I hope all the Moms and Aunties out there had a lovely Mother's Day. I took a little extra time to simply remember my mom. To think about her smile, her Valerie-you-know-better look, her cooking, her lessons in cooking...and cleaning...and caring for children... and in being a good person. And I took time to miss her. I know she is enjoying more ( Read more... )

... on this Monday morning when the sunrise displayed a refreshing splash of oranges mixed with pale blue sky and the dark blue-grey (that spelling is for my Brit friends) clouds scattered about the place ( Read more... )

At 5:15 this morning, Vinnie and I--in the back yard, courtesy of his earlier demanding "woofs" that I GET UP and take him outside--listened to the choral warm-ups of finches, robin, sparrows, and more. Venus hovered above the maple-across-the-alley's branches, her clear light dimming with the rising sun. To my naked eyes, she appeared to be an ( Read more... )

Yesterday I felt so pleased with the way my work day ended that I decided I WANTED to get out and take a real walk down at the dog park with MyJeff and The Boys, despite knowing how tired I'd get and how much my feet would hurt afterwards. So we did ( Read more... )

Spent most of my day studying for Monday's tax preparation course final exam. Still a few chapters to review tomorrow morning. But I am fairly confident everything will work out okay ( Read more... )

MyJeff took The Boys to the dog park without me this morning because I needed to spend the time on homework for the tax pro class. But our truck-driving friend met him out there and then came to the house afterwards. Following a nice visit while enjoying the weather in the back yard, the 3 of us went to the theater and saw "The Secret Lives of Pets ( Read more... )

Yesterday we tried a different dog park. Not a big success. The park was a combination of mud and near-perpendicular hills. The hills all had pathways centered by wide stairways, so people could actually negotiate them without resorting to ropes and pitons. The open, reasonably flat space at the entrance gate was more mud than grass ( Read more... )

While at the dog park on Monday, I noticed many large, black dragonflies flitting around and about all over the lower part of the park. This morning I saw two lovely blue ... almost electric blue ... dragonflies, also of notable size, alongside one bank of bushes. No others of any color anywhere today. Of course, today we were there a good deal ( Read more... )

On this morning's trip to the dog park, I remembered to take along my walking stick which helped me most particularly when climbing the small hills. I managed a longer walk than I have been doing and am pleased. The Boys and MyJeff seemed to enjoy themselves, with Arrow trying to avoid leaving at the end. I had to follow close behind, reminding him ( Read more... )

After a quick stop at my pharmacy to pick up refills (*Sigh* I'm old. I have to take daily meds twice a day now. And some of them I'll have to take the rest of my life. "Old" Sucks!), we rolled down to the dog park this morning. I walked with MyJeff and The Boys, including helping to remove the little green seed burrs Arrow insists on running ( Read more... )