Blessings and Tribulations

 Good Morning all you fine and fancy bloggers out there. It is a good morning anytime you wake up and can still move around, live your life, be happy. Don't you think!!

I've been sort of discombobulated lately. Seems if I get thrown off my routine I struggle to accomplish anything... for days!! I gotta fix that, there's no time to waste being discombobulated. Don't you just love that word! 

I have to tell you that my 'neighbor' who called the cops on me the other day waited a few days after she'd sent the cops on my trail for making noise, she goes to the office and gleefully tells them that SHE is the one who set me straight 'cause she hadn't heard a peep out of me since that policeman told me to behave myself. Guess what, girly, I've not changed a thing I have ever done and I just can't wait until my housekeeper gets here next week and starts doing her thing up here. Do I sound vindictive? Maybe, a tad. I am just so tired of all this mess.

I started a workshop here at Centerbrooke. I am sooooo into preserving our history (family history mostly) so I invited anyone to participate in writing down their memories in a notebook so that their grandchildren will have a sense of who their grandparents are. There were about 8 of us. They were so into telling their memories as they recalled them, of sharing and talking and having fun. And, guess what, I did not take one single picture!! What was I THINKING!!

My son-in-law came yesterday to accompany me to the eye dr. I can't see a blooming thing once my eyes are dilated!! And it takes me forever to get over it. My appointment was at 11... when I went to bed last night I noticed that my irises were still not back to normal but they are fine this morning. I have the best son-in-law. Besides being my DD (designed driver) he also fixed my dead mouse. But it wasn't my mouse at all but my computer had a glitch. He's such a wizard!! I'm so blessed! 

So... I guess I will get busy and catch up on all those chores that I neglected when I was discombobulated. Love that word!! I'll see you again soon. 

Knock, Knock Who's There?

I promised you another story about Susan's visit with me!

We had been to lunch with Shirley and came back to the apartment to yak awhile. After Shirley left Susan got out her watercolors and, sitting in the floor, began to paint. I picked up a scrapbook to look at. 

KNOCK, KNOCK

Susan went to the door and opened it. A policeman was standing there. 

Seems that the lady downstairs had called the cops because we were making too much noise!

So, he went down to her place to check her out. Came back up and told us that she had told him I was always making a lot of noise and that my grandson visited regularly and made a lot of noise.  

Guess what!

He has not been to visit me but one time!!

You see, this lady has been complaining about me for the three years since she moved in. 

 she is regularly calling the office complaining about all the noise I make. (I even don't wear shoes in my place so I don't make noise walking)

I've lived here 12 years and have had several people living under me. This is the first one that ever said I was noisy. One even told me she enjoyed living beneath me 'cause I was so quiet. 

Then the banging started and went on for over a year. I really thought it was coming from over me but the policeman said it was her. She'd been banging on her ceiling with a broom handle to annoy me, I guess. To me it sounded like someone hammering down a carpet. And, it happened one night at midnight that woke me up out of a sound sleep. ( I must have been snoring really loudly)

That policeman couldn't have been nicer. He said that the minute Susan opened the door he saw that we were not at fault and told me to live my life and enjoy it. I could have hugged his neck!! 

I guess this whoever she is has never lived in an apartment before and thinks she's not going to hear anything or anyone. Shirley said she'd pay me $5 to drop an iron skillet on the floor and we were laughing about it. it's just so ridiculous. 

Yep, folks I am up here having a party every day! Gee Whiz.  I'm 92 for gosh sakes. I couldn't kick up my heels if I had to. 

We've had some laughs out of it. And, the cop said if she banged on my floor again that I was to call the cops on her!! So There! 

This Southern expression is for my 'nice' neighbor!

 

Susan's Visit

 Susan left this morning.....

So sad to see her go but we had a fabulous visit, so relaxed, filled with laughter, talk, painting, good food and such a loving, sweet time. 

On Tuesday Shirley came down. Susan said she'd like to go to Cracker Barrel. It had been years since she was in one so that's what we did. That was a fun outing. 

Shirley joined us once again for lunch on Wednesday. (We ate out a lot!!)  We hit First Watch and enjoyed that a bunch. We always have a great time when the three of us get together. 

Susan and I spent some quality time just talking.... about everything. She has recently taken up watercolor painting. She had brought her supplies down (just like Mama didn't have any!) and she sat in the middle of my living room floor and painted and painted. 

We went through the scrapbook that I'd made of her, her dad and my trip to Europe back in 1991. What memories that dredged up. I gave her the scrapbook to take home but not before I made a snapshot of each and every page of that thing. I may want to look at them again sometime. Here's one of the pages I took a picture of. 

I just hated to see the visit end... 

P.S. come back again soon. There's an interesting story I have to tell you of something had happened during her visit. You'll love it. 

A Visitor and Lilies

 What a lazy Sunday... the air was cooler, the sunshine bright but not unpleasant and the world just looked gorgeous out my balcony doors. Then the telephone rang... it was my daughter Susan. She's the one who lives in New York. I saw her at her son's wedding in Georgia back the first part of May and now, she tells me she will be at my apartment tomorrow for a few days visit. What a wonderful surprise. I love surprises like that! I can't wait to see her. 

I got another surprise a few days ago.. daughter Shirley brought me a bouquet of white ginger lilies and some little reddish blossom she called a bat's face. The small flower does look like a bat's face so go figure! Those lilies are so aromatic. I just sat there in my recliner taking all that wonderful fragrance. The plants came from my aunts garden back in Alabama when she was still alive. And, she's been dead since 1981, so that cutting has been thriving, blooming and multiplying for 45 years in my daughter's yard. Amazing!!

So, I'll go for now, make sure everything is ready for my visitor tomorrow. Good times ahead!! 

Oh, by the way, I got this picture of that bat-faced cuphea flower off of the internet just to show you what it looks like.  Weird, isn't it!! 

A Bit of This, A Tad of That

 The start of a new month. 

Boy, they are flying by now. Just wish time would slow down so I could catch up!! 

I've not been doing a blooming thing interesting lately. Oh, I did go to Sam's Club today and shopped. I haven't been in a grocery store in ages so I just had myself a blast wandering around. I bought a cantaloupe, some plums and a bag of lemons and a package of already cooked chicken legs and thighs. Had one of those legs for supper tonight. 

I freeze my lemons so when I get a chance to buy a batch of them, I do. I freeze the juice or I slice them and freeze the slices. It's just amazing what all you can freeze! 

While I was writing one day I had a chapter where my main characters attend a football game. I've watched a lot of football over the years (Roll Tide) but there are still plays and terms that I don't understand. 

Anyway, my grandson, Griffin, played on the Rutgers football team during his college years so I called him for some help. He gave me some valuable pointers and promised he'd fill me in on what really happens during halftime in the locker room. That ought to be interesting. But, I did warn him that my book was based in the late '40s so really bad language wouldn't have been used back then. 

My basil is looking mighty peaked. Leaves turning yellow and dropping off. Does basil die off after a productive season or am I just not taking good care of it? 

I'll go for now and crawl in bed and read 'til I fall asleep. Tomorrow is another day! 

Friendship

 I just want to take a moment and express to you how much your friendship means to me and has meant over the years. 

You've been there for me time after time and I appreciate your love and care more than you know. 

I wish I could just invite you all to my apartment and we'd all just sit around and drink (whatever it is you like to drink) and talk and talk 'til the night falls and then the sun comes up. But, I don't think you all would fit in my apartment and that's a bummer. 

Having that many friends is such a blessing! 

Life is so short...

Live it filled with gladness and graditude.. I am glad that I have you and I am grateful for each of you.

Oh.... and then there's this...

He he!! 

What a week!

 That book is eating me alive. No, not really but it surely does eat up a lot of my time and thought. I'll be so glad when it's finished and published but I am just now getting to the good part. So, it's type, edit, type, erase, put new stuff in, take stuff out, type some more. I tell you, it's a job. 

The workers finally finished putting down the new sidewalk so that awful racket stopped. It really looks nice. So, it was worth it. 

I got in the dumps last week, didn't want to do a thing, was more unsteady on my feet and believe you me, that's not good. I am scared to death of falling but I didn't thank goodness. I had night leg cramps and then diarrhea. Gee, guess that was too much info. But, I then remembered that I had not been taking in much fluid so I most likely was dehydrated. My sweet granddaughter shipped me some electrolite powder to make sure I am well taken care of. It's better than gatorade. 

My youngest grandson, Tighe, is starting his freshman year at Indianna University this week. The family helped him settle in. Mama's sure gonna miss him. They are so close and he's such a great kid. 

I did take some time out one day to do a line and wash watercolor. I just don't have the time I'd like to be able to paint. I don't ordinarily do line and wash but I do enjoy it when the notion strikes me. 

Too Many Willies

 Have you ever said 'I got the willies over that.'  Willies being something that causes goosebumps, is eerie or disturbing. 

Imagine have the name Willie. My full name is Willie Latane Barton. 

Yep, and to top it all off when I was younger than a grasshopper I started dating a handsome young dude. His name was Willie Elbert Barton. 

Two Willies should have been enough but WAIT.... there's more.

I was named for my father who was killed by lightning when Mom was 5 months pregnant with me. Everyone called him Willie. So, I was named for him, William Albert Alexander . 

And, my husband (that good looking dude I found early in life) ... his Dad was named Willie Armstrong Barton. 

So, now we are up to four Willies. 

One more to go... Elbert's grandmother's name was Willie Dee O'Rear. 

Guess what we named our children: Linda Marie, Steven Elbert, Shirley Ann, Michael Alan and Susan Renee. 

             There will be no more Willies in this family!! 

What a Racket!

                           Talk about NOISE!! 

We've had plenty of it this week around Centerbrooke. I'm three floors up and still the jack-hammer was ear-splitting!! Yesterday I was reduced to just piling up in my bed and watching tv (with my door closed, of course). That cut most of the racket out. Today more of the same. 

Why they are tearing up a perfectly good sidewalk is beyond me. I am sure they have their reasons but they didn't share them with the residents. This photo I took yesterday around 10 a.m. 

Same place, same time today

I'm all for progress... however, it would be nice to know what progress they are trying to achieve!!

Scary Times

                                               This is my daughter Shirley                                     

         She's my sidekick and my "partner in crime"

She's had such a rough time of it lately. I was worried about her. She fell some time ago and ended up with bursitis in her leg so she has been having to have steroid shots in that leg ever so often. 

So, she went in for a shot just over a month ago and the next day there was a knot just below the shot site so she called the dr and they told her that it was a hematoma, that likely the PA who had administered the shot, likely nicked a vein. That the blood would be absorbed back in to her body.... but it would take some time. 

The knot got bigger. She was a lot of pain, got to where she was having difficulty walking and could bear no pressure on that area. And, it continued to worsen. Trips to the dr. ... tests done... etc, etc, etc and all the while she is getting worse and worse.

Well, to make a long story short.. 

Her dr. sent her to a large hospital in a nearby city to have that 'hematoma' drained on Friday. It was not  a hematoma!! It was an infection that had grown to the size of my hand on her upper thigh. In all likelihood caused by a compromised needle or medicine (steroid) that was used. 

Thank God,  she is already much better and is now able to do some chores around the house. 

It is scary that someone who is supposed to make you well can cause such painful results because of negligence but it happens. My son and I thinks she ought to sue but she's not sure. She's not a 'sueing' type of person. We'll see. 

Birds of a Feather

 My train derailed!!

And, I am having a hard time putting it back on track. I have been so busy writing that dadgum book that I seldom get anything else done. At least not anything you girls would be interested in - like laundry, grocery shopping etc, etc, etc. All that fun stuff!! 

I feel good about my book but it is such slow-going. And, I haven't even painted any in quite a while. 

and I am rambling.... 

'cause I have nothing to share. I will just leave you with a few of my favorite photos. The first one is recent. During a rain storm I saw a hawk taking shelter in a nearby pine tree so naturally I grabbed my camera. 

These next ones are oldies. 

this one I got a kick out of... A cardinal and finch sharing some food. The cardinal looks like he's either trying to feed the finch or asking 'And, just what are you doing here?'

I'll stay with the bird theme...

A robin sitting on top of a scarecrow's head. I'd decorated for Halloween and that birdie thought he'd just add to my decorations. 

This one I could not figure out for a bit. It's a bird flying directly toward my camera so all you see is this blob with eyes. I couldn't have staged that one if I had tried. 

And, so, I will leave you with that last one. Just wanted to check in to confirm that I am still alive and kicking. 

Have a great weekend!!

Time For Tea

 Shirley and I had quite an outing yesterday. It was a lovely day, a bit warm but not uncomfortable. I had made reservations at the Stillwater Tea House for an early afternoon tea. It was so nice... 

We were greeted at the door by the owner, who led us to our table. We were served Blackberry tea right away. 

Then came our salad, one of my favorites: Strawberry Feta

I don't remember what the main course was, just know that it was tomato sprinkled with bits of bacon and chives on a type of bread that was spread with 'what I do not know but it was good'... I'd say it was a bruchetta but that's not what the owner called it. This came with Ginger Peach tea. 

We ended our tea with a delicious mango custard. Now, if it had been me I would have slipped that tart out of that aluminum pan before serving but perhaps the crust was too flaky and she was afraid of a mess. But, I didn't think that aluminum fit our atmosphere. However the custard made up for it.

This was served with what she called strawberry milk shake tea but mine had only a slight taste of strawberry and there was no milk in sight!! 

We met two very enjoyable ladies at the next table, not from Suffolk but not too far away. We all decided we should get together again sometime. And, they are now my facebook friends. The whole experience was just so delightful. 

Then on to the library. I'd been wanting to go but the one time I had attempted it by myself I found that they were paving the street there, things were blocked off and I just turned back and came home. But, Shirley drove us down and we went inside. It's brand new, been open less than a month... huge, two story with lots of light and space and meeting places and little nooks to sit and read. So, yes ,I will be going back. 

I was pooped when we headed back to my apartment for her to drop me off. Guess what I did when I got home????

I plopped down in my recliner and stayed there, watching tv, 'til the 'cows came home'. That's an old Southern saying that means it was late in the day for those of you who aren't familiar with the south. 

Flip-flops

 I will be glad to get rid of this pink themed background!! I do love changing up my blog page often but usually do it on the first of the month. I am so over this pink!! Can't wait til August so I can change it!

          For today's Photo-a-day the theme is flip-flops. 

I've had lots of flip-flops, even have them on my feet as I speak!! But, to find a picture I'd taken of them! Liked to have never found one but here it finally is:

Our family went to the beach every year, for years til prices got just way too high!

I'm not a sand lover, nor a sun lover

so I'd sit on the balcony with my feet propped up on the railing listening to the ocean waves and the sound of my grandchildren and great-grands having the time of their lives. 

Good times! 

Lunch at Cafe Davina

Hope your morning is super. Right now it is looking fine for me, a bit cloudy with a thunderstorm this afternoon but that is what happens in the south, a thunderblunder (that's what my grandma called them) in the late afternoon. 

Shirley is going to join me for a 'session' today... heck, I don't know what to call it but we have a speaker coming to Centerbrooke from Senior Services. There are people here that don't drive, their families that are supposed to be helping out aren't always available. Even though I drive I don't get out in the heavy traffic so there are times I could use some transportation. Senior Services provides that for just a donation, plus a whole bunch of other services so this is going to be very informative. 

Did I tell you about my sweet little lunch out with my life coach/friend on Friday? I'd been hearing about this place called Cafe Davina that is in a huge old, old mansion downtown. They specialize in crepes and the places I go doesn't offer crepes. It's more like Southern cooking rather than French!! 

I ordered the crepe filled with ham, brie cheese and an apricot sauce then topped with greens. Oh man, it was soooo good. 

We ate inside 'cause I'd never been there and didn't know the options. But, we found out that there are the cutest little eating places scattered all around the beautiful yard. I didn't get a chance to photo most of them or do much exploring but I intend to next time. These following photos are from Cafe Davina's facebook page: 

There is a ginormous magnolia tree on site and I understand that there is a table underneath the branches of this tree where you can have lunch or just sip tea. Wouldn't that be fun!! I couldn't find a picture I could snitch of that scene but maybe there's where I will be seated next time. 

Now to participate in the Photo-a-day. The theme today is BLUE

This is a quilt I made back in 2001. Have no idea what happened to it. I gave most of my quilts to family. But, it was fun to do and is it BLUE!
 

Far-away Osprey

 I am just so inspired by what little knowledge I have gleaned from Chatgpt about basil. I told you about the tea I made. I had some left in the fridge so I added a bit of it to a glass of iced tea this morning. Very good. 

I also made some garlic-basil oil. And, I've been using it on a number of dishes. 

First I made bruchetta (never had before and it's so easy). Of course it was sprinkled with the oil. 

This morning I started thinking of how I could use some ingredients that I already had and came up with this. Is it my invention? Probably not. But, it was new to me. 

I made cheese toast out of a piece of sourdough bread. I made an omelet and placed it on top of the toast then topped with slices of avocado that I had poured some lemon juice on and some chiffonade basil. salted it and then drizzled it with the garlic-basil oil I had made. Oh yum. I'll make that again 

In keeping with Photo-a-day. Far-away is the theme for today. 

Do you see the osprey that is far-away, high in the sky?