My View

When I am sitting at the computer desk in the living room,I can look out the living room windows that are off to my right,which I do often. I took this photo this morning through the window,so you can see a bit more than what I normally see sitting down. Take the top half of the photo,enlarge it a bit,and that is my morning view.

As you can see, it's another beautiful day. The morning sun is streaming through the trees,making various shades of green. You can see my birdbath and just make out our bird feeder post with the feeders on it. One nice thing about this time of year is the leaves obstruct most of the view of the road. You can barely make it out-it's that gray patch that is above the stone wall.

We are surrounded by trees. We have trees all around on our property line,and a forest across the street. We have a nice lot. It's really a lovely,peaceful view. I like to sit outside and just LISTEN. I listen to the birds singing,the leaves in the trees whispering,or I just listen to the silence. I liken it to filling up a tank on a car. When I feel like I am running on low,I take a moment and just sit,close my eyes,and feel like a part of all that is around me. It's rejuvenating. This is my church-the outdoors. It reminds me of the pilot for the "Little House" series. Ma is concerned because they are so remote from anything,and there is no church,which she feels is important for the "girls to grow up properly." Pa puts his hands on her shoulders,and very gently replies,"I can't imagine them getting any closer to God than they are right here." Amen,Pa.

We continue to be thankful for the kindness of neighbors. One of our neighbors,Walter,had a few pines cut down a few months ago,and just the other day he had the stumps ground up. Rick and I had been talking about getting some mulch to lay down around the garden boxes,since right now it's all dirt with the occasional weed or grass clump. Lo and behold,now there is this lovely pile of pine shavings across the street from us. We figured we would ask Walter if he was going to do anything with it,and yesterday we finally saw him to do so. He replied he was going to ask if we wanted them! So now we have free shavings to lay down,where ever we need them. How nice! So we will be doing that today,and I do need to make more laundry soap. I have been keeping track of when I make each batch,to see how cost effective it has been to do it myself. It has been great. I haven't had to buy any soap or ingredients for soap since last September!

A couple days ago, I planted one row each of romaine and green lettuce,and a row of peas. I am going to stagger my plantings so we can have a longer harvest. Today I should plant some beans.

Yesterday we went to the VA in Manchester for a routine eye exam. I was hoping they had read Rick's file and knew about the stroke,blind spots,and double vision. That happened quite a bit when they were trying to figure out if his sight would remain like that or if they could repair it- every time we went to Boston we had to answer the same questions over and over and Rick had the same eye tests over and over. It seemed like they never read his file. We would both get really aggravated. We were pleased that Manchester was aware of everything,including the final determination that Rick's sight would probably remain as it is. Rick's eyes otherwise have not changed enough to have to get a new eyeglass prescription,so that was good. Now we don't have to go back to the eye clinic until next year,unless something changes before then.

Have a great day!