Everyday an adventure in how to exist meaningfully.....

There is much to do around here, and none of it getting done.  Curtains need washing.  Windows need washing, at least on the inside.  I will have to leave Mother Nature to do the outside with a nice rain.  Mulch needs to be put down on my garden by the porch.  I have two bags of dark mulch that I bought late last fall, that have resided in the trunk of my car all winter.  It's no big deal to haul them out and put it down.

Well, it's been too darn hot!  85 degrees yesterday, May 1st and 80+ today?  It was winter here about 10 days ago and now we have July temperatures.   Yes, yes--I know.  All my Northern friends will yell at me for complaining about the heat, but--I do not deal well with heat and humidity.  I wish it would just stay 72 degrees all summer.

I have tried to walk everyday.  It is 250 steps from the end of my driveway up to Fred's special tree.  I did it Monday with no problem, up and back.  Yesterday, I barely made 100 steps before my back and hips started feeling like there were knives embedded.  As I was walking back, my balance was so off from the pain that I looked like I was drunk.  Mind you--I've never been drunk, but I've seen drunks trying to walk and I can only assume, that is the way I looked.  Merle was raking his side lawn and he called out, "Are you okay?"  I just waved and kept on walking.  It is only 50 steps from Merle and Pearl's--I had to keep going.  Collapsed in my recliner and the pain went away.

I have come to the conclusions, that if I want to walk, I am going to have to put a recliner chair at the half-way point!!!!  Or...maybe...suck up my pride and use my fancy-smanchy walker with the seat to walk with.  I think I need the handles to hold onto because when I grocery shop, I walk about 1,500 steps around the store, but with the cart to hold onto, it doesn't seem too bad.

Later in the afternoon, I did take the cover off the outside A/C unit, filled up and hung my Hummingbird feeder and the bird feeders.  I already have my Baltimore Oriole feeder up and saw a scout stop by the other day, so they must be migrating into the area.
================
Last evening I did something so out of my realm of possibilities, that it isn't funny.  I seem to have a touch of Agoraphobia again--not liking to be in enclosed areas with a lot of people.  Haven't been to church in 4 years.  Can't see well enough to drive after dark, comfortably.  I wanted to go to a seminar a friend was giving.  What if this program ran until after dark?  To heck with it.  I figured it would be another adventure.  The road was familiar, I could drive home blind, if need be.

Anyway--a Dear Friend of mine had been invited to give a presentation to the Audubon Group located about 10 miles from here.  I have known her and her husband since they were little kids--they went to school with my kids and I knew their parents.

I remember when she first picked up a camera to take photos of her beautiful gardens--she has 18 gardens.  I knew the minute I saw her first photos that she had an "eye for photography".  Then she started building natural habitats for the birds in the area.  She has since had several photos published in Birds and Blooms and other magazines.

So, she had been invited to give a presentation to this group.  It was held in the Senior Center.

Now, the people in the group are serious Birders!  They travel all around the state and even other states to find and count different birds.  They mentioned some birds I have never even heard of. I thought I heard someone mentioned a Red Bottomed Fly Sinker, but I am hard of hearing, so I may have misunderstood.

She only did the presentation on her Backyard Buddies--the birds that are in her own backyard.  It was fantastic!!!  She knocked those experienced photographers and birders off their seats, with her photo slide-show and then videos.!!  I couldn't have been prouder if I was her own Momma.

These people all have very expensive cameras and big zoom lenses that they tote around with them.  She still has a fairly simple camera, not big lenses to struggle with and yet...her photos are amazing!

So now that group is going to make plans to drive out to her home, near Byron, and spend time touring her gardens and her bird habitats.

Oh--I pulled into my driveway just as it was really too dark to drive.  Glad I made myself conquer my fears and go.

You can find her website here and view her photos.
=====================

May 1st--yesterday, May Day--our winter has been so long that there are NO wildflowers blooming to make a pretty May Basket treat.  No violets.  No May flowers.  No Trilliums.  No May Apples.  Na Da.  But my Daffodils are blooming and Tulips ready to burst into blossom any day now, and a few pretty, bright yellow Dandelions sprinkled around the yard.

Just before I went to bed, being the first of the month, I printed out my budget.  Not a good thing to do late at night, when worries can keep me awake.

I'm $66.00 short this month.  A new bill from the CAT scan place.  Dentist bill, with another cleaning coming up next month.  Health insurance nearly doubled, even with my subsidy.  Gas for the car?  I only allow $20.00 a month for gas for my car--even if the price is near $3.00 a gallon.  It is worrisome, every month, even if the budget has a few dollars left over, but when it is in the red so much................?  Lawn mowing starts this month and that will be $40.00 a month, if I only get it mowed twice a month, and this time of year, it needs a weekly mow.  I will just have to live with longer grass, simple as that.

Plus, just this moment, I remembered--I have to get a pair of shoes and a small purse before the wedding.  Oy Vey!!! Oh my Gosh--and next month my license tabs are due--$71.00.
=================
Well, enough of that.  I will do the best I can and God will provide the rest.  He always has.

The United Methodist Church has had some pretty funny memes lately.  I laughed out loud over this one.