Flowers Changing

Hello, The catalpa tree is blooming. We look right into those blossoms from the kitchen window. It is beautiful to see each morning.

Along the side walk the last iris is still glowing even though some ash tree seeds are on it.

The first lily is now open.

It is great to walk home and see the coreopsis blooming in the front. We have so much beauty around us. I try to appreciate it all of the time. My step count goes up in the nice weather. Hanging out clothes adds to it as well as walking to church to water plants. Choir practice tonight will add another 5,000. Today is a great day to be out. Brian gave us a weather radio for Christmas. It has been good, even though startling, to have it when storms passed through. We were alerted and had a reliable source of information. Today it went off in the middle of the morning. I was astonished because it looked so nice out. Turns out it was just a test of the system. Paula

Car Maintained

Hello, I am becoming much more comfortable taking the car in for care. As with many things in life doing something more than once makes it familiar and therefore more doable. One of my tires appears a little low to me, but I think I will still pass that job on to Leroy. I wouldn’t want him to feel unnecessary. The Car repair shop that we use is about a half block from the bike trail. I took a nice walk while they changed the oil. I did have a book with me so I could also read. There was another guy waiting when I was done with the walk and he was lost in the face of his phone. I would rather read a book. Fortunately, I have a close connection with libraries so that is always possible. In fact, I stopped and picked up two books that had been on hold for me. I did walk to church to water plants so my steps are done, but I will walk to a neighborhood meeting this evening. It is about half a mile away, so not far. We were out of granola. I made that this afternoon. For some reason, I cannot get sesame seeds. They are on back order. This batch has another cup of oatmeal to take up the space. Paula

One Play

Hello, We did enjoy the local play. We arrived a bit early in typical Bradway style. The usher asked if we had read the blurb about the play. To our yes, she said, “Good then you won’t be offended by it and yell at us.” “Do people yell at you?” I wondered. “Yes, sometimes they have no idea about what they are to see. When it is not fitting their ideas, they get mad.” She said. “Is this play gross?” I wondered. “No but that all depends on your sensibilities.” She replied. It did have some off-color jokes, but was quite discreet over all and is a satire. We laughed which is what we came for. The next play will be quite different with it based on history and it is a musical. Hopefully we will enjoy. Brian and Jen saw it a few years ago and liked it. Paula

Lows and Highs

Hello, In the last two days feelings have been up and down. I saw a specialist yesterday because of my low white blood cell count that has been around for about a year. Or perhaps it has come and gone in the course of that time with it being not okay when blood was drawn. The doctor spent quite a bit of time with me, asking questions and explaining. She had more blood drawn for some additional tests, and expects to see me in about a month when more blood will be examined. For some reason I had expected her to say it was not a big deal and let it go since the number was not much lower than the norm. I allowed that to get me down in the dumps. Thanks to all the modern technology, I was able to see some test results. Those pesky highs and lows seemed to still be there. Not all the categories mean anything to me, but it still made me upset. By the time Leroy came home I needed a listening ear and he provided just that without giving me a lot of advice. That is hard for him and I thanked him. Amazing how having someone listen raises the spirits. Today there were more results sent and if I understood it all it was much more to the good. Then this afternoon we bought tickets to a play in town tonight and a play in Iowa city for next week for our anniversary. Looking forward to these two entertainment events. Did Leroy think I was on the road out, so he had to give in to my requests? Paula

Am I in charge

Hello, My car displayed the “maint record” light. Leroy called our mechanic who said they could take care of that in a matter of minutes. I drove there this morning to have a guy come out and turn that light off. He did that, but he also noted that it has been some time since the oil has been changed. I made an appointment for that, but it is not in Leroy’s free time. Guess I will have to take care of it. Maybe that is saying I need to be responsible for the care of the vehicle I drive the most. Usually, I like to gave all the car chores to Leroy. I told Leroy I would like to be in charge of planting our front garden, but my success rate is very low. Perhaps he is right, we have had the seeds too long. They have not gotten wet so I thought they would still be good. Another problem has been insects that want to snack on the plants that did come up. Generally, I am the laundry person. Although, if Leroy is home, he will help hang out clothes. Leroy helps with meal prep, but generally I decide what we are cooking. So I consider myself in charge. Perhaps when he is retired the home job responsibilities will shift a little from me to him. He is also taking strongly about volunteering as he does not think he can handle being home so much of the time. Paula

Baby birds

Hello, The first baby bird seemed to struggling to hop along. Feathers were there, but rather short. The next two were flying a little and then hopping. The last one just mostly looked at us. It must be “leave the nest” season. Being a baby bird appears to be hard and dangerous work once out of the nest. A few of the babies had been pushed out of the nest too soon and were expiring on the sidewalk. We may live in a city, but we get to witness nature frequently. The other day while hanging out clothes, there was just a lot of bird chatter but no birds visible. The leaves keep getting bigger on the trees, creating hiding places. Paula

No Squatting in the heat

Hello, Yesterday afternoon when the temperature was in the 80’s we worked in the garden. I weeded while other people did a number of other tasks, including planting. One person brought a portable shade. I was in the shade most of the time. My favorite posture when working on low things is to squat. I kept drinking water, but often felt dizzy and had to stand or sit for a while till it was gone. People were getting a bit concerned. This has happened much of my life if it is hot, but it is worse now. Learning to kneel or sit while doing such tasks will have to be in the future. Not my favorite thought! It is hot again today. So far, I have been inside more than outside so I do not notice it very much. Leroy and I have cleaned the last screens, washed windows and cleaned the sills. It is nice to have that job done. We are starting to think of some jobs that Leroy can do around here when he is retired. He just has three work weeks left. I walked up to get a prescription filled, as I left the store, I met a neighbor. He talked some about the store closing. He told me he plans to walk about 20 blocks to the next closest grocery store when this one closes next month. I wondered if he could take the bus, but he figured he could walk faster since it does not take a direct route there. I was struck by how many options I have, owning a car. We may offer him a lift to a store. How many people need something like that? Paula