CALENDAR

I looked at my calendar tonight and I have (for now) nothing scheduled for the next three weeks. NOTHING! That means I can garden and sew and do art to my heart's content. I could even start cooking again!

CRITTERS

We have lots of little critters roaming and flying and crawling about our property. It's God's property, not ours, but we live here and manage it for him. We always say the cats own the house, they just let us live here. Yahoo can open all of the cupboards and doors in the house, including the doors going outside. The only one she can't manage is the sliding door and she has been working on that one.

Back to the critters. Last week we had our septic tank pumped. I'm sure it doesn't take much imagination to know that it is a smelly and disgusting job, but somebody has to do it. I chose not to observe that process except from indoors. A day later another two guys came to put risers onto the tank so that next time we don't have to dig the space of two coffins. It was cool to watch, but I left when the smelly part got opened. So, we have these darling little centipedes that are black with yellow spots on their sides. I've held them in my hand numerous times and they curl up and then start crawling. It tickles but is not scary. In fact my 18 month old grandson held one. They are literally all over and I'm sure there is something wonderful that they do for the earth. The guy that took the smelly lid off saw them and freaked out. I mean he was moving back away from them and he got all hebe jebe from them. I think they are cute. He was going to step on them and I encouraged him not to. They just live here and don't harm a thing. This was a big tough septic tank guy afraid of a little centipede. He may be in the wrong business because centipedes are everywhere.

So far I haven't seen a snake, but I've seen ants both large and small, gnats and midges of all kinds, slugs and very few snails, butterflies, moths, spiders, bunnies, deer, bobcat, cougar and have heard coyote. We have had brief encounters with neighborhood cats and with raccoons. I've seen no evidence of opossum. There are numerous birds and we even had chickadees nest in our house this year. I'm pretty much a keep it natural girl. I don't like spiders snakes, but I can deal with them. I don't hold the fast moving centipedes because they are in a hurry.

So folks, who is the brave one here? The septic guy or the little grandma? By the way I saw a baby centipede today and when they first hatch they are pale green. Cute little guy.

THINK OF ME AS STEEPING TEA

I've been horribly absent from my website. My heart just hasn't been here. Thursday my cousin LeRoy Kreiger died. His wife has watched her brother die, her mother of cancer, her father of something unknown, her daughter of Hodgkin's disease, and now her husband of colon cancer that metastasised. I've known he was being overcome by the disease but to the end he remained hopeful. He was fine man, husband and father as well as funny, hysterically funny, kind, generous and fund to be around. So is Elaine. What a tremendous loss for her after losing so many of her family.

I have also been playing catch up on medical appointments that I was too sick to make last fall and this spring. There are usually two or three a week and by the time I drive there, wait for the appointment, get through with it and get back home the day is gone and I'm tired.

I always try to do my best to spread happiness and kindness throughout my life with the people I meet, but these last few months have taxed my positive attitude.

Our deer was back to eat the columbine seeds, but just one deer. Last time there were two. Mom must have sent the yearling out on her own.

The chickadees from the birdhouse outside our kitchen patio door have fledged, leaving one little dead one behind. I fear he suffocated because there were so many - at least five or six plus two parents. I also found a completely perfect robin's egg the other day. Nature always astounds me. We walk around the yard and find things that put icing on the cake that is our life. We have little black centipedes with yellow spots that are everywhere. They are so sweet and we can pick them up and they crawl on our hands. They seem like little friends.

Our spring has been so late this year because of the temperatures. I am still fearful to put my basil out. I may just keep it in my garden window. It gets plenty of light there. My orchid is putting on a blossom stem and I'm so excited. This has never happened for me before. I was just about to throw it out when I noticed the little bud. How cool is that?

So folks, that's my life in a nutshell for the last several weeks. I hope yours had more happiness and less tragedy.

I REMEMBER

Recently I read a friends blog and the words I remember triggered an exercise that I used to do for creative writing. It was writing about our memories.

I remember family reunions, both as a child and as an adult. As a child I was just the cute little tow head that everybody wanted to hold or twirl around. As an adult I began to realize the strong connection of family and how we change from year to year. Aunt Mary many times brought her amazing apple cake, somebody always brought a box of fruit, Dave and Dar were the experts at watermelon, carving ornate baskets from the rind. Over the years their skills have definitely improved. There were many times weddings that substituted for family reunions, and many times there were an enormous amount of people coming from long distances. Sometimes Fred and Ester were able to come all the way from Estonia (a Baltic nation of the former Soviet Union). We have lost two of Mom's brothers and a couple of years ago was the first time that Mom and Dad missed the reunion because Dad had fallen and broken several bones.

Family reunions aren't about all the good food everybody brings. They are about the love and fellowship and caring that goes on and on in a most wonderful family. It is about games and water play and sunshine and lemonade. It is about new babies and the joy of watching them play together and of course we also see wrinkles appear more pronounced on all of us. It is a snapshot of the passage of life. I'm so thankful for this family.

My family lives far away and most of the children live far away, so those family reunions are long between each other, but just as special because we see a toddler become a young man and a young man become a loving a patient father. Pay attention at your next family reunion and see the time pass in a snapshot.