A Blog for 2025

  May 31, 2026 I thought this was a large canvasback duck until I looked through my camera.  Mallard with I think 7. Alright, I've made it through the day and only obsessed about food 40 percent of the time and fear, 10 percent and being anxious 20 percent.  30 percent of the time I was the phone being happy.  My body is so stiff.  I won't be able to use the pool all week.  I gotta figure out a stretching routine or something.   I went to the Coop to get liquids and had to grab and run because I was hungry, I wanted food.  I got apple juice and had some calories and then went for a ride. Went over to the canal just as it started to rain, but I saw this Mama and babies and some geese and swans.   My computer doesn't seem to be acting right tonight, but I have a large suspicion that it is me and not the computer.   The yellow wild flowers are all a bloom and the purples are close behind.  The daisies are all over the pl...

May 30, 2026 I'm not allowed any solid foods from now until after the procedure on Monday.  I really wanted a real steak dinner first so we went on down and I had a good sirloin, salad, asparagus and divided some cheesecake with the gang. Thank you everyone, I sure did appreciate the food, the love, the company and the solidarity.    Left EJ, Nash and Di and headed for the cemetery.  Got there 10 minutes before sunset and 15 minutes before moonrise.  I was afraid the clouds were going to overtake, but they didn't, I got to see a piece of the sunset and the beginning of the moonrise.   It was cold today.   Really I went up to take a nap around 4 and couldn't get warm enough to sleep.  I never got the energy  to go get liquids for the liquid part of this diet.   But I hope eating a giant dinner and laughing with friends warmed my body up enough to go to sleep early. I've been trying to figure out how this procedure is going ...

May 29, 2026 Happy  Birthday, Mike!!! Last night Charlie and I went to Clara and Kiersten's opening night of Lint Trap in Athol. Here are a couple of photos.   Very fun evening and Charlie and I got to catch up.   The play included 3 sets of actors, young, teens, and adults.  It was a lot to take on.  If you are a lover of community theater and wanna support theater in Athol, definitely go see it, music is fun and they work hard for it.  The moon was brilliant on the way home.  Sorry I didn't get any shots.   

   May 28, 2026 Happy Birthday, D!! This is the 50th year I've wished you a happy birthday.  Holy Moly. I'm getting a little nervous about Monday.  I mean, I don't think I'll die on the procedural table, but I am nervous of the unknown.  I really do not know what will happen or how I will be afterwards.  I don't even know if my doctor is doing the procedure or if someone in the department of the Springfield hospital. Yup, a little nervous. Went up to the rookery about 5:30.  It was cloudy, there were massive clouds surrounded by blue.  Moon rise was 6:07 and sunrise at 8:17.  At the rookery I was hoping for an opening in the clouds that would give me a view of the moon.  I was allowed the view for maybe 5 minutes and at the same time an otter was swimming in front of me and the heron flew across.  Within the 5 minutes I took the majority of today's photos.  I just kept clicking.  When I left the rookery, headed up and arou...

May 27, 2026 Today took on a special tone besides the beauty of green going from Spring to Summer.   Standing up was almost impossible for me this morning, but I did and I did make it to the Y.  I also sat in the hot tub as long as I could bare it.   I did the puzzles. I took my nap and then I went to see Wendy and begin our sessions.  She is working on a new method of body work and I am her guinea pig for the next 10 weeks.  I feel as though I am starting something new in a really positive way.   The method sits between Reiki and meditation; it addresses the nervous system and is not massage or acupressure.  As it progresses I will be more informative.  For today, as a brand new experience, it was gentle relaxation, more instructive than meditation is for me usually. Afterwards I went to some haunts and wrote.  I did not have my camera with me so the photos are phone taken.  But at the rookery, at about 80 degrees, I star...

May 26, 2026 Happy Birthday, Margo Shea.  Hope you had a sweet day.  Let's have tea together soon. Went over to Great Falls to have lunch with Dina and bumped into Emily G.  It was a great threesome, we laughed and cried in the 45 minutes we were all together.  We've gotten to the age where we are almost always dealing with death and grief and besides our body aches, grief is a big topic of conversation.  When you get with people who can be real about it and really talk about it, it's really nice. Dina and I stayed at the restaurant for a few hours and covered a lot of territory.  It's really good for me to have a fellow witness.  I feel a little more stable tonight. EJ did a little shopping for me tonight so I had a little dinner at home. We got a visit in and I want to make a plan to go to the ocean together for a few days.  I have no money, so I can't really do it, but I'll start recycling cans. What I noticed today was that if I stayed still a...

May 25, 2026 Today's ride was one of the most beautiful I have taken  in a while. Merlin  picked up 14 songbirds at the rookery that I could not see, but I saw 6 more bird types. But I was not inspired to write a lovely poem, nor a heart wrenching, nor a thought provoking one.  I don't know where my poet brain has hidden.  For four days I have wanted to cry and express kind of overall sadness related to endings and the possibility of beginnings, but when I pick up the pen nothing arises.  What I feel is the inability to move my right leg, the near immobile I am, and the pollen.  Yes, the pollen has taken over.  When I first moved into this house Margie gave me this columbine plant.  It has reseeded in all of these empty pots across the side yard, along with the milkweed.  I love it.  Hanging out on the pond I saw red wing blackbirds, kingfisher, momma and 6 baby wood ducks, and a heron.  Further down the road I saw at least 6 turkey...