On My Mind

This post will be attached to Rhonda's On My Mind at Down---to---Earth.

Right now on my mind is this old watch my Dad gave me years ago. It has the inscription of his great aunt's name and the date 1894. It's beautifully ingraved with her initials scrolled on one side and a bird and flowers on the front in tri-colored gold. Sorry about the photo...bad batteries. I may replace later.

I've been thinking how I've kept this beautiful item locked away for years, and now am considering giving it to my daughter for Christmas now that she's about the age I was when it was given to me. It makes me think of the beauty we all have, the shining gifts God has given us, that we should not lock away, but share with others always.

Being a late bloomer, I hope I've instilled in my girls the strength and courage to step out of their comfort zones and be their authentic selves, live life to the fullest, before they're old like me!

So proud of my Grandson today

The city sponsored a wonderful Get Outdoors day today. I took Hunter, my grandson who lives with autism. We like to do outdoorsy stuff together. Here he is rock climbing and doing some archery. They also had fishing.

He climbed "the mountain" about halfway when he began to panic a bit, so he came down. I was still so proud that he tried (it was his idea, surprisingly). He really is growing!

He is braver now than he's ever been before. Last year I doubt he'd have tried this.
The ladies and gentlemen who helped in the activities were awesome---so patient!

Purple and Red...gettin' our Royal on!

Corn planting

You start with sprouted seed. I started this Sunday evening. Since I do not use paper towels at the house, I just used some drive-thru napkins I'd saved some time ago.

Then water down your planting area and poke holes with a stick or dowel or finger, 1 inch deep..

Place your seed in root-down, cover, and then----Mr. Triplesweet, I will see YOU in 79 days!

If the breeze would just hold up for a sec....that's it!

I love "trying" to shoot photos of my poppies. The breezes make it a challenge--and getting the right settings!

So happy when the flowers start blooming

This morning before work

 Then at 5 p.m.

Lucky or....

Today I said to myself, "Girl, you are one lucky chick. Look at the view from your office. How can you ever complain about your job?"

Granted, most days are not like today. Two hundred and seventy days a year are gray and dreary. But today, I was blessed by the second day of cheer thanks to a small flock of Western Tanagers and one cranky female Northern Flicker sallying and calling from the cherry tree outside my office. The male Tanagers, adorable with red-orange hoods, sallied among the branches snatching insects on the fly. The olive females flitted closeby in an adjacent tree, perhaps keeping one eye on a nest.

The Northern Flicker seemed to have a sense of when I raised my camera, because as soon as I peered through the lens, she moved away. She likes to hang out in the cavity of an old wooden pole that bears an old rusting basketball hoop long abandoned. It perches there on the opening, calling its disdain for the more colorful Tanagers. The more frequent the sallying, the more voika-voika-voika-skreet!

I know the Tanagers will be gone soon; they don't stay for long. I look forward to them every spring. They happen to like the mixed "forest" there on the church campus, even though it is only yards from a main arterial. I suppose they'll be heading north soon, maybe following nearby I-5 up to British Columbia.

The Flicker, I hope, hangs around long enough to allow me to see some fledglings.

So...lucky? Well, today, it feels more like "blessed."