Tag: Life

My Cousin Paul

My maternal grandparents produced six children and those children produced 15 grandchildren. I was the second oldest of the batch and have fond memories of big Thanksgiving dinners with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. I remember good food and laughter. Thanksgiving was the main time I got to see them all, since we lived in a different part of Texas.

As time has moved on, some have passed. I think there are a dozen of us left on this earth. We are an eclectic bunch, but there are threads of interests and occupations that either have a genetic component or were just picked up from our parents or grandparents: car afficionados (collectors of cars and sellers of cars); gardeners; seamstresses; teachers; artists; writers; chefs; kayakers; dirt bikers; diplomats; beer lovers; moms; pops; animal lovers; travelers; musicians; computer programmers; photographers…

My grandfather took lots of slides of family and places he and grandma traveled. I remember long slide shows where we enjoyed seeing each other projected on the dining room wall. One of my uncles also took lots of photos, mostly with slide film too. Grandma and grandpa gave me my first little camera when I was eight years old and I was hooked. As the years went by I took thousands of photos. Not so great at first…I got better as I studied photography as an adult at the local community college. I have used many of my photos to illustrate my blog pieces throughout the years.

My cousin Paul is also a photographer. He worked many years as a biologist for the Navy. His travels gave him the opportunity to take photos of many places and the creatures who inhabited those places. He recently retired and has set up an online shop to show off his wonderful photos and sell prints of them. Here is a photo I recently bought:

Paul’s photo of a ruby crowned kinglet showing his ruby crown. This is an 8X10 inch print that I got a frame for. Here is another shot of the photo on my dining room wall.

I love how the background foliage accentuates the bird’s crown color.

His website has more great photos of birds and other critters, plus some wonderful waterfall pics.

Please check out his website at:

noplanetbphotography.pixieset.com

And may your day be filled with small joys!

Reflections

A memory from my childhood: Two five year old girls on the sidewalk of a city in the southern United States. Both are wearing shorts and summer tops. One has short blonde hair and fair skin and is standing watching her friend trying to fix her bike chain. This little girl has a full head of curly red hair and is crouching down trying to position the chain on the gears. She tells the other girl to hold the foot pedal still while she adjusts the chain, and to not move the foot pedal. The little girl being told this went ahead and did it anyway. She pushed on the pedal and the little red haired girl screamed and jumped up with a mauled bloody fingernail. They rushed to the other girl’s nearby home where the momma doctored the injured finger.

This story is about myself and my very best friend, Vicki. Guess which one moved the pedal after being told not to? Yes, it was me. I have regretted that action ever since. I don’t know why I was being defiant. I was only 5. It did teach me a lesson about impulse and thinking things through. I think I probably apologized and that we remained friends…at least until we turned 6 and I moved to another state.

Vicki, I hope you forgive me and know that I learned a lesson.

Why am I writing about this now? Well, in the past month I have had the reccurring urge to go to Washington, D. C. and go to the reflecting pool and stick my finger in the water. Not that I could at the moment, because it has been drained for repair. But, after the recent renovations came apart (sabotage or not) I know that at least one person was charged with damaging it. I think the case is still pending. He pleaded innocent. People were being blamed for damaging the pool and I even saw a video of a female tourist sticking her hand in it and maybe taking a souvenir piece of the weird blue lining.

i never would have gone up there and stuck my finger in the pool. I can easily fantasize the consequences and I don’t want to go to jail for acting on a silly urge.

I did share my urge on Facebook after my cousin L. shared something about how someone should go there and taunt the ones in charge by standing by the pool with a finger near the water and saying “Look! I am not touching it!” in a teasing way. Seeing the sharing of my urge on Facebook, my Aunt J. called me and left a hard to hear message on my phone. All I could make out was “…putting your finger in the reflecting pool…”. So, I called Aunt J. back and we had a good catch up chat. She pointed out the fact that the reflecting pool did not need a blue liner…the whole idea of the blue color comes from the reflection of the sky in the water. Thank you Aunt J!

Here are 2 photos I took from the Lincoln Memorial of the Washington Monument and blue sky in the Reflecting Pool over ten years ago.

Reduced

Last week I followed in my husband’s footsteps and came down with Covid. I thought it was a sinus infection or the flu since my first two tests read negative. Spent two days in bed and this past Friday had a surge of energy, but my test said Positive. Today, Sunday, my test says Positive.

The 2 days of almost no energy were the worst…worse than the cough and congestion. But, the good part is that I have been forced to rest, relax, and get out of my usual busy-ness. Here is a visual representation of how I felt on the worst days:

I was weakened, devitalized, reduced…lacking vigor, vim, verve, fire, starch…I had lost my snap, my bang, my punch, my git up and go, my ginger, kick, zip, zing, zizz…

I am sorry that I had to miss a couple of lunches and a party. A family member was set to spend two nights with us and that had to be canceled.

I am thankful that I am recovering bit by bit and thankful for all of you checking in on me and for my husband who is doing his best to social distance while still waiting on me a bit. And I am thankful for my handy copy of Roget’s International Thesaurus (third edition) for some of the words I used to describe the condition my condition was in.

I am also thankful that the squirrel was not dead or paralyzed, which is what I thought when I first saw it outside my kitchen window. That first glance told me it was dead…had somehow ended up there and slowly died in that position. I went outside to get a better look and a photo and low and behold, an eye opened and then closed again. I thought “Oh No! It is paralyzed!” seeing the back legs hanging and not moving. So, I went inside and got a cardboard box and my “grabber” (device for picking up things from 3 feet away). I was already planning on taking it to the local Wildlife Rescue place. As I approached, the squirrel moved it’s head and I backed up and went back in the house and watched as it scampered up a tree seemingly uninjured.

Take care out there my friends!