A wander through the woods on a misty morn…

As Boo and I took our morning driveway meander today, we spied with our little eyes…

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Spring is busting out all over…

It’s that green time of year…

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Can we all just say ahhhhhhh…

What a week…

This was quite the fecund week around here.

It rained and misted and fogged, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s. My pansies from last year spontaneously regenerated themselves and are in their full egg yolk yellow glory under the hummingbird feeder.  I bought a beautiful red verbena to hang on the front porch and it, too, seems to be thriving. I got my first two whiskey barrels planted with butterfly and hummingbird attracting flower seeds. Here’s hoping for no more frosts! If these survive, there’s no stopping me!

Then the sun came out…and  so did the birds! Lots of hummingbirds, jays (which seem to have supplanted the woodpeckers this week), finches, sparrows and the steadfast chickadees to feast at our 5 feeders…little butterflies flit from one greening bush to another…the azaleas are fading and the rhododendrons are swelling…the ferns are unfurling and the water plants are back…

Then my bug child’s mid-pregnancy anatomy scan showed that her bug child is a girl…I was totally prepared to love my grandchild, no matter what the gender. I didn’t always feel like that, exactly. When I was pregnant with my first, I just assumed she’d be a girl; it never occurred to me that it would be otherwise. I am one of four girls, my Grandma was one of four girls…I was sure that would trump Hus’ status as one of two boys…and it did! She was a girl. Duh…  When I got pregnant with my second, I once again assumed it would be a girl…imagine my surprise when Andrew Ian leapt out into the world! What did I know about raising a boy??? Of course, all that changed as soon as I met him and I figured it out.

I can’t remember if I have mentioned that we are renovating the garage building on our property.  The foundation was cracked and heaving and the building was starting to slump. So, we bit the bullet and hired a contractor.  He cleared space next to the building, jacked it up, hoisted it with a crane over onto the cleared space…when I say hoisted, I mean the building dangled a few feet above the ground before it was swiveled into its temporary resting place. They broke up the old foundation, excavated, poured concrete and then filled the big hole with the excavated dirt…I’m thinking that the rest of the foundation will be poured today, which means that just maybe, the garage building will be taking another flight back onto its fancy new foundation next week.  They worked through the rain…I am so impressed with everyone who has been part of the project so far.  Pup and I are going up to take photos of the site as soon as I hit Publish on this post…

OK, all the doors and windows are open, the house is full of birdsong and the shhhhhh-ing of the waves, the squirrel is back on his favorite bird feeder (black sunflower seeds, yum yum yum) and it is time to begin the day. Have a good one!

Yes! We’ve got SUN…

Boo and I have been enjoying our morning walks this week, even though it has been foggy and rainy each day. Then we woke up this morning and…

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I feel in my bones that today will be one of those days that makes the leaves unfurl, the grass grow, the birds dance and sing and the puppy run and leap…it is going to be one of those days…

Happy Mom’s Day, Mom…

I remember when I was pregnant with my first child…I was 28, we had been married for nearly 5 years, we both had jobs…I was ready, right? Mmmm…no…the first day home with my 2 day old daughter, after Hus went back to work, I remember hugging her and crying, thinking that I had no idea what to do next. Baby and I cuddled on our bed and fell asleep together and so it began.

Looking back, though, when my mom was pregnant with me, she was almost 21, married 1 year and my dad worked a lot of jobs at a time. Then 13 months after my birth came my sister; 23 months later my third sister, then 16 months later, my fourth sister. By the time she was 25, there were 4 of us under age 5…ohmygod…can you imagine? I guess after me, there was no more time or energy to wonder what to do now.

Now my daughter is pregnant with her first and I wish there was something I could do or say that would get her through those first hours alone with her new baby…no, she really won’t know what to do next…but they will figure it out. It will be a delicate dance between her and her babe, each of them learning moment by moment what this new life is all about. I am a bit envious, but more than anything, I am thrilled for her that she will have those moments…which brings to mind the lyrics of a song from one of my favorite musicals, Baby (book by Sybille Pearson, based on a story developed with Susan Yankowitz, music by David Shire, and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.)…Lizzie sings it best…

So this is the tale my mother told me
That tale that was much too dull to hold me
And this is the surge and the rush she said would show
Our story goes on
Oh, I was young I’d forgot how things outlive me.
My goal was the kick that life would give me
And now like a joke something moves to let me know
Our story goes on
And all these things I feel and more
My mother’s mother felt and hers before
A chain of life began upon the shore of some dark sea has reached to me
And now I can see the chain extending
My child is next in the line that has no ending
And here am I feeling life that her child will feel when I’m long gone
And thus it is our story goes on
And on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on
And all these things I feel and more
My mother’s mother felt and hers before
A chain of life began upon the shore of some primordial sea has
stretched through time to reached to me
And now I can see the chain extending
My child is next in the line that has no ending
And here am I feeling life that her child will feel when I’m long gone
Yes all that was is part of me as I am part of what’s to be
And thus it is our story goes on
And on and on and on and on

Happy mother’s day to all of us!

My mom and my babies

Glory day…

After a few cloudy, rainy, misty days, I am rejoicing in the sights that greeted me when I woke up this morning…

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Have a great weekend…what are you doing? Hus and I will be taking care of this little oops, among other things…

The roots finally just gave way…thank you, rain storm!

In a fog…

I am in a fog in more than one way…

Foggy morn

I am in a fog of waiting…

Cradled

…waiting to become a Grammy, as far away from me my first-born carries her first child. I cherish each photograph of her swelling body and each blog post in which she shares the smaller things…what memories it brings back…this is a good fog to be in!

Remember when everybody smoked?

…waiting to become a mum-in-law again…excited to expand our family again…we enjoy her family and can’t wait to see my second-born marry his love on the same lawn on which hus and I were wed nearly 37 years ago.

Classic

…waiting with my beloved dad-in-law as he spends whatever time his 98yo body is going to give him…hoping to make this stage of his life as easy and happy as we can…we have slipped into his routine and have become an almost integral part of life in the assisted living center…we know the names and histories of most of the residents…at dinner on Wednesdays and brunch on Sunday, we are sad to see one at a table where there used to be two…we are so blessed to be here.

…waiting to figure out where my life is headed. I am in the most wonderful place on the ocean with the man I love, my children are happy, I have a dog that adores me and two cats that tolerate me…I read, write, walk, photograph, cook, eat (which is why I just rejoined Weight Watchers, in an attempt to teach myself portion control)…I’m sure there will be more, once the fog clears…until it does, I’m in a good place!

Cloud hands cradle the supermoon

Pitter patter, tweet tweet…

We are now moving more quickly through spring and a lot of sounds and sights that I had long forgotten have returned…

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Not pictured is a large, blue jay that feeds on the ground under one of the feeders, and lots of chickadees and finches and sparrows…

Oh, Mr. Moon, Moon, Bright and Shiny Moon…

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