Today is a classically beautiful day.  The sun is out, a slight breeze ruffles the tree limbs and the temperatures should hit low eighties.  It is the kind of day where I shall spent as many hours outside as possible.

 

My youngest brother just announced that I should expect a logging truck from a wood mill full of 20 foot logs to be dropped off in the field across the street. He did it again!  Another two - three years worth of wood to be cut and split.  I keep telling him.....how did I ever get mixed up with you?  Joking of course.  I fight for the lawns to be cut but oh.....I do have fire wood.

 

I've started another Magdeline L'Engle book and am enjoying her style of writing. But I can see that when you've  read the best two or three of her books, you want to put them aside for awhile.  I'm read "The Summer of the Great-Grandmother," which is detailed chronology of her mother's last summer at her Connecticut home - Crosswicks. It was the blending of several generations and the care for her 90 year old mother whose health was failing dramatically.  She did die at the end of the summer but the book is about keeping a semblance of normality for the family, children and in-laws, grandchildren and godchildren while everyone chipped in to care for this woman.  It is a slice of life - caring for the elderly in your home, that is not often seen today.

 

Well I've visited a few friends this morning and plan to visit a few more this evening.  Blessings and peace.   Bittersweet

Happy Mother's Day to the women of the world.  And to you gentlemen, take good care of your wives, mothers and daughters.  I just sent my brother over to the garden center with my list of top soil, bark chips and flowers. I told him anything colorful, especially red, that would attract the hummingbirds.  So obsiously there is lots of garden work planned for the next two or three weeks.

 

Well I arranged for an awning on my garden house.  The garden house is white so I went with a yellow and white stripped awning.  I can hardly wait to get the orchids out after Memorial Day. We're vunerable to frost until Memorial Day so nothing goes out until then. 

 

I'm not sure how much I'll be outside today. A high of about 60 and very windy which will make it feel cooler.  So maybe an hour two when it is warmest.

 

I finished reading Two-part Invention by Magdeline L'Engle and was amazed by the sadness that over-took me.  The book is about the life and death of her husband/actor Hugh Franklin. It is the story of their early struggles raising a family, the financial hardships of an actor and writer, their life and finally the last few years before Hugh's death from cancer. Beautifully written.  But what was interesting was this descent of sadness and my dislike of the month of May. Since the death of my mother ten years ago from cancer, I have always "hated" the month of May. Her last two months were a living hell and every May I go into a tail-spin.  The funny part was that it didn't happen this May until.....I was almost finished reading this book.  She started describing her daily trips to the hospital, waiting in his room, the false hopes of his coming home again, and of course the guilt of enjoying the patio and evening meals knowing that dearest love is struggling alone at night hoping there would be one more return trip home.  I started reliving so much of my mother's death and could feel this shroud of despair take over.

 

As irony would have it, I remember one day sitting in the dining room looking at the azaelias and rhododendrums lost in my thoughts and a pair of Baltimore orioles flew into the bushes. They are gold and black and their gold color is beyond imagination.  Birds have always been important to me and this pair flying into the bush in front of me was the sign that all would be ok. Well it didn't quite happen that way. what I wanted and what did happen were two different things but I have to trust that the ending was what should have happened.

 

Anyway, I looked outside into the valley and lo and behold, my orioles were flying about. The interesting thing is that they are here for about a week and then I wait another year for their visit.  I think this is strictly a lay over for a few days and then they are gone.

 

So enjoy the day.  Blessings to all the Mom's and women including those whose lives include nurturing and creativity.  Peace  Bittersweet.

 

Hello all,

 

At the moment it is about to hit the low eighties and I am about to head out-doors.  Tomorrow we expect rain so will be back to say hello to all.  Be well and peace in your heart.   Bittersweet