I Did It!

One night, when I was 50 years old, excruciating abdominal pain woke me from a dead sleep. It is hard to describe serious pain isn't it? Everyone is different, and although my tolerance for pain is greater than some folks, that time I even surprised myself by not waking Bruce up for comfort. Eventually it subsided and I went back to sleep. I began my workday at 7AM, and that day began as most of them did, up at 5:30. It was then that I told Bruce about what happened. Insisting I stay home from work, I was just as insistent that I should go to work because my patients were counting on me. He'd already left the house when I called him back saying I'd seen blood in the toilet, never a good sign. Calling in for me, we went to the hospital where I worked, only instead of me going to Radiology, we went to the Emergency Room. It turns out I suffered an episode of Ischemic Colitis, which, in layman's terms, is often called, "a heart attack of the bowel." No wonder it hurt so bad, right?

After the CT scan diagnosed the problem, I was wheeled upstairs and a colonoscopy was ordered for the morning to access the damage. If you think prepping at home is bad, prepping in a hospital room while wheeling an IV pole with you is really bad. Not to mention, blood poured out of me. All in all, a horrible experience. Once the gastroenterologist was done with the procedure, he told me I had "an old lady bowel", calling it tortuous, it is treacherous for the doctor wielding the scope. Think puncturing the bowel. Never a good thing!

So, despite having problems of late, I was completely gun shy of having another colonoscopy. Dr. Glen Vander Zalm allayed my fears during my visit with him, saying he would use a children's scope. He gave me the confidence I needed, and he used the small scope and all went just fine.

Not that I liked the prep or anything, don't get me wrong, it is still pretty bad but I've had worse, haven't I? Opening the laxative package, this design kind of inspired me. Wouldn't it make a neat quilt?

I made it through the day with no food except for Jello. It's been a long time since I made Jello, but I must say, it was pretty tasty, especially the lime flavor. Once 5:00 rolled around and the liquid drinking began, food did not interest me anyway. What a thing to come home from a business trip to! Poor Bruce, I was a tad cranky, but he ignored that, and was just as sweet as ever.

After a night with trips to the bathroom, he drove me to the Citrus Surgery Center, which I'm mentioning by name because they were so darn wonderful, I want to give them a shout out. Holy Cow! They pretty nearly restored my faith in health care workers! Each and every person that had a thing to do with me was tremendous, chatty, caring, and efficient. I mean seriously, I've not had the experience in so long I'd begun to think that kind of care did not exist anymore. Plus, there were nurses! Real nurses, one of whom put in my IV the first time with only a tiny bit of discomfort.

Once I came to, one of those real nurses walked us out to the car. Bruce stayed there throughout just in case something went awry. Once a Boy Scout, always a Boy Scout. 😀

Ha ha! I had come to just enough to ask her for a photo. Once my peanut butter toast was consumed back at the house, I crawled into bed and slept for a few hours. Sluggish from the anesthesia for a good part of the day yesterday, today I am as good as new. As to the results, he did not find much that is too unusual for a woman of my age, however, the pathology report will not be available for a week or so. We were given a report of the procedure, with pictures no less, and one of the line items is....the colon is redundant.  I am sure Dr. Vander Zalm was glad I told him in advance. :)

When last we met, I was heading to the guild meeting which did not disappoint. Inspiring at every turn, the women there are so nice. Pam joined during the last meeting and is making friends fast. I did manage to do the Show and Tell, however, following some of the more experienced quilters, I was slightly nervous. It helped that I'd worn one of the new dresses I made...people were looking at those little cap sleeves! Here is someone else at Show and Tell...beautiful, isn't it?

Let us turn our attention to nature shall we? Speaking of Pam, my orchid output is put to shame by hers. Hanging from several trees, she has so many blooms I am completely envious, including this pretty one.

Almost like pink marble cake, isn't it? Hibiscus are blooming like mad at this time of the year and I saw this one during a bike ride that I could not resist.

Speaking of being unable to resist a subject....

I just love those eyes, sort of like Baxter's big brown eyes.

I wonder if other parts of the country, or is it only the South, where Sphagnum Moss is so prevalent? That and crows...my goodness, we have a bunch everywhere lately.

In between trips to the bathroom Tuesday night, I noticed the night sky was looking, oh so lovely, with ta crescent Moon, and what I later learned, is Venus, nearby. This picture is pretty terrible, you can't even tell the Moon is only a crescent, but I still thought it had a tiny bit of merit. I see so many absolutely terrible photographs posted online everywhere, and you won't catch me getting on that train anytime soon, however, I'm making an exception with this one.

It is events such as above when I do wish I knew what I was doing with my camera!

I do so hope that wherever you are while reading this, that your weekend weather is tremendous as ours is slated to be. Cheryle is receiving an amazing gift for her first outdoor art show!

yours truly,

Gail

The Second Time Will Be the Charm

Using the beautiful orchid Pat and Ruth brought over for Thanksgiving, I tried something new. Just when I thought there was not a single photograph that I could take differently, I put it in front of one of the lit lamps in the living room, and I kind of like the effect. How about you?

Speaking of Pat, although he was fine and dandy on Thanksgiving, the following day he was not. Abdominal pains along with some chest pains sent him to the Emergency Room at Florida Hospital. Fortunately he was not having a heart attack, instead they found some blood work that was out of whack which required hospitalization for some days.

Monday I was unable to go to see him because I finally made it through the whole session at Days for Girls. One thing after another has prevented me from participating like I would have liked to, so this month nothing was going to stand in my way. I sat next to Leslie who is an unreal sewist. Oh my goodness. She is pictured in the lavender top on the left.

In her arms are two more quilts for the Pulse project which she agreed to take home to attach the binding. I agreed to do two as well, especially after Leslie told me how to do it all by machine. Generally we sew the last part of the binding on by hand because it looks nice, however, as she pointed out, we have no way of knowing how people will use them, or wash them, for that matter, so machine binding it is. Straight away I went home and tried it, and by golly, not horrible for my first attempt.

If you can imagine, in our small group there is the Gail that you know, Leslie's last name is Gale, and there is yet another Gail, pictured below in the light gray top.

I especially wanted to go because we won't be meeting in December since everyone is so busy. Our team, to date, has made 729 feminine hygiene kits for Malawi this year, which sounds pretty darn impressive to me. :)

Waking up during the night, it occurred to me that it would be silly to wait until Christmas to give Pat and Ruth the quilt I made them. Perhaps it would cheer Pat up? I just went hunting for a photograph of said quilt with no success on the finished product. It was the one I started cutting out when we were having the floors installed. Starting the layout here, back on October 27.

So, good thing it was all ready for my visit which, was a very good one with Ruth and her Dad, Jack in attendance. He was on this room.

At the end of a hall, it was as far from my parking spot as it could be. I needed the exercise! Before leaving I saw this photograph on the wall.

No, I do not know this nurse, but what struck me was her name tag, just like the one I lusted for while I was a student. Only after graduating could you wear such a tag. Then too, she is wearing a pin, which was also something we did way back when. Because this is what I learned to emulate, it is often very difficult to me to adjust to healthcare workers dressing in, basically, pajamas.

"Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat." Do you remember that song? Recored by Peter, Paul and Mary, in 1962, I think of it every single time I ride by our neighbor's lemon tree.

It never ceases to amaze me how we remember song lyrics but ask me something else about when I was 9 years old and I will go completely blank!

I neglected to show you this adorable little ornament Matt and Tom brought home from the Quilt Museum they visited while vacationing in Japan.

How cute is this? I know the answer....very, very cute! So, you see the fabrics piled high on my sewing table. Well, that's what happens when you are making a patchwork quilt that requires loads of different fabrics! I must tidy it up soon. Early this morning I got it pinned together,

Because I have not left the house today, the quilting is done!! (Not in the picture, but I swear it is.)

You might be wondering just why I have not left the house on the first day of December. Well, 4:00, yesterday afternoon, I went for round two.

About twice as long as my last visit, the incision hopefully will stay together this time and NOT become infected again. It was super sore over night, but with my only activity sitting in my chair quilting, it is pretty good now. I purposely vacuumed yesterday, so I could keep bending at the waist to a minimum once I went back under the knife. Today I'm babying it, hoping that the second time will, indeed, be the charm. For those who did not see the previous post regarding this, it is only a basal cell skin cancer so no worries!

On the weather front, it has been miserably hot here, with me finally giving in and turning on the air conditioner. What is a girl supposed to do when it is 85 degrees on the last day of November? Then too, this morning the paper had a story on how dry it has been; last time it was this dry was 1967! Allegedly a cold front is coming in, with temperatures dropping about 12 degrees. I'll let you know.

Taking it easy,

Gail

Family History

Like most folks, our family history is somewhat messy. Make that seriously messy.

Secrets and lies is an apt description.

I could not wait for Maureen to come home from her weekend trip so I could tell her about the phone call I made Saturday morning. While waiting for her to get off the phone Monday morning, this kitty ran across my path, eventually sitting still for a portrait.

The phone call was to a man I'd only just learned, in a crazy, round about way involving old letters, Matthew, and Nancy, is one of two living first cousins of our Mother, neither of whom I'd ever heard the first thing about, I might add. Hilary's Mother is the sister of my Maternal Grandmother. Got that?

Friday night, while discussing our upcoming trip with Nancy, she recalled hearing from our Mother once that she had a cousin in Kentucky. Well, at one time she had a bunch, however, she had no contact, as far as I know with any of them. Growing up, we thought we had no extended family which turns out to be just one of the secrets we are now discovering through Matt's ancestry research. Anyway, while reading one of the letters to Nancy, the name came up and she said--that's him! Okay, now we have something to go on. Of all things, the next morning I awoke to an article Matt posted to my timeline about the same man. You can read it here if I have piqued your interest. Because it was a two year old article, we were so hoping he was still alive, and I'm here to tell you that after our 90 minute conversation Saturday morning, he is very much alive and still thriving for that matter!

Now, we have changed our plans after much prompting on his part. Landing in Nashville early in the morning, we will drive to Paducah for lunch at his home, followed by dinner at their country club!! How crazy is all this? Pretty darn crazy, that's what! Nonetheless, he has some vivid memories of both my Mother and his Aunt Lottie as he called my Grandmother. Telling me so many things, I was overwhelmed, to be honest with you. To think we could have had contact with all of these folks who are now deceased makes me sad. Then too, all of the names so diligently researched by Matthew will now come to life.

Someone asked me why we were going there and my response is, because we can. And probably not a minute too soon as Hilary is 82, and has a brother who is 87. Then again, their Mother lived well into her 90's. Both Bruce and I are very excited about it all and can't thank Matt enough for setting this all into motion.

So what else is new? Socializing over the weekend. Sherrie came into town from Pennsylvania where she's nearly finished with teaching her semester. Thanksgiving dinner early she asked? Why not? We met more of her family and enjoyed a delicious meal.

That is her son kissing his girlfriend whom he met after Michelle's mother met Ben walking his dog down Appleton. She insisted he should call her, eventually doing so to stop her pleas. Lo and behold, it seems to be "love at first sight!"

We are very much enjoying returning to our Sunday ways, beginning the day with church. Although we were away for the eight years I worked on Sunday, the longing to attend worship service was always there. Nothing stopping us now! Following the service, driving down 17-92, I asked B to stop for lunch at a restaurant we'd yet to try. Serving what they call "Asian street food, it was delicious!

We are now very excited to take Matt and Tom there when they visit for Christmas. Gosh, they'll be here a month from tomorrow! How time flies.

Did I mention we finally turned the air conditioner off? For a few days the weather was glorious, now, however, it is back on again, hopefully for not too much longer. Sunday evening was still pleasant as we all visited during Hill's Happy Hour, followed by "Souper Sunday", hosted by Pam and Glen. The occasion? Glen's upcoming birthday. Pam, among her many talents, is a great cook and hostess all rolled into one. Finding a seat where we could, the men talked a little politics in the family room over their Corn Chowder, Pasta Fagioli, and Thai Chicken Soup.

Calling everyone into the kitchen for the birthday cake and ice cream...the host and hostess below.

If Glenn were on fb, I seriously think this would make a funny profile picture.

Lisa made a flourless chocolate cake that, although did not look so great, was scrumptious, as was the ice cream they claimed is the best ever made, Graeter's. Begun 145 years ago in Cincinnati, they very well may have a point. Both couples once lived in Cincinnati, so they were overjoyed to discover it is now sold in a few Publix around here. Hard to say which was better--raspberry chocolate or the mint chocolate chip.

It is that time of year again..the historical city calendar contest. This year I am fortunate enough to have had two photographs selected for the calendar, February and July. Yesterday afternoon the presentation occurred during the city council meeting.

The woman sitting next to me was there for her first time, expressing surprise at the height of Buddy Dyer, our Mayor, elected two weeks ago for his fourth term. She said he looked taller on television. :)

Not only are we happy to be in a worship service again, but we are happy to have opportunities to help others. For a few weeks now I've been bringing bags of food to the church and today I am thrilled to be the one who picks up all the donations and delivers them to their distribution point. As well, we learned about this Saturday's "basket brigade." Because we will be gone when the baskets are to be delivered, I asked all of my friends if they would like to get involved. Will anyone deliver my basket for me? I got an affirmative from Pam. Yesterday I bought all of the groceries..

As to the decorating the basket part, I left that up to Pam. Should you live in Orlando and want to do the same, check out the link above with all the pertinent details.

I'll close today with a gorgeous orchid from Pam's garden.

This is but one of about ten clusters on the same plant!!

Wish us luck on our great adventure,

Gail

Home Alone

A little melodrama, re: the title, to get us started. Really, it is not so bad, but I sure do miss Bruce, especially when he decided to remain in DC until Saturday!! Much to his chagrin, there have been far too many unforeseen problems needing his attention. It is not the first time, although with any luck, it will be the last, primarily because his next job is here in Orlando! Just five and a half miles from home, no less.

So, I'm pretty much sick of summer. Same old, same old.

Most everyone feels the same when September rolls around because it is still hot/humid as the dickens and we don't want it to be. Humidity--big time! Why, some days, my glass doors do not lose their condensation until after 10 in the morning. We've not had a drop of rain, however, since Sunday afternoon, although the sky is cloudy now, just when Bill needs nothing of the sort as he is having some concrete poured around 2:00. Not only is he having a sidewalk poured alongside the house, he's having some planters filled that once were inside the pool screen enclosure, and of late, have housed only weeds.

The early week adventures have come to a halt, however, my dear friends have really helped me out by having me over for dinner two nights this week. Thank you, thank you.

Wednesday, David and I met with our accountant to discuss next year's tax burden and it could be worse. I invited Dave because he's our money manager, or at least the invested portion; then too, he can follow along better than I can. Long story short, it's going to be interesting.

Because I was in Winter Park, Trader Joe's was on my agenda. One thing they have for very reasonable prices are fresh flowers, and that day was no exception. I came home with some super fly orange Gerbera daisies. 10 stems for $5.00.

Aren't they super? Speaking of the grocery store, the other day I boiled some eggs for egg salad and once they were all peeled nicely, I lined them up to check the sizing. You know how when a recipe calls for a large egg and that is what you use. But seriously, as demonstrated below, not all large eggs are created equally.

See what I mean? I wonder how much difference it really makes when baking...

Clemons hooked me up with some multi-colored radishes!!

This is a first in my life....I take my excitement any way I can of late. :)

Here is a wonderful story for all my teacher friends. Simply amazing what an impact a teacher can make on a young student's life. I bet everyone reading this has one of those in their life, or so I hope. Susan Thigpen was mine, back when I was in the ninth grade at Howard. I wonder what happened to her.

My friend Sue is having her kitchen redone, and unlike us, she's getting all new cabinets, flooring, and a wall taken down. In other words, the works. Riding over the other morning for a status update, we talked out front and I could not help admire all of her blooming orchids, and there were a bunch.

The day I visited the cabinets still had not arrived, however, that has now been rectified, and things are moving along nicely.

Cheryle sent me a link to an article last week about purslane and how you can eat the stuff. The reason she did so is because last year, when I had it growing like a weed, she took some cuttings and now has plenty of her own. For the life of me, I find it difficult to imagine frying the stuff.

Or eating the flowers for that matter. I think I will content myself with enjoying the cute flowers and foliage in the garden.

Bruce is encouraging me to do a better job taking care of my camera equipment which is probably only fair. Finding this cute little bag from Jon and Alissa in my desk drawer, I'm going to do my best to use it for storing lenses. Time will tell now, won't it?

By the way, it is now pouring. Perhaps it will stop before two? I sure hope so!

Yesterday morning I finally took Baxter for a walk in Cypress Grove Park, the only place he really likes to do so. As I mentioned before, with all of the recent rains, everything is green, green, green.

Surprising me, he was a pretty good walker, at least until he got a little tired. Most of the time I forget he's getting older like we are. Twelve years old already. I ended up carrying him in order for him to catch his breath, however, once we reached the big open field I put him down because, generally he loves to run. And run he would have except the grass was nearly as tall as he is!

He's taking a little breather in the high grass which was also wet from the morning dew. I know my shoes got soaked, as did his little legs. Once home, for some reason I took ahold of a bowl I've kept on my kitchen window sill, rummaging through the contents. Was I ever delighted to discover two items that I thought I'd never find. Duh, I look at the bowl every single day! Anyway, one item was a watch, and the other was a replacement button for a blouse I purchaed in Brighton, England. The blouse is darn cute with bird cages and never fails to garner compliments. Unfortunately, one of the lower covered buttons fell off a few months ago. My plan was to remove the one at the collar to replace it with, however, now I don't have too!! Button sewn on this morning. Woo hoo!

My luck did not hold out with the watch, however. Figuring it was merely a dead battery, I took it, along with a couple other dead watches over to the clock guy I've seen more of than I would like. No problem, three new batteries, and I am off. This morning though, I put the lost/found watch on before going on my ride,  only to look down thirty minutes later, and notice that the time was as he set it the day before. I seriously loved that watch, so much so, that I drove over once again to see what was up. Here's what was up--the circuit board is dead. I asked him to throw it away for me because it was too painful to do so on my end. :(

Finally, and this will interest only a few of you, so you've been warned. Anyway, a few weeks ago while at the nail salon, Tina talked me into letting her paint my nails which is something I ordinarily shy away from. Not because I don't like it, but because what I don't like are nails with chipped polish. Well, lo and behold, that polish stayed looking pretty good for about five days. I discovered I kind of liked being a painted lady. While flipping through a Vogue magazine recently, I saw an ad for Essie top coat which promised to behave like gel nails. So, I went in search of it, finding a little combo pack of both the top coat and a bottle of polish named "Sunday Funday." Perfect! Except, it is not. Or to date it has not proven to be so. First day and I had a serious chip. Second day--more. Hmmm.....let's try this again now that I am confidant enough to polish my nails. Pretty much the same result. In other words, not the miracle cure I was hoping for. Still not ready to give up, I wondered if it were the Essie polish, and would another brand work better? Seriously, a science project going on around here. The other day I decided to try it with some Revlon polish I had in my little nail bag. Let's just say that painting with dark polish is quite the challenge for me. Here I am holding up a little piece of sea glass I keep in shell jar.

By golly, I'm several days in, and my nails, although too dark, are still looking mighty good. Stay tuned.....

Won't be long now,

Gail

The Trees are Alive with the Sound of Birds!

I don't know about you, since seeing Lady Gaga do that Sound of Music medley, during the Academy Awards broadcast, the songs keep popping into my head. Amazing how lyrics stick with a person, isn't it? I wonder if anyone has done a study on that topic--I remember scads of song lyrics, but can't remember a darn thing from my childhood. Other than lyrics, of course. :)

Anyway, during my visit to Leu Gardens, music of a different kind, bird songs, filled the air. This little Carolina Wren may be small, but sure has a big voice.

I heard mockingbirds, cardinals, and blue jays. Then too I saw a thrush, a woodpecker, and, of course, finches. Good stuff.

As promised, more of the frogs:

Commissioner Sheehan sponsored this one:

In the vegetable garden, Sam Flax sponsored this version of "American Gothic."

This one was stationed in the butterfly garden:

That net was going to waste; only one butterfly braved the morning chilliness. That chilliness seems like long ago as the temperature today, as I type, sits at 88 degrees! Feels like summer.

Bruce is heading home soon from Las Vegas, having been meetinged out, although he said it has been good meeting the folks who, up until this week, he'd only talked to on the phone. After seeing the performance in Vegas, he also tells me that we must go to see Cirque de Soleil at Disney. What have I been waiting for? Good question, without a good answer.

Remember how I wrote about that orchid given to me early last November by my neighbor Terri? The one that refuses to drop buds? The one that actually has had two new buds open up? Crazy business! The two new flowers are a deeper purple. Well, not exactly purple--magenta maybe?

The next time I see Jim that is going to be my first question!

I finished the globe.

I have no idea how many stamps it took, but a whole bunch! Most all of them are unique, but not every one. Occasionally, to make it all fit together, I had to use fillers--primarily Queen Elizabeth stamps, as he had plenty, although the number is now greatly diminished. The other morning, before we got on with our day, we talked about his days as a young boy, and man, collecting stamps. He would mow lawns, or sweep hair off the floor of a nearby barbershop, to raise money for his collecting. In those days, the collector, if young enough, had to have a parental signature ensuring honesty because the dealers would send a batch of stamps from a wish list, and the boy, because I'm guessing it was mostly boys, would return them, minus his purchase. Can you imagine that kind of trust going on today? To date I've been using mostly the duplicates; I am a little skittish about removing them from his actual albums. I have, though, resorted to it in my quest for red stamps for the heart projects!

And now for the good stuff. Waking up early this morning, the first thing I did was make the chocolate chip cookies for Matt. I called him at the nursing home to see when would be a good time to visit, however, as it turns out, he's spending only nights there, coming home for most of the day following radiation. After lunch was the preferred time, and so I went; we chatted and gossiped. I brought a dozen cookies, however, the radiation is giving him a very sore throat, so they should last a couple of days. Or, maybe not.

The master bath is undergoing a remodel in order for the wheelchair to fit in both the room, and the shower. It is coming along nicely; once done, he'll come home for good, using a hospital bed in the adjoining room. Nursing help will come for the overnight shift. If all goes according to plan, they will be going to see Elton John on Saturday night! I thought you might like a face to put to the name.

I told you he was still smiling! I brought my camera because for many years I'd taken their Christmas card photo, so I figured why not? Well, I'll have to return soon when he's wearing a cleaner shirt, and my camera does a better job focusing, but you get the idea. Matt loves people praying for him--if you are the praying kind, join the crowd!

It has felt good typing this today--my desk finally got a clean up earlier--long overdue. And if you are wondering, I've yet to get on my bicycle, but, if I keep improving, it won't be long now.

Swallowtail Sleepover

This story about mining in India, in some ways, reminds me of the novel I just finished reading, Serena.  Now you already know how much I love Ron Rash, but I'm warning you, if you read anything by him, get ready for some action. Reading one of his novels, or even his short stories for that matter, is like watching a train wreck--you know it's going to be bad, just how bad, time will tell. Jennifer Lawrence, of recent Oscar fame is playing Serena in the movie and I can't imagine how she will do it. If ever there were a fictional female character who is mean, well, that word hardly does her justice, Serena is it.

The story concerns a logging empire in the mountains of western North Carolina during the depression. Men work, despite nearly daily disasters, because they had no other options. It is hard for me to believe nearly these same conditions exist in our world today, however, according to the linked article above, much the same goes on in the mines, except there are children involved! Very sad indeed.

Yesterday, as I mentioned, was not a good weather day. My energy level goes way down when the skies are leaden. Nonetheless, I did accomplish a few things, like making cookies for Friday night. Generally, when I buy a new product, I tend to use the manufacturer's recipe on the back of the package. So in keeping with that, when I made the oatmeal cookies with cinnamon chips, I expected the recipe to work. I figure they have a whole team of people testing those recipes, even more so than say those from a cookbook. Did it work very well? Not so much. For one thing I think the oven temperature as stated was too low. Who bakes cookies at 350 degrees? They just wouldn't brown at that temp. Raising it to 375 worked only slightly better. Eventually I got some to bake properly, and although they taste pretty good,  are they ever unattractive! We'll see what my FAVO guests think. I'll report back on this one.

The day was quickly turning to dusk when I went out to get the mail, noticing, as I did, a black swallowtail butterfly flitting about the porch. Quick go get the camera!

Eventually, said beautiful butterfly settled on one of the tomato plant leaves and stayed put. This is an entirely new phenomenon to me.....I have hardly ever seen one stay still long enough for a photograph.

I took a gazillion photos, most of which did not turn out very well due to the waning light, going so far as to get my macro lens. All the while the butterfly didn't budge. Amazing really. I tried every angle in the book!

Look! A fuzzy yellow body. And how about those incredibly spindly legs??? And the eyes! I'll tell you this much, I am not good with the macro lens, one of the few photography purchases that I might have been better of not having made. Mostly it is because I'm too lazy to get my tripod out which is the recommended method.

You know what happened when the lights went out? The wings fold up for the night and aren't they gorgeous?

The blue is just killer! Before I went to bed I turned on the porch light, and there was the butterfly just chilling. Same thing when I got up before daylight. As I type at 10 in the morning pretty boy is still hanging out only now his wings are flattened once again.

My friend Sue tells me she had one stay for three days! Wonder what it all means? Any ideas?

Guess what else is back? A silly question I realize....

Recently Bruce told me he wondered why anyone would buy an orchid. When he gets back from his trip, I'll show him why. Year after year they just keep coming back. Don't you just love nature?

As they days lengthen, the sunrise is finally getting earlier, a fact for which I'm grateful. Because I missed my ride yesterday due to the blustery weather, I made up for it this morning. Along the way these cloud formations caught my eye.

Despite looking up the types of clouds on Wikipedia, like the unscientific person that I am, I can't really decide what kind they are. Cumulus perhaps?

In non-nature related news, Jonathan and Alissa have finally set a wedding date. Maybe I should call it a "getting hitched" date because it will occur in the Austin courthouse with nary a family member present. The following day, June 29, they will begin a long journey to Tokyo, a life-long dream for Jonathan. Alissa is happy to be going to Japan as well because she, like me, loves to take photos. This has been a long time coming and we are so thrilled for them. Another girl in the family!

The sun is finally shining again, for how long is anyone's guess. I'm taking a few things over to FAVO just now and I can't wait to see more of the bunnies in person. There's even one someone did in the "Steampunk" style! Don't know what that is? Neither do I!