Carrie Ann & Co.  Wednesday morning I had a message from Carolyn, her plans had changed and she would not be able to make the lunch.  But all the rest of us knew this was a surprise birthday party for her.  She had no way of knowing, because I apparently excel at surprising people.  I called her cell phone and she finally called back.  I thought about just letting it go, but I had brownies waiting with a candle in them at Carrie Ann's and people wanting to have lunch and celebrate this special friend of ours.  So, since I had nothing to loose I said "Surprise! This is a surprise birthday party for you."  "What?" was her response.  I tried again, "Carolyn, this is not just a lunch to get together, we are throwing you a surprise party."  The lady on the line with Carolyn starting laughing, and since it was her fault that Carolyn's schedule had changed, she made arrangements to work out things with Carolyn so she could attend.  Once we were all there I explained how the day had gone so far and Carolyn drove to Tallahassee, back so we could hug her and eat brownies (and they were wonderful) together and then she drove back to Tallahassee.  Bless her heart, but she did seem touched that we had all gotten together in her honor.

The next day was the Spring Garden Club Luncheon.  I made a spring Quinoa salad packed with fresh cut herbs and violets from my garden.  I also added lots of lovely veggies and since it had flowers in it, everyone knew immediately I had made it.  Our Circle was doing half of the ways/means table and I had made ribbon woven scented sachet/pincushions.  I painted thimble sized terra cotta pots and then planted blooming purple violets and ran ribbons around the pots.  Finally I dug up some white butterfly gingers and filled bag fulls and then tied ribbons around the bags, writing the color and type of flower it was. 

Three of us from our circle started putting out the ways/means and pricing.  All of the items brought from our circle had been priced prior to getting there.  The other circle placed their unmarked stuff on the table and walked away.  I got a little terse with one woman who kept insisting that she had donated this for the club.  All of us had donated our items.  She had done a nice packaging on her products, but she seemed to miss the $5 limit.  She did not like what we were doing, so we told her that we were not in charge of the world and she could do as she wanted.  She ended up basically giving it to a few woman and did not make any money for the club the way she handled it.  I felt a little bad that she wasn't going to get the price she thought was fair, and I have no doubt, but she still could have made money if she raffled them, but oh well, that was her choice.  We were able to raise $80 on the raffles and $70 on ways/means.  Kay was able to sell and trade her plants, and it seemed like our circle did 75% of the work.  Isabelle baked the ham, she helped set up the tables, she took the money.  Jane took the lead on the ways/means and Maureen and I joined in.  Then Maureen and I sold raffle tickets and finally we worked the ways/means table as people were getting ready to leave and got about half of the stuff off of the table.  We managed to pack all the rest of the ways/means things that have been on that table for a couple of years, back in the boxes.  Most of it is now priced, so depending on who handles this table in the fall, they might have an easier time.  Then we stayed behind to clean up.

Thirty one of us met for the spring luncheon and I had a lovely time sitting at our circle's table.  My friend Beulah, whose sister Mary I knew at LSU in the pesticide safety group, sat with us.  She is one of my favorite people and every time she talks to me her sister comes up, and Mary is such a hero of mine.  It was a lovely day.  I always feel so 'grown up' when I sit in these luncheons.  I used to sit with my Mother at these events and loved it.  I can't believe I am now the one doing things like this.  I felt like such a Southern lady.  Crocheting, making candy orange peal and sugar flowers, weaving and sewing, digging and packaging.  It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it so much. 

Friday I spent the day sick.  I slept until after 11:00am.  I got up and decided I was fine to go help Bug at the Casa Bianca house.  We got there and I got sick, so he had to drive me back home.  I Spent the rest of the day either sleeping or staring down porcelain.  The dawn had broken with lightning and thunder and rain drenched the water sodden soil bubbled in puddles and pools and runs like creeks across the streets.  The water table is filling up with all this rain during our dry season.  If the summer is as wet as the Farmer's Almanac says, we should fill all the aquifers up.  All in all the house and rock driveway are doing just fine.  There is some standing water in the yard, but no more then Labrun. 

Today I had planned on dying eggs with my Mother in law, but I am not feeling well.  Am I sick?  Slight warmness, but I have been sweating like a horse and had to keep getting up yesterday to change out of wet bed clothes.  I would wake up and pull the sheets and blankets back to dry and air, but I wasn't well enough to change them.  I would dry off, change bed clothes and lay down again to go into shivers into a fitful sleep only to wake up an hour so later and repeat the process.  Is this sick?  Or am I simply having my typical problem with meds.  I have had on the pain patch since we picked them up Tuesday when we drove to Valdosta to Moody AFB.  Bug thought I might be having problems since I was a day overdue in replacing it.  Maybe.  I was more afraid that my body was saying "NO MORE"  But last evening I had to give it a chance and I changed out the one on my left arm and put a new one on my right.  Still have some stomach issues, but no worse than yesterday, for sure.  I am still taking it easy and Bug is going to pick up the paint, but I just can't go.  I showed him the yellow I want for the office.  It is named joyful yellow.  Hello, is that my color or what?  It is a lovely soft creamy yellow that will match my linen material for the curtains in that room.  Now to feel well enough to start sewing.

I have painted my butterfly hooks for my closet.  I am still more focused on making things for my closet then worrying about the rest of the house.  Bug has such a clear view.  I am sure that he will surprise me and I will be very happy.

Right now, my Luna is asleep in my lap and her sister, Stella is asleep next to us.  Bob and Harley sleep at my feet but leap up and run outside every once in a while, barking and sounding tough.  Then back to my feet and they curl up like a couple of puppies, making happy noises when I rub their ears.  Edna is in her hidey hole behind the toilet in the guest bath room.  The older chickens have been freed from the mud bog of a chicken coop.  George and girls with Willie and Lily are more used to the mud and they have full run of the coop.  About 3 weeks ago I came out one afternoon to find the door in the middle had been pushed open and ducks and peeps and John C and the older girls were all mingling around each other.  The older ones still peck at the wee ones a bit, but they have been raised with other babies so they are being extremely patient.  Lily likes to swim in their water bucket, even though we have given her and Willie a little bigger pool.  I have seen Lily swim one time in the bigger pool and she swam in a tight circle under water and then splashed up and flapped her wings and quacked and had such a lovely time.  I hope that we can work out a way for them to swim at the big pond and keep them safe.  We will see.

Yesterday Bug picked up our new chicken coop.  It is basically a raised house with laying boxes.  But it can be cleaned up and add on a little more cover for when it rains and then a run area for them.  But the house is sitting behind our house waiting to be painted white and the green metal roof to be put on.  It will look like a mini house like ours.  It will be lovely when it is done.  I am so excited.  The sheet rock is up, most of the list of to dos is done and we are hoping to start painting as early as this weekend.  Who  knows, we might be able to move in by the end of May.  Bug has been working so hard, and I have been pretty useless. 

The rain should pass leaving Easter Sunday and Monday sunny and warming back up.  It got into the 30s again this week.  No freeze, just cold.  But it is the middle of April.  I am waiting for one more cold snap.  Not a freeze, but just a cooling rainy week and then summer, maybe.  Bug plans to go fishing with his Dad on Monday.  I hope to be able to do something.  To just not be sick.  I really want these patch things to work.  They are less then a square inch big.  Just tiny things that disappear on my skin, but slowly releases narcotics slowly into my blood system.  I felt one day like it might be working, but then I got sick, so now I am just seeing if I can get back on my feet and adjust.  Maybe I can get used to this and not have to take the other pills also.  maybe.  I have high hopes, high apple pie in the skyyyyy hopes.  Just love that song.

If I can get to feeling better I am hoping to make a strawberry cheesecake for Easter dinner.  I have some gorgeous berries.  We will see.  I have boiled eggs, I hope we can dye, even tomorrow.  It is a day of eggs and bunnies, peeps, marshmallow and little bundles of fluff.  It is a time of returning outside and sunshine and flowers and hope. 

I am filled with hope for these patches. 
It is not working so great yet, but I need to give it time.
I feel like such a part of this lovely little community.
A place where I can be me and where my little crafts like weaved ribbons sachets and candy violets, seem perfectly placed. 
I love my little Brigadoon community
and so many lovely people in it.
And a surprise birthday party
and a spring luncheon
and plant sale woohooo!
and lovely candies
and creativity
and life

Maybe George is a Gardenia

I have been so worried about George, or maybe she is Gardenia.  When we were picking up yet more bags of food for the ducks and chickens I saw that one container was filled with the tiniest itty bitty little peeps and the sign on the side said, "Bantam, mixed breed, straight run"  in the bin next to these tiny cotton balls were some Cornish Rock chickens, straight run.  When we bought our peeps the white chicks had been marked leghorn straight run.  I have raised leghorn before.  They are a nice size chicken, but George/Gardenia has been the fastest growing chicken I have ever seen.  I have been so concerned for this poor little obese chicken.  But Cornish Rock.  I think those are the giant chickens.  So here is what Murray McMurray says about this particular breed:

"This is the most remarkable meat producing bird we have ever seen. Special matings produce chicks with broad breasts, big thighs, white plumage, and yellow skin. The rapid growth of these chicks is fantastic and the feed efficiency remarkable. Whether you get these Cornish X Rock chicks for your own pleasure or to raise and sell, you can’t do better. If you want to raise capons, buy males and have them caponized at 2 or 3 weeks of age. Females have a fine smooth finish when dressed and reach beautiful roasting size. Buying straight run chicks gives you some of each sex so that you can take advantage of the strong points both ways. We think our Cornish X Rock chicks are among the finest meat birds in America. We should know. We fill our family freezers with them every year! Males will dress from 3 to 4 pounds in six to eight weeks and females will take about one and one-half weeks longer to reach the same size. Please Note: These birds are not recommended for raising at altitudes above 5000 feet."

Here is the photo they have of a hen on their website:

 

That looks like George/Gardenia.  Huge giant redwood legs with a wide stance, huge breast and thighs so large that he/she can not put her/his wings all the way down.  But it at least looks like he is supposed to be like this.  I feel so much better.  I mean he is so big and out of shape that he/she has to drop to the ground to rest and does not do much standing.  He/She also eats constantly.  But with that growth it makes sense that he/she would always be starving.  So maybe that solves ones mystery.  maybe

I have gotten the sunflowers planted with wax beans.  The yard long beans are running around 2 sides of the fenced garden, rotated from the opposite side for the last two years.  I have also planted golden ruffled squash along the front fence and cucumbers growing up the final side of fence and on the lean to.  I mixed nasturtiums with the squash row so hopefully I will have nasturtiums growing up the fence with the squash.  I pick the nasturtium flowers and leaves for salads.  I also planted a small area of wild greens.  I will cut them back when they are young before they bolt.  I also planted some chard, rainbow colored as well as a giant green leaf.  I planted a small spot of carrots and spread marigold seeds around the tomato and basil plants.  I plant rudbeckia in front of the sunflower and beans.  Many of these seeds are old and in 10 - 14 days I will look at planting something else if all the seeds do not come up.  I would still like to get in a watermelon and a pumpkin.  We will have to see.  The sweet potatoes are purple and sprouting.  They will be my living compost for the garden.  I have rotated everything this year but the tomatoes. 

My irises are glorious and more and more blooms just keep surprising me each day.  The creep myrtles along 90 are covered with their spring green and the pecan trees, the last of the trees to set leaves have are unfurling their leaves and flowers sending another round of thick pollen to ravage our sinuses.  I need to take the time to walk around Casa Bianca and see what types of nut trees we have and mark them so it will be easier to harvest their precious crop.

The roof has leaked and we have been assured that it is fixed.  We are getting close to the contractors finishing and this is where the dance of what still needs to be done will be discussed and determined who needs to do what.

Tomorrow we will drive to Thomasville so that I can get my port flushed and then my nurse, the sweet Ms Geraldine has a prescription of my pain med, and a prescription for pain patches.  Oh please, please let these work and not make me sick. 

Wednesday is the first monthly ladies lunch out.  There are seven confirmed and three possibles.  I am looking forward to it.  Thursday with the Ladies Garden Club luncheon.  I hope I am well enough to go. 

A very busy week.  Lots of wonderful possibilities and time to spend with my precious beloved ones.  But lots of work to do here at the house, and I am so slow getting things done. 

 

photos

George and girls, he is now as big as both ducks and several of the full grown hens. 
He may just be morbidly obese, or a giant, we will have to wait to see

Suwanee Spring Fest, me and my honey

Valdosta Airport, FiFi

camp at Spring fest
with the attack rooster

That's me as a fairy at Springfest

my favorite iris, Kissie

native azaleas in my front yard

herbs and roses

columbines

Comtessa Del Reya, one of my favorite roses

azaleas, Edna and Harley

Lily, Rudbeckia, Perriwinkle, Sunflower, Pansy and Willie

Pink Perfection

Bradford Pears

Spring is here! and life is good

Post started the first day of Spring.........

We drove to Live Oak and the Suwanee Music Fest on the first day of spring.  As brutal as winter has been this year, it certainly has been the most winter of winters it could be.  Spring put on her sunshine and cool but it was a beautiful and perfect day.  I love the blue sky of spring.  It is somehow softer, lighter, much like the tender green of the new leaves.  The dark leathery green leaves of the oaks turn brown at this time of year and shower down through the sky as the whole tree sheds its old suit to shake out its new green wardrobe.  Our winter was so wet and stayed so cold that few things had an opportunity to open and then knocked back by the cold like last year.  This year we are having days, maybe a week (hope, hope) where the weather is perfect.  The sun shines, the morning dawns cold but by 10 is comfortable and by mid day, glorious. 

The red buds have been replaced by the soft white flutter of Bradford pears and now the dogwoods and baby girl pink cherry blossoms.  The camellias are still blooming and the azaleas which slowly peeked out are now filling north Florida and south Georgia with pinks, white, magenta, coral, purple and red.  The white white of spirea stands proudly among the mounds of color circling the oaks and lining long drives.  The wisteria drapes from the highest tips of the trees down into the ditches with heavy clusters of purple flowers.  The air is thick with plant sex.  The yellow pollen finds itself into everything.  The heavy fog in the morning paints the streets with the pollen so that it looks like a child's painting.  It is absolutely glorious.

The music festival was wonderful.  We set up our tent and our tarp with my hippie tapestries hung around the sides to look like a colorful gypsy tent.  Bug backed the truck so that the tailgate was in the little gypsy tent and I could cook and make hot tea in the morning.  We rode our bikes around the park and smiled and blended into the world of tie dye, music, families, hammocks and the beautiful glorious spring weather.  We loved the Steep Canyon Rangers, Ralph Roddenberry, Grandpa's Medicine Tour and the Henhouse Prowlers. 

Steep Canyon won the 2013 Grammy for best Bluegrass music and oh my goodness they were amazing.  But not as well known, but even more fun was Ralph Roddenberry.  I know one of Ralph's sisters, Lucretia.  She was my yoga instructor at the Thomasville Y when I belonged to the Hope project there.  I got it with her.  I mean I finally understood.  I have taken yoga off and on since college.  I also have spent time learning various meditation techniques and all of that kind of thing that people love to make fun.  But let me tell you.  When I finally put that last piece of the puzzle together with Lucretia, "put all criticism, comparison and competition aside, this time is for you, be grateful for taking this time" was how she started our classes.  All of these lessons throughout my life have gotten me here, now in this moment. 

Ralph was playing in the Music Hall on Friday evening.  Bug and I rode our bikes over and walked from the pale spring light into the darkness.  But Ralph and band were already playing and the crowd was on their feet and the energy just wrapped around you and pulled you into this crowd of friends and family and groupies.  People were dancing and hugging, singing and swaying, jumping with joy.  This is a band that you would enjoy listening to one of their CDs because they are such talented musicians and singers.  But being there and seeing that this band is not a stage band.  No, they may perform on a stage, but they are totally focused on the people there, drawing them up to the stage into the light and music.  I scanned the faces half lit from the light on the stage and looked for Lucretia.  I saw her.  Well, I think I saw her.  It had been two years since I had last been in her class.  I didn't know if she would remember me, but she had made such an amazing impact on my life, I had to see her.  Yes, it was her, and I worked my way up through the crowd of joy, dancing and shimming all around me.  She was talking to someone when I reached her, but soon I had the nerve to touch her shoulder and yell in her ear who I was.  She looked in my face and grabbed my hair.  Hair she has never seen and she gently tugged it and with the child like joy of pulling on Santa's whiskers and finding them real, she yelled, "it is real!'  Yes, my hair is real, and I am alive, and I look like I could live forever and we hugged and yes, she had remembered me and was so happy to know I am still here.  Well, enough for now.  I briefly met Ralph, who in the middle of this full sweaty fervor of music he took a minute to really look at me and say hello.  He is as special and wonderful as his sister.  Both such very talented, kind people living life as best they know how.  It was perfect.

We did not get to see our most favorite group, Donna the Buffalo.  Friday night they played at 10:45pm, so no chance I was going to be there.  We had hoped to see them on Sunday after Ralph Roddenberry played, but it started to rain, and I was spent.  Completely and totally spent.  We were not sleeping well, because even though we live in a neighborhood we are not used to hearing drum circles, fire works and sounds of party and jamming until 4am.  We thought we had camped away from all of that, but, no.  We understand that people live for this, but for us, I need my sleep and after a couple of nights of no sleep we were ready to head home and sleep in the dark quiet of our own bed.  I hope that I am well enough to go again next year.  It is such a special place and time. 

I am trying hard not to start clicking things off, like, last time at concert, last spring garden planted, last trip to Daytona.  No, these may all end up being true, but I would rather enjoy the moment for the moment, without the pressure of giving it a title.  And who knows what all I still will be able to experience.

Peace on Earth.  I am getting it.  Ever since our trip to Daytona and then to the Music Festival Bug and I have shared a connection that I love.  It makes me tear up just thinking about how far we have come.  We met a little over two years ago.  He moved into my yard "campground" two years ago this past week.  Of course we were married a year ago this past month.  It is hard to explain but I think it is gratefulness.  We both seem to appreciate each other more and therefore accept each other more as we learn what I can accomplish and what can we accomplish together.  Peace on Earth.  When gratitude replaces resentment, in yourself, about yourself and others, it is possible.

We got home Sunday evening from the concert and it would take several days to get my internal battery recharged enough to stand up.  But first I had to go through a crazy fit of vertigo.  I have always been gravity impaired, but for these few days it was like there was no gravity and yet I kept falling down.  It was like my feet were freed of gravity but my head was not so I kept landing on my head.  I finally gave up and just stayed laying in the bed.  The room spinning my stomach revolting. 

Then I started the steroids Dr. M wanted me to try to take the swelling down from my hands, joints and knuckles.  It has helped, but I can't sleep on this stuff and it makes my stomach flip.  I loose weight, I am miserable and afraid to leave the house for fear that my stomach will need to empty itself in the most difficult way at the most difficult time.  A few more days and I will be done.  Hopefully I can start sleeping again.

Wednesday Marty flew in from North Carolina.  Marty built his plane.  My honey helped build the motor.  Marty and his lovely wife Shelia are so special to me.  Marty stood up for Bug at our wedding, and they have known each other for a very long time.  They first became friends because they were both married to women they had met in Spain.  Now they are both married to woman from America.  Once again these two amazing men have married women you are very fond of each other. 

Marty was on his way to Sun and Fun Fly In down in the Lakeland area, but he stopped by to stay with us so that he can help with the dog's fence.  And work they did.  They got all of the horse fence up, cleaned the garage and generally worked and worked and worked themselves to exhaustion each day.  I cooked and is my normal I swing from 5 star restaurant food to inedible dishes.  I cooked a salmon and shrimp in parchment, I made chicken and yellow rice, Cuban style and I made enchiladas.  I cooked breakfast, but they never stopped for lunch.  I would take them things to drink, maybe even some snacks, but they were focused on their tasks.  Time flew by and before we knew it Marty was ready to head down to Lakeland.  I had enjoyed our conversations in the evening.  Marty and I have a lot in common and he is a very witty dry sense of humor guy.  I get his puns and we laugh and moan over them.  We missed not have Shelia with us, but if we can't have both of them, at least we had one of them for a few days. 

We drove Marty up to Thomasville to their beautiful little airport and Marty called us when he got to Lakeland.  We had not even gotten home from running our errands.  I also asked him to call when he got home to Shelia.  I know it is silly, but he is one of my precious loved ones, and I wanted to know that Shelia had him home safe and sound.  I really appreciated that he did not blow off my silly concerns, but instead just made a call.  Shelia's birthday is coming up later this month.  It is a big one and we really hope we are able to go up and celebrate with them.  Such sweet precious friends.

Spring flowers have faded in the drier and warmer temperatures.  The azaleas in our yard were picture perfect for about a week.  The tung flowers now fill the trees with their peach throated glory.  I am not sure what is so special about these flowers, but each year I am in awe when they bloom. 

So much is happening.  Life is wonderful and fast and slow and overwhelming.  My pain has become increasingly difficult.  A lot of that problem is that although I am prescribed 1 - 2 every 4 hours, if I take 2 whole ones a day for more then a few days, even 12 hours apart, I start having stomach issues.  No matter how much pain I have learned that 1/2 pill 12 hours apart is the best I can do.  Taking more is wasteful because my stomach will empty itself repeatedly when my system reaches its maximum load of medication.  I would rather learn to live with the tightness in my chest, the pressure, the discomfort then to spend the rest of my days sitting in front of porcelain. 

I did manage to get part of my spring garden in.  The tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, strawberries, asparagus, onions and sweet potatoes are in.  I have my seeds for the squash, beans and cukes and a few more things I want to grow.  I am planning on planting sunflower seeds and grow beans up them.  I love gardening, but mostly I love figuring things out.

Bug and I headed down to Gainesville Wednesday.  We went to the Florida Museum of natural History and Harn Art Museum.  We walked through the butterfly garden and watched the jeweled beauties as they floated and fluttered over our heads, at our feet and seemed completely oblivious to all the people.  The hum of oohs and aahs rose and fall with the sound of cameras whirring away.  A sense of peace and wonder fills me as I watch the glory of the rain forest, the twittering and chirping of the little finches as they dart in and out of tropical foliage.  Memories flood me from when I lived on Pine Island and my yard looked like this garden.  All summer long the flutterbyes would float among all the plants I nurtured there.  Neighbors would bring their grand children down to play with the chickens, dogs, cats and the butterflies.  My yard then was always overflowing with flowers and animals and love and joy and I can not wait until I give that same feeling to our place on Casa Bianca.  I have worked to put that feeling here at Labrun.  This place already had a feeling of peace for me, and I have tried to respect that natural beauty and work within it.

We had a wonderful little trip away.  One we really needed.  Monday and Tuesday had been break down days.  I was just overwhelmed with pain and emotion.  Poor Bug struggles so hard to guess and understand what I am going through.  The biggest problem is so am I.  I have no idea how terse I can get when I am trying to hold on and tamp down the pain and emotion.  We both do our best.  We love each other dearly and it helps both of us try to get through the bad days.

He took me to my favorite restaurant in G'ville, Chop Styxs.  It is an Asian fusion place with a thorough menu and I love everything.  Bug enjoyed his meal okay, but his dish was not his favorite.  We went to Goodwill's and I bought clothes.  Clothes that fit me right now.  I need to go through my closest again when we move and give away all the clothes that 2 years later are still too big.  I bought bright tropical colored clothes.  One dress with a purple blue iridescence and little flowers made from seed pearls for the straps.  I have no idea when I will ever get to wear this dress, but I just loved it. 

I am starting to figure out how to go with out a bra.  This is not rebellion or a fashion statement.  It is simply that bras have never been comfortable, but it is a question of being able to breath.  I can wear a bra for a short time, but too long and the pain gets to the level of being sick to my stomach.  Not good.  I have found that going back to my hippie clothes and they are cut so that I can go with out a bra and it fit in the style of the clothes.  I have bought some camisoles and pulled out my old fashion slips.  They do not do anything to enhance my breasts, but they do give another layer of clothing, and often times as long as it "looks" like I have a bra on, that is acceptable. 

When we got home yesterday we just took it easy and watched the Masters first day.  Today we had wanted to go out on the boat, but my pain level was already around a 7 and as much as laying on the front of the boat as we drift through the sunshine and the dappled light from the oaks, palms and other lush foliage hanging onto the very edge of the rivers.  But I knew better.  Instead I went to bed and slept until mid afternoon.  I have so many things I want and need to get done, but pushing too hard backfires.

I have been running through such extreme emotions lately.  I have danced in the spring light and stick my hands up to my elbows in dirt.  I have laid in pain breathing through it.  I have felt so much love and affection from my dear sweet honey.  I am more and more confused on where I am in this process.  Syd, one of the people who reads this blog and has such wonderful insight on life commented that he had a friend who also has non small cell lung cancer.  Is it the same as mine?  I have no idea.  But I do know I would love to be able to talk to him.  I would love to know where he is in the process, how his life is changing.  I think he did comment and I would love to know if that was him, and I hope that if he would like to talk to let me know how I can contact him.  I know I have a strange way to dealing with this little c.  I remain horrified that people who do not know me still refer to living with cancer as battling.  That fits most of the people I have met with some type of cancer.  But it goes against everything I believe.  I feel the changes occurring in my body from the cancer.  It does not feel malicious, just efficient.  cancer is like weeds, it does not try to kill others, weeds, like cancer are just more efficient of making use of the resources then what was there.  Weeds can push out stronger plants, but simply out living the other. 

Is my body trying to evolve into something else?  Or should I look instead at the theory that nature is always moving toward chaos?  I don't know, but my thinking, my living, my very breath is changing.  I still enjoy figuring things out and right now I am working on ribbon weaving.  This Sunday is the garden circle and then the following week is the spring garden luncheon.  Our circle is doing the ways and means and I have made some weaved ribbon sachet bags to sell.  I will also dig up some of my gingers also.  I would love to also plant some tiny pots of violets to sell.  But right now, I am going to go rest again. 

Life is good, but changing
I can not say I am being the best I can be, but I will just keep trying.


 

Willie, Lily, George and the girls

I can't believe I haven't posted more about the ducks and chicks.  I have loved all of my chickens, but this little funny flock of ducks and peeps are too precious.  I have settled on the ducks names, Willie and Lily Ponns.  Willie and Lily.  I love their little top knot of feathers.  It is like a yamaka perched on the crown of their heads.



Willie, George and Lily

Lily and Willie

George, a fine white leghorn

George is twice the size of the other peeps.  He is as big as Lily now

Lilly, George, and the girls

The sleep together, the little peeps crawl under Willie and Lily like they would under their own mothers.  George has no feathers on his chest, belly and butt so sometimes he sleeps on top of the ducks.  They love each other and cluster up together to sleep or when they hear loud noises.  As the storms charged through and the lightening and thunder caused the dogs to shutter and hide, the baby flock crowded in their bunny house and peeped and cheeped as loudly as their little voices would go.  John C and the girls in the coop next door cooed and clucked, clustering on their roosts. 

George is easily as big as Lily, the smaller of the two ducks and twice as big as the rest of the peeps.  Willie, Lily and Rudbeckia all come up and will eat their treats out of my fingers.  I pull up tender weeds and grasses for them but every other day I cut up spinach, strawberries, grapes, kiwis, whatever healthy fruit or veggies we have in the frig.  Pansy looked like a baby quail when she came home but now her down feathers are blue.  Rudbeckia and Periwinkle look a lot alike but Rudbeckia has a redder head.  I am still trying to find the color or personality of each to name, but this will take time.  They are just getting their feathers and have not gone into that teenage time where they get tall and straggly.  They will be next week.  I found all of them playing in the rain this morning.  The peeps did not look like they were enjoying it nearly as much as Willie and Lilly I noted.  They will have to learn the difference between duck and chicken, but I will be there with them.

I have always been fond of just sitting with my animals.  Because I am worried about the safety of the chickens I have kept them locked in their coop more then they would like.  I sit on each side and spend time with both flocks.  If things continue to work like they have been, I will have combined the two flocks by the time we move.  They will not be allowed to range free at the new place because of the red shoulder hawk.  The hawks were there first so we need to work around them. 

With the rain, the gray drippy weather all of the cats and dogs are asleep around my feet in the house.  I love my animals, all of them, and this time of rain and temperatures that keep running up and down, is perfect time to rest and snuggle with my kids.

But the rain seems to be passing and I need to go pick up some cabbage.  It is St. Patrick's Day and my middle brother's birthday.  Maybe I will make some soda bread, but I doubt that I have that much humph right now. 

I think the lymph node under my arm is smaller and hardly noticeable.  That makes me feel better.  I have had such a hard time the past couple of days of staying awake.  I had this amazing ability to sleep day or night, but I did not take the muscle relaxer last night and I did not sleep. I did sleep, but not well.  I watched the clock as it ticked away the hours.  I would sleep for half an hour or so, but then be awake and finally I could not tell when I was awake or asleep.  It was not restful, and as tired as I am, I am not that drugged sleepy feeling.  I have made it up to 120.2 pounds today.  I have been trying to get above 120 for a couple of weeks now, and as of this morning I am there.  I will go see the doctor tomorrow.  I don't know that she will have much to say.  Sometimes I worry about what I must get done in this life.  But then I step back and think, will I really be so upset if I don't get this done.  Will it really matter. 

I don't know.  But the music festival is at the end of this week.  We are going to tent camp there this time and take our bikes.  The golf cart is giving us trouble and really we can ride our bikes anywhere we would want to take the cart.  This is the coming together of "my" people.  It is a huge gathering of tie dyed clothes, hammocks, children and child like parents celebrating spring and the music and the gorgeous woods and yahoo!  I am excited to go.  It is close enough that we could come home each day to take a shower and check on the kids. 

Well, I guess I really didn't have that much to say today.  I just wanted to share some photos about my little loves.  I think George will be a fine rooster and is already good with the girls.  I think Willie and Lily will love their pond.  The dogs will love the pond and the swamp.  The cats, well, they will adjust and I am excited about moving.  About moving to our new home, our swamp. 

I am happy.  I guess I could have just posted the photos and

"Happy"

and that would have explained it all.

Daytona

Started March 10th,

After another very busy week, we are off for a few days to get away.  Yesterday was our one year anniversary.  We celebrated it with left over take out Chinese and were in bed asleep early.  We have been so busy this week that we had no energy left.

Bug is wearing himself out more then I am.  I have worn myself right back down.  I managed to get all the wall paper off of the upstairs bathroom.  Bug worked on the kitchen a bit, but he can do so many other things that I am not able to do, I took over the wall paper removing.  I have half a wall left in the kitchen.  It will wait until we get back.

We have electricity in the house, but as we have started our renovation we are falling in line with all the TV shows.  Yep, we knew that the Florida room was going to have a new roof and everything above the tile floor would have to be removed.  Unfortunately there is a problem with the front wall of the house.  We may need a whole new roof.  If that is our best choice we will replace the shingles with a green metal roof. 

It has been raining and our swamp seems to keep growing.  With 5 - 6 trucks running up and down our drive it has turned into an amazing mud bogging site.  The mud is everywhere.  Sticky, smelly, slimy mud.  We love it.  But not in the drive.  Bug has bush hogged as much property as he could finding springs erupting up through already sogged ground. 

I have worked so hard this week and I can not tell you what I have done.  Bug works non-stop.  He not only works here at Labrun, but even harder at our new swamp, and finds time to help his dad fix their brick walk. 

Bug and I finished removing wall paper from the kitchen.  The wall paper in the kitchen was so bland and odd looking and feeling.  It's width, feel and how it came off seemed more like drawer liner.  At least they did not use gorilla glue to hold the seams like they did in the bathroom.  I cleaned the cabinets going back in the bath room.  I swept and gathered up piles of scattered wall paper and other debris from the electrical repairs. 

Each time we go to the house it feels more like our home.  The tile as you walk in the door.  The big bedroom with the glorious closets.  The little kitchen, that once the frig was out seemed roomy and full of opportunity.  The bathroom vanity, which was actually a kitchen cabinet is going to make a lovely island and I can't wait for the roof and walls. 

Yes, we have learned that we must replace the roof.  There is just too much damage.  The Florida room was always on the list as roof candidate, but now with the damage at the front window, it is just too much, so a new green roof with a different back angle will be installed.  Of course we are not thrilled about all the bills.  They are spurting up faster then the blackberry vines, and just as prickly.  But this is just like on TV.  We have a buffer to help us get through this and have already had to designate some of those funds to fix the air conditioning.  The vandals stole the copper out of the air conditioner, the gauges off of the well and the pipes off of the downstairs toilet.  Really?  That was just being mean.  The copper and gauges I can see getting a few bucks to make it worth your energy, but the pipes, only the ones for the downstairs toilet?  I don't get it.

Just as the pressure of the house, life, his parents was getting to be overwhelming we packed light, left the trailer at home and joined the journey of the pilgrimage to Daytona.  We headed over on Monday and the trip over was sunny and beautiful and a wonderful ride.  We stayed with the ever fabulous Bill and Hobby.  The weekend had been one of the most attended Daytona in years according to the news and our friends.  Fortunately the downtown had quieted for the few days early in the week before it ramped back up for the last weekend.  A friend asked me why, how do I go to Daytona.  She knows my discomfort about being around drunks and crowds.  That is why  we went during the week, and staying with our friends outside of the turmoil on the peaceful river. I love all the bikes and noise, if I can get away from the people.  So I go to a few things, and then I go home and Bug and friends head out and join the throngs of revelers.  No, most of it, is not in my comfort zone, but I have always pushed my comfort zone.  Usually to step back and surround myself in my peaceful quiet world.  But just because it is not for me, I still love the pilgrimage with the roads filled with bikes and trucks with trailer and campers all drawn to the same place.  Drawn to celebrate their bikes, their creativity and a life style.  I am drawn from curiosity.  The weather was gorgeous and we visited our favorite spots, ate our favorite food, then the weather was to turn cold, so we hugged our sweet friends good bye on Wednesday morning and raced home trying to skirt the storm front roaring across the state.  One close call and we had a little spit, but we managed to avoid the worst of the rain and enjoyed our ride home. 

While we were in Daytona I realized that I could see the lymph nodes in  my left arm pit and arm.  I know I was hurting.  But in my crazy backwards way of thinking, once I saw them, I knew that was not good, but at the same point, the pain was real.  I could see it, not just feel it.  Knowing it is real, helps.  It was a hard trip in many ways, but in other ways, I did it.  I pushed past the pain and pulled up my black cowboy boots, hefted on my Harley Gortex coat that I swear weighs twice as much as I do.  I knew going, I was limited on what I could do.  But to get to spend time with these two people, even for a short visit, well, it is like choosing to add on the miles on our way home from New Jersey this Christmas so we could spend one night with Marty and Shelia.  You know the love will just grab a hold of you and your body will relax.  Let go of the things that have to be done.  They will wait.  Just give in to the joy of friendship and good times.  How could I not do whatever I had to.  So I did.

My dear friend Karen died.  She is the one I was talking about with the dance recital, and she sang Frank Sinatra.  I had not seen her in many years.  But that is part of friends or pets for that matter.  We give our hearts out to others our entire lives.  If we are lucky.  We give out that love and it comes back in ways we never expect.  And yet when one of those people you gave your heart to, maybe years and years ago, it does matter.  We were different people in a different life in a world both of us had left.  Yet knowing she was gone, this person I have not seen since that other world, I felt such a huge loss.

That night Bug and I went to visit some friends we rarely see anymore.  These people and their family was so much of the joy and love and acceptance I have felt in this place.  The place I have chosen as my home.  Through life and family and illness, I have not gotten to spend the afternoon tea I once considered so blessed to share.  I have not been able to just sit and talk and be with them.  Those people who have been so important in my life today, let alone so much of the happiness in my life here.  But there we were.  The two grandsons even more amazing then described in her blog.  I know she discusses her chickens and grandchildren a lot.  But if you could spend 15 minutes with her and those boys and that gorgeous rooster, you would see that she is not exaggerating about the children's intelligence, lovingness and joy.  I was in awe listening to the conversations, the need to understand some things and to be so open to simply ask their grandparents knowing that they will tell them the truth, or a great story.  They can tell the difference from the twinkle in the eye, the curve of the smile on those older faces cheeks.  I told the older boy about how he laughed at me when I was bald and he was about the same age as his younger brother.  He was so upset that he would do something that terrible as to laugh as someone hurt.  But when I told him that he had not hurt me, I did look funny.  It made me happy that at least one person admitted that I looked silly.  He was so amazed at how he had made me happy and was proud of himself.  As he should be.  It was a short visit, but it was a day where a friend from my past slipped away and friends from a less distant past were back in my heart.  

I spoke to another friend that I have not gotten to spend enough time with this past year.  We talked for 2 hours.  We talked about plays, friendship, houses, gardens and the Stage Company.  We caught up.  That simple, just talked and caught up.  It inspired me to call my best friend from work, Bob and catch up with him.  I tried to call and talk to a few others, but even though I did not  reach them, it felt good to try.

I am sleeping.  I have never been a good nap takers, and now I can sleep most of a day and then go to sleep early because I am tired and sleep through the night.  My body needs sleep.  Not just rest, sleep.  Food had gotten to be something I hardly thought about and my weight was dropping again.  I seem to have broke that circle of not eating, but the stomach troubles have also increased as I try to eat more food and more often. 

It is hard to explain how I feel lately.  I feel a little out of body because I hurt and feel sick.  But I feel calmer.  I have no idea where I am in the progression of the disease, but having to take a muscle relaxer now to keep my right arm workable.  Life is worth living because of all the drugs I take.  Hmmmmm.  It is starting to sink in.  I am adjusting better to my condition and maybe that is why I can sleep.  It might just be the added drugs that are making me sleepy.  Whatever, I am enjoying going to sleep.  Something I can't remember when I actually enjoyed sleeping. 

So life is changing.
The house is starting to morph into a home

The Suwanee Spring Music Festival is coming.  We are holding off on tickets until after I see the doctor on Tuesday.  I don't know, I just want an idea of what is happening before I take off on another adventure.

My batteries are running low and don't charge up as much as they used to.  But the Bradford pears are blooming.  Their white petals blowing as another front blows through again.  The hardy green of winter is giving way to the green of spring.  The red of new growth, the blue of spiderwort, the yellow of Jesmine.  The pines candles are coming out, Easter is just around the corner.  The oaks are starting their spring dance of pollen.  The air has the haze of spores and pollen.  The animals are moving, those with allergies are sneezing and their eyes running.  You can see the life force coming up out of the ground and into the plants and trees.  Young growth shoot up from hidden roots of perinneals.  Azelleas are blooming in their own sweet time.  Camellias still blushing with their blossoms, and my heart feels like it too is thawing from a brutal winter.  It is easier to forgot about body pains and aches when the notes of a song bird break forth from a bud heavy limb. 

What a joy to be able to start this adventure with our new home in spring and to watch throughout the year what treasures may lay hidden below.

It is a joy to be a live today.  It is a joy to look into my sweeties eyes and see the sparkle of excitement of another day.
Another adventure.



 

Another Monday morning

It is another gray Monday morning here.  A little gray with thick fog that sprinkles your skin with a fine mist as you walk through it.  It is warmer then last week, but winter rages on up north.  I sit in front of the weather channel and watch the single digits appear in masses of pink, white and blue on the map where I have precious friends.  I don't know how they do it.  I can not say that I am any better acclimated to the cold then I was before.  Bless their hearts, I guess someone has to live there. 

A few weeks ago Dewdrop disappeared.  She was one of my Ameracuana chickens and laid lovely green eggs.  I searched and searched but could not figure out what happened to her.  A few days later Daisy disappeared, but I found her.  She was in the front yard her red and white feathers telling me which beloved chicken this was.  This was back when it was really cold here and at night you could hear all kinds of commotion going on under our mobile home.  The dogs were getting under there also and leaving clear evidence of where they were going in and out.  Bug kept putting the trailer skirt and admonishing the dogs.  Bob did not appear to be involved, but Edna and Harley both looked guilty.  A few days later we had over 60 vultures in the pasture.  I only counted the ones on the ground, I did not count those in the trees or in other yards.  You don't realize how big these birds are until 60 vultures all take wing at once with you in the middle of the black squawking feathered tornado.  I am not sure what term to use when referring to a flock of vultures.  I know you refer to a murder of crows, which I love, but vultures?

According to one web site I saw:  "A group of vultures is called a wake, committee, venue, kettle, or volt. The term kettle refers to vultures in flight, while committee, volt, and venue refer to vultures resting in trees."  Notice how they do not give a name for a group on the ground, so I guess 'wake' works just fine.  This is for black vultures, turkey vultures have additional names.  Always something new to learn.

The corpse of the opossum is gone, same with my sweet Dewdrop and Daisy, but the wake of vultures stay.  I have new peeps to introduce to my small but might flock, but it does not replace my two girls.  Dewdrop was a couple of years old, but Daisy was one of my newest girls and was a very funny chicken.  All of my peeps have good strong wing feathers but their bodies are still balls of fluff.  I need to get them out of the bath tub, but I am not sure they are big enough to go outside yet.  Even with a light and cage, but they need more space than they have now, and we need to give the ducks more of what they need. 

The ducks continue to amaze and tickle me.  They are bad about flooding the tub which is lovely for them to go splashing about, but the chickens, even though they are being good sports about it, they are not ducks.

I have one chick, the little weakling, Gardenia who is no longer a weakling and I have to say she has very large feet.  The other eight peeps have normal looking delicate pink feet but Gardenia is getting bigger then the others and her/his feet are like big birds.  Maybe she is simply going to be a big girl, but I won't be surprised if she turns out to be a rooster.  That is okay, John C has aged considerably this past year.  His second spur curls back on itself and must be constant pain.  He has a funky limp but to grab him and trim his spur again is unreasonable.  He suffers so much just being caught, and the spur, unless removed simply grows back in the same twist.

I am getting better about accepting my meds.  Dr. D gave me a mild muscle relaxer that I take at bedtime and my arm is a million times improved.  After the first dose the next morning I woke up much improved, but by this morning, I am thinking I can lay off the muscle relaxers in that my neck, arm and shoulder are all mostly back to normal.  Wooohooo!  I have had to be careful with them because the first day I felt so much better that I over did it.  That is a problem for these types of meds, whether for pain or to ease a spazzing muscle you feel so good that you over due it. 

I have had to give various labs pain meds for injuries chasing the ball, jumping fences, racing around corners, etc. but the dogs felt so good afterwards, they would jump right back up from a fall and keep going only to pay for it later that evening.  It is clear that I am not much smarter.  My brain just like theirs says, feeling good, lets run and jump and do whatever we want!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed Dr. Seuss's birthday.  I read Green eggs and Ham.  I just love that book.  I heard that Dr. Seuss was challenged by a friend to write that book.  I like to think of Dr. Seuss facing the challenge with a smile and then penned a cure funny children's story.

Bug's son and girlfriend have been visiting us for the last couple of days.  It is nice having them here.  Yesterday we took them out in the boat.  It was the nicest day in a while and everyone who owned a boat, new someone who owned a boat, or even people who simply wanted to own a boat were out on the water.  Boats everywhere.  Crazy people zipping past the smaller boats and pontoon boats as the sloshed around.  The sky was a deep blue, the weather almost warm and the sun gave its best effort to shine.  It was a fine day and the boat responded well getting out of the barn after way too long of a stay locked in the dark.  The kids seemed to enjoy the ride, but when we went to get something to eat, it appeared that everyone in the world, who were already out on the water, and everyone with a motorcycle were already crowded into the limited places near or on the water.  It took an hour and fifteen minutes to get a fish sandwich at the least busy place.  We were not right on the water but any restaurants that were on the water had lines out the door and every possible seat that could have any water view had people clustered together arm pit to arm pit.  Our food was good, but Bug and I do not normally take the boat out on the weekend, and we hope to not do that again.  Boating during the week while all the worker bees are busy at jobs, is glorious.  Weather permitting.

It had been months since we had been out in the boat, the tide was up and the green is coming back, but the river always looks the same, and always is changing.  I love that.  I was so happy to be on the Ms K and with my honey.  It was a beautiful day.

The kids are packing up and might be heading home tomorrow, weather permitting.  Kelly has to be back at work on Wednesday, so if they are going to get her back to work, they will have to leave tomorrow.  Such a short visit, but still great to have them.

They brought down their two dogs, Marley, an old black lab who is named after Bob Marley, not the dog in the book.  Rudy looks like a pit bull and shepherd mix.  He is sweet and he and Harley have become tight friends.  They are close to the same age and weight and play and wrestle non stop.  Harley has a bromance going on with Rudy.  It is fun to have five dogs again.  Especially knowing that two of them are only visiting.  Rudy wants to "play" with the cats.  They do not want to play with him.  Rudy has listened to each of us when we called him off when he finds one of the cats, but I wouldn't want to trust him alone with a cat.  Josh has fallen in love with Harley, Henry, our male Manx and Stella, the evil of the twins, Stella and Luna.  Luna has stayed safely protected in her laundry basket on the dryer. Henry hangs out with Luna on his spot on the front load washer.  Stella has stayed on Josh's lap as much as allowed.  Marina, Rudy has found her a couple of times but he has backed off each time we yelled.  Marina likes dogs and doesn't run like a normal cat.  I think that has actually worked in her favor in that Rudy just wants to "play" and when Marina doesn't run for him to chase he is as confused as Marina. 

Bug's Mom is coming home from the rehab place on Wednesday, she is pretty much back to her old self.  The physical therapist are trying to continue to work with her to build her stronger.  Now if she just keeps it up.  I know Dad will be glad to have her home, he misses her terribly.  Mom refers to the rehab center as jail, but has a good sense of humor about it and she just cracks me up with her stories of life in jail.

I have so many things to do, but I need to be more reasonable about how hard I push myself.  This is a rough time physically.  Too hard to even explain.  The pain goes away with the meds, but not really and every once in a while I have a piercing pain in my chest that stops me cold.  It goes away pretty quickly and honestly I am not doing anything that I shouldn't when these pains come.  Just out of the blue, so to speak.  Once they are gone, I am fine again, although a persistent buzzing takes a little while to disperse.  I think fear is more a part of the pain then the pain itself.  Yesterday I got chilled on the boat and my fingers all turned white and buzzed.  They ached to touch anything, but I could not "feel" what I was touching and picking up things was difficult, even a bottle of water.  It took about an hour for them to get their color back and for the buzzing to stop.  The color crept up knuckle by knuckle.  I am sure it is no big deal, but it is just so weird.


My brain does not seem to be working very well this morning.  I think I could lay down and sleep a hundred years, but I need to get a few things down so that my mind will rest with my body.  Last night my mind was running and spinning and somersaulting through all the things going on in my world, and when I would say to myself, "You need to sleep."  I would hear myself sleep.  I heard my sleeping breath and my mind would get so confused.  It was awake but my body was asleep.  I think my mind would then shut down occasionally, and it was more restful.  It was a wild experience, I wonder if people in comas ever experience this.  I am sure this sounds weird.  But my life is evolving or devolving so that time is different, I experience things I try to explain to Bug, but words don't really do justice to the crazy things going on.

Yesterday Bug and I ripped down the walls in the master bedroom.  We didn't pull down the studs, just the paste board and drywall they had used.  We have been working on the wall paper in the  upstairs bedroom and I need to get that finished.  The electricians are supposed to finish today.  That means the next contractors can start later this week on the Florida room.  Bug and I can start pulling out carpet and order our floors.  So much to do to keep my mind off the little changes limiting my body.  This is bad timing with my health to now have to start all this labor, but it is perfect timing to give me a goal and things to fill my creative brain instead of focusing on what I can no longer do.

Dearly Departed opens this weekend.  Carolyn and I have talked about going to see it on opening night.  I am not sure with Mom/Dad and Bug want to see it, but I can always spend time with Carolyn.  I enjoy her company and we both enjoy a lot of the same things.

Time to get up and going.  Laundry needs to be moved and folded.  The kitchen is clean, but I need to vacuum.  I also need to start packing.  There is so much to do, thank goodness I can work a lot of it out at night in my sleep.  Now if I could sleep and pack, well, that would be useful.

Life is good.  The sky is clearing leaving a blue sky but rain will be coming back in again soon.  My azaleas are bursting at the seam with fat flower buds in white, pink and magenta.  By our Anniversary on Sunday we should have a yard filled with color.  Flowers waving in the wind, and soon the butterflies will join them in their spring dance.  The trees are starting to burst open and my heart sings, "Spring is bursting out all over...."  the words of a song from another memory dancing as a small child in the end of year recital. 

Life has been good
life is still good
life is ever changing