Bringing the Sea to Me

I love the ocean, but I don't live near it. I visit the ocean every chance I get. To get me through the times between visits, I collect sea glass and shells. I place them all around my house. It brings the sea to me!

Weekend in Michigan

We went to a "baby warming" party at Rick and Sandy's log-cabin house in Michigan. Their new grandson came to visit from California.


The new baby in the family came all the way from California to meet his aunts, uncles, and friends. Meet Jackson... he lives in L.A. and is already a "cool dude"! My husband and I are his great uncle and great aunt.


Here he is with his proud parents:


and his maternal grandparents, who came all the way from from Virginia Beach.


Jackson was the center of attention, and lots of good food and wine were enjoyed. It was a great weekend!

Agoraphobia

I think I may have a touch of this. There are days when I have to force myself to get out of the house. Once I am out it's okay. But it feels like the house has some kind of power over me, holding me back from the outside world.

I have the curse of being an introvert. I think that has a lot to do with this. People who are naturally extroverted usually don't understand... they see it as being unfriendly. I have trouble meeting new people, but once I get to know them I open up and relax.

As I write this, I am putting off going out of the house. I thought that writing about it might help. So now, I am going to put on my "going out in public" clothes and face, and get out there.

More Beachy Pics

Sorry, but I just can't help it... I loved this place so much! It was the perfect getaway...

Clouds... Here and There

I took these photos from my window seat as we flew to Fort Lauderdale last week:


I love how the sky looks above the clouds... the deepest blue.


Look! Now we can see land down there:


This was the view from our room...


and this was the view poolside. As you can see, the weather there was beautiful. The sky was the prettiest blue.


The only problem was, I had to come home!

On the way back home, as we approached the Cincinnati airport, our pilot announced that the Cincinnati airport was CLOSED, due to bad weather, and that we would be circling for a while. "Not to worry" he said, "we have enough fuel on board to circle for a few hours". WHAT? I thought. A few hours? Circling in stormy weather? I asked the flight attendant what happens when we run out of fuel and the airport is still closed? She said we would land somewhere else... maybe Louisville.

Well, the airport eventually did reopen and we did land. And as I drove home from the airport, I saw this in the sky: some of the strangest cloud formations I have ever seen. The photos don't show how fast they were swirling around though.



Today we had another thunderstorm. When I went in to shop, the sky was blue with some white clouds. When I came out an hour later, the clouds were rushing in. Here are the photos I took.



We then proceeded to have a couple of inches of rain. Please... can I go back to the beach?

Ahhh!

THIS is what I needed! A blue sky... sunshine... palm trees... sand... surf!


We got away for a weekend in Fort Lauderdale. We flew down there Friday morning, and I just got home today. It was absolutely heavenly! The sky was a perfect clear blue. It was hot, but I didn't mind because I spent the whole time in the water. The water was warm and the waves were gentle.




Sunsets...



Even a rainbow...


This morning I flew home into Cincinnati... right into another rainstorm. But the weekend was perfect!

Seasons for Cats

Remember last winter, when it was snowing, and when kitties sheltered in the igloos on our deck?


Well, now there are tomato plants out there...


... and the kitties are playing on the swing:


and lying around on cushions:


We named this one "Spot". Actually, the people at the spay/neuter clinic named him Spot. My husband says he thinks Spot looks llike he wears eye liner.

The Beach Cure

We had a very depressing spring here. Chilly, damp, rainy... that was the entire month of April. May wasn't much better; day after day of gray skies and tornado warnings every other night. I was getting seriously depressed, moping around the house. My mood was as gray as the sky. I told my husband I was craving the beach. Sun, sand, and surf were what I needed. In the midst of this, his company announced a meeting in Florida in June. Did I want to go along? Why yes, I did. So, finally, I am getting ready to hit the beach.

I never even saw the ocean until I was fourteen years old. I have loved it ever since. However, I have always lived far from the ocean, nowhere near a beach. Going to the beach is a rare and special thing for me. I am never depressed when I am on or near a beach. I love the sound of the surf. I love seeing my footprints in the sand. I love lying in the shade under a palm tree. It's better than Prozac for me. It cures all my ills.

Flower Synchronicity

Two years ago, I created this collage of flowers:


Last week, my husband brought me these flowers for our anniversary:


This morning I was taking a photo of the flowers and I realized how similar they were to my collage.

p.s. I think maybe he and I are getting to a "forgetful" age. He said "happy anniversary" but he had bought me a card that said "happy birthday". We laughed about it... and he even suggested that I add this p.s. when I showed him this post. (It's a very nice card, though. I told him he can give me an anniversary card on my birthday next month.)

Yes, I Saw It... Whatever "It" Was

Please don't call me "crazy".


Whatever it was... I won't call it a "UFO" because that has a certain "spacey" connotation. I won't call it a "flying saucer" because it didn't look like a saucer. It just looked like a cluster of lights.

I was driving home, down a country road. It was about 10:30 at night, so it was dark. Off to my left there was nothing but a farmer's field. As I came over a slight rise in the road, I saw a cluster of lights hovering over the field, at an altitude of a couple hundred feet. It was too high to be farm equipment and too low to be a plane. I pulled over to the side of the road to stare at it, trying to figure out what it could be. It didn't move, just hovered there in place. Suddenly it took off... it took off, making a wide circle in a clockwise direction. It took off at such a high rate of speed that my eyes could hardly keep up with it. Within a second or two it had circled the entire visible sky and disappeared beyond the far horizon.

That's all there was to it. It happened 25 years ago. I still have no idea what it was. The most unbelievable thing was how fast it moved, traveling across the sky in a second. It reminded me of the scene in the first "Star Wars" when they put the ship into warp speed and it just zipped out of sight. I can't think of anything to explain it. Yes, it seemed to be flying. No, I couldn't identify it. So, I guess it was an "unidentified flying object". I know how that makes me sound. But it happened.

My Moment

Natalie at Chicken Blog has adopted a ritual begun by Soule Mama. It says post a moment that speaks to you (I am paraphrasing). In the original form it was to be from the current week. Nothing much happened this week that resonated with me, so I am changing the rules and posting a photo that brings back a special moment that brings joy to my heart. My heart actually soars when I remember where I was and how I felt when I took this photo.

Tuesdays with Nieces

Every Tuesday, when my sister goes to work, I go to her house to watch my nieces. Here are a few of the highlights from yesterday:


We worked on crafts. The youngest one, Molly, always asks me to bring craft materials. At first, just Molly and I started working on them. Before long, the older girls wanted to join in too. We used acrylic paint markers (great invention!), glue, glitter, twistable crayons, and colored pencils.


A neighbor friend came over, and they did some dancing with the Wii.




Aubrey had gymnastics practice, and Sarah helped fix her hair:




Their Wheaten Terrier, Sammy, was there too.




Bye Sammy, see you soon!