5-19-14

We loaded up our bird feeder and waited for the birds to come.

The squirrel came first.

I decided to try and "foil" him with aluminum tape. It didn't work. He climbed right up on the slippery tape.

So then I got devious and mixed cayenne pepper with Crisco and spread it over the foil.

Then I felt guilty and gave the squirrel a peace offering of a piece bread on its tree.

At first the squirrel was deterred. It was not fond of the pepper icing on the foil.

Then this "other" squirrel came into the yard (see, it has a funky tail) and it scurried up over the hot pepper icing and proceeded to eat until its tummy was full. Soon all the squirrels were dining, then drinking water from the bird bath.

I removed the greasy pepper coated foil and cleaned the bird perch of all the slimy mess.

Still waiting on some birds.

5-18-14

I've been knitting yoga socks as a gift to my visitor who left. However, upon preparing to finish the second sock I ran out of yarn. So I have to unravel part of the first sock to finish the second one so that both are identical. As Dan says all too frequently, "things are never easy." Sorry you have to look at my crusty heel. Just look at the sock.

5-16-14

The good thing about Squirt's phone is that he found it after losing it on his way home from school, and the other good thing is that he knows how to replace busted phone screens. However, he does not know how to replace busted everything else.

Friday night. I was a homebody.

5-14-14

We finally filled up the bird feeder with seeds and are waiting for our first bird to visit. Such a great view from the kitchen table! I submitted a paper today to a journal (after two rounds of revisions) and was relatively productive.

5-13-14

My visitor left. It was incredibly sad and hard to let her go. Like caring for an ill spouse who dies, I felt a sense of loss and lack of meaning in life. As I kissed her goodbye I wondered if I would ever see her again- wondered if she would ever visit again, wondered if she was going to be OK.

5-12-14

Things started unraveling again today.

Visit to Chewakla was supposed to be calming, so see the water and hear the waterfall. However, I don't know if it did any good. 

My visitor was very deep in thought and closed in and trying to figure out what to do next with her life. Her journey has been difficult these past few months. I'm trying everything I can think of to help.

5-11-14

Mother's Day was magical. Church then lunch out. More painting, more walks in woods... and it felt like my visitor was really turning a corner towards health. It felt like we were getting the layer of mud off the truck... and revealing something calm and grounded underneath.

We went to lunch and she wanted me to take a photo of this loaf of bread. For some reason, she found it compelling.

5-10-14

I went to see an art show today with Dan and our friend The Social Worker. This is a painting by our friend Bobby, who is talented in so many things- music, art, gardening, etc.

I painted the Mother Mary for a friend from high school. My visitor and I painted and it was very soothing. All was calm. We drove at sunset over to the arboretym to see the turtles and just be in some deep woods.

The trees were magnificent. The air was cool and humid, like  tropical rain forest.

I lay down on a bench and looked up at the trees and felt sheltered under the canopy of life.

5-8-14

It's hard. I'm not going to put anything about the ordeal in this blog since it's too personal, but it's so very hard. My visitor is not doing well at all.

5-5-14

We had  drive in the country... went to a lake. It was supposed to be calming to go for a drive in the country, and spend some time on a dock by Lake Harding. My visitor was anxious and feeling worse by the minute. I didn't know what to do.

That morning she had been feeling well. We even went for a run and visited the woods across the street. But things started going downhill during the drive in the country. We had lunch at this Mexican place, which was pretty nice for a Mexican place in Alabama. 

The evening was not good. Actually it was the worst evening so far during our visit. My heart ached and I felt helpless to help my visitor through her ordeal.

5-2-14

I had to attend a party for a colleague at work, but was exhausted. My visitor and I did not sleep again this night either. Carrying on my normal routine is difficult when I want to help my visitor so much.

5-1-14

May 1 began with a phone call while still in bed.

I was getting a visitor that evening.

I drove to Atlanta to pick her up.

We did not sleep that night.

My visitor is having a crisis and I'm trying my best to help. 

4-30-14

Went for a run around the pond this morning and had an encounter with the resident heron, fish, and 14 turtles. 

I bought a package of $10 press on nails and gave myself a plastic nail manicure. I really like it!!!

Then went and planted herbs in my garden... and ruined the manicure. Thankfully, I can just glue on more nails! They are like having a wig for bad hair days.

4-29-14

We tried to save these gardenias but the transplanting was too much. 

Today I planted three replacements. May they grow huge and make many flowers. 

4-28-14

Guess who has some gardening to do?

4-26-14

After a day of grading 35 lesson plans, we had dinner at the Dutch's house to celebrate the Dutchess's birthday. My mom made the cake-- our favorite. We sat outside to eat and watched birds come to the feeder.

In order to get through a day of paper grading, these were my crutches. The oil in the blue bottle was peppermint and rosemary, dripped into the candle. Coffee and water helped too. 

4-25-14

This is Alabama.

Big pines.

Bright flowers

Ferns in the shade.

A lush, moist, fertile world.

4-22-14

In Kentucky we had the most beautiful huge female ginkgo tree ever. In autumn her golden leaves were so bright and stunning. She was the subject of many photos on this blog. While visiting last week we noticed she was gone. Stump.

Her offspring were so numerous that the chore of cleaning up the seeds each fall was onerous and back breaking. I'm talking a dozen huge big lawn bags full of nuts each fall. Left on the ground, they grew into little gingko trees that had to be pulled up with a measure of effort and guilt.

So I dug up two of her offspring last week and brought them home to Alabama where I intend to take very very good care of them and bring them up to be fine Ginkgo adults. And I hope they are both boys.

4-20-14

My Easter decorations printed with my Silhouette. That's my mother there in her kitchen getting ready for Easter dinner with us and all her friends.

4-18-14

I love love love when old friends come to town to visit and they want to see me. It makes me feel so good and I love talking about old times and catching up on new times. This pink lady is so bright and cheery and happy. We will be attending a memorial service tomorrow for a friend who died. 

Yesterday I hung curtains in my bedroom. You can see how much nicer it is now! 

4-15-14

I worked with a bunch of kids today making boxes and cards with the Silhouette Printer. Before that I went to a luncheon to see my student get a prestigious award. I'm so proud of her and so proud that she is my student.

4-13-14

This morning before we headed out of town we had breakfast with my former neighbor, Apple. We had a great time with her and her husband and kids. I miss them.

We drove 7.5 hours to get home and found this:

A creative way to work goof off in bed. Take a ceiling fan, attach a drum base, secure a computer monitor with rope, and fire it up! That Squirt. So creative!