The Facts of Love
Remember this swing? One of my favorite spots to sit and think and pray and basically watch my little corner of the world? Well, it needed some attention. An old swing, left here for us by the previous owners, it appeared never to have been stained or sealed, or, if it had, it had long since worn away. We actually thought we'd lost it for good a couple of times, due to it being blown over by the strong winds that blow through here, but Kevin was able to reinforce it, and it remains stable. We'd eventually like to build a stationary arbor-like stand that is set into the ground and hang a swing from that, but this old gal is still usable and I've grown kind of fond of her. So, I...
On Saving a Life
I went to the dentist yesterday. I was past due for a cleaning, and I changed dentists this time, due to my last dentist selling his practice, and my general dislike for his replacement. Seriously, I went from year upon year of healthy checkups, to a laundry list of (expensive) problems that needed "immediate attention," all in six months. That leaves a person a little suspicious, just in case you were wondering. As I was in this new dentist's office, I had just submitted my new patient paperwork, and settled into my seat to wait. A young Hispanic woman walked in with her two children, a girl about 4 years old, and a boy around a year. She sat the baby by the toys, and the little...
No Words
I am sitting here listening to the birds. I've got a momma bird on the front porch with four babies in the nest, and a new bird has set up housekeeping on the back porch in the nest that just recently was vacated by four other babies. There have been three different types of birds in those nests this year and I feel like we are running a birdie birthing center. Wait. Hang on a second. I'll be right back. Okay. I've just returned from commotion on the front porch, where one of those babies fled the nest and landed on the front step. Which is basically equivalent to wearing a neon sign that reads: FREE CAT FOOD. Because my man knows that I love those little birds, he calmly opened the...
Always More
We worked all day. Hard. Reclaiming cement-like, rocky ground into garden space, spreading a truckload of mulch, moving landscape rocks, and finally planting flowers. On one of my trips with the wheelbarrow to bring landscape rocks to the site where they were needed, I picked one up from its long-time location on the ground behind the shed. I always do this carefully, heeding my Girl Scout leader's advice, and pulling it toward me so that any critters underneath will skitter or slither away from me. It proved to be wise, as spiders and a small garden snake did just that. But, after they'd left, I marveled at what all was happening under that one rock. There was an ant colony with...
Laying it All Down
As I've mentioned before, Kevin and I are history buffs and find the WWII era especially fascinating. We have started watching a biopic drama mini-series specifically about the Pacific theater, based on the stories of some of the same men that were featured in Ken Burn's documentary, The War, which is our all-time favorite. Last night, it suddenly occurred to me how appropriate it was to be watching it during Memorial Day weekend, and it made my interest in their lives even more keen. I, like most people, think about the sacrifice of those who have served, or are serving, in our armed forces, as we observe Memorial Day. That's what it's about, after all. But I think mostly of those...