I’ve got a case of The Blahs, not to be confused with The Blues – which I don’t have.
MS has been busy fatiguing me of late without allowing me to pursue much sewing or exploring around to enjoy photo taking. The weather has turned cooler so most of my bird watching has been through the windows instead of on the back patio. I did get a few snaps with my phone of the cats doing cute things. Well, they’re cute to me, anyway.
This doesn’t happen very often so it was worth documenting.Pip’s position and back legs up in the air crack me up 😹!
After a long 35 year battle with breast cancer, my stepmother passed away a couple of weeks ago. She had suffered so much that it was a blessing to know her pain was over and she had gone to her heavenly reward. Of course, my sister and her family came up from Texas for a few days in two consecutive weeks. They got to say “goodbye” the first week and were here for the funeral later the following week.
My nephew and Pip are good friends.This kid is so talented!Puppy K.C. came up the first week. She’s a hoot!Doing 9th grade online while they were here the 2nd time. My Dad always gets his Model-Ts out when my nephew is here.My sister brought some hot chocolate bombs for the kids to try out. The verdict was unanimous – 😋!My angelic niece savored every drop.My nephew in his Halloween finery.Covid made Halloween kinda different this year.A vampire angel. 😂Lollipop lips. 😂I did get this sweet finch one sunny afternoon a few weeks ago.
I’ve been putting a lot of puzzles together while listening to Charles Dickens novels. So far, Bleak House and A Tale of Two Cities (both of which made me cry) have been my favorites. I just finished Great Expectations and am only three hours (out of 23) into The Old Curiosity Shop. I have A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, and The Pickwick Papers waiting in the wings. I’ve read some of these before but am enjoying how they sound as audiobooks with wonderful readers speaking life into the characters as they do all the different voices.
(American) Thanksgiving will be a much smaller affair than usual but we’re looking forward to seeing my Dad and my step-sister’s family. In the true spirit of the holiday, they are each bring a couple of dishes while hubby and I do the rest. Despite all the troubles in the world around us, we have so many blessings for which to give thanks. I hope you find many blessings to be thankful for too.
We did a few days of dog sitting for family over Labor Day weekend. I discovered I like dogs better than I thought I did but, WOW, they are a lot more work than cats.
“What are we going to do now? Huh? Huh? Huh?”
This little beauty had a ton of energy and needed to go on walks as well as run around the backyard. I dug deep to find the energy to walk her around the neighborhood a couple times per day for three days in a row. I can see why people with MS might want a dog. Their basic needs trump even the emptiest of MS energy tanks because when they gotta go they gotta go 😁.
She’s a runner! Those floppy ears 😂.This is more my speed.
Hubby loves dogs and they always seem to gravitate to him. It’s a good thing we kept poochie over a weekend and we could tag team watching her since we had to keep her on a leash when not in her crate. We wanted the cats to still feel like it was their home and they were safe from well-intentioned but unwelcome bouncy-flouncy invitations to “play” chase.
Just a little excited to see hubby ❤️.“Hey, look! Did you see who’s here?!”Touching base with me between runs.Watching the birds from my lap.The first interspecies meeting.They both used their best manners and no one was traumatized.
After the doggy went home, it took a few days of solid rest to recover. I didn’t do much of anything but enjoy these beautiful, freshly fallen leaves from our River Birches.
Autumn is coming 🍂
As I mentioned in my last blog, I had my third Ocrevus infusion in late August. I self-isolated at home for a couple of weeks both before and after the treatment for a bit of extra assurance that I didn’t get sick. I’m pretty used to staying home a lot but I am certainly glad that is over. During my confinement I practiced various lessons from Dorling Kindersley’s Digital Photography Complete Course: Learn Everything You Need to Know in 20 Weeks. Naturally, I used my two favorite muses 🐈🐈. The photos below were taken as I practiced shooting from various angles.
LaudyPip
The big, orange bouncing ball that is MS has been all over the place: up, down, out of bounds, in play, and even deflated. Some days I’ve been able to enjoy a walk, sewing projects, baking, and even a little gardening. Other days I’ve barely been able to step out of bed, take a shower, feed myself, or muster the energy to sit in a chair. It is so bizarre, I can’t describe it. It feels like I am disconnected from myself and am living someone else’s life because it doesn’t feel like me.
I treasure the good days or hours of the day, and sometimes just the minutes of the day, when I am motoring along and feel like I have sovereignty over my body to do the things I want to do. I know God has given me every blessing in Christ so that whether it is a good MS day or not, I can give thanks to Him and live a contented life.
We’ve seen the perfect blend of summery sun and rain here in Southwest Missouri this past week. We’re usually roasting in nearly 100*F/38*C by this time in August, but we’ve had gorgeous 77-80*F/21-27*C days. Thanks to the recent weather, nature is lush and bursting with color all over the place around us! The forecast says it will only last another day or two, but it has been a delicious treat while it lasts and a balm for these many months during Covid-19.
A large forested area lies both north and south of our neighborhood with a good sized river about a mile down the road. It has both a well-maintained river access spot and, a little further down the road, an old, reallocated bridge that serves as the entrance for a greenways trail that winds through and circles our city. Additionally, our neighborhood has a little landscaped lake with a walking path, bridge, water feature, bird houses, and a bench along the shore. On Wednesday of this last week MS kindly lent me a decent enough day that I drove to the river in the morning and spent some time soaking in the views from the bridge at the trail’s head. After lunch, I headed off for a lovely, cane-assisted stroll around the lake. There were butterflies everywhere in both places! They somehow managed to lift my spirits on their tiny little wings and carry them about as they soared around and flitted and fluttered here and there. Similarly, as I rested a couple of times on my way around the lake in the afternoon, I found myself smiling as I tried to follow the dizzying courses of dozens of dragonflies going nowhere and everywhere at once. What funny little creatures! Oh, and don’t worry, there are plenty of bird and cat photos below too😻!
This past Friday was an exciting day when…my new camera arrived!!! As you peruse the photos below, see if you can guess which ones I took with my point-and-shoot and which ones were with my new DSLR. The new camera inspired me to branch out and find a new photo editing app to play around with. It’s pretty safe to say I have a lot to learn. As an example, I hadn’t been messing around with the camera for more than five minutes before I realized I needed to invest in a more versatile lens. Some lessons are pricey 😉! No worries though, I am having fun and can’t wait to learn and grow my skills (and lens collection!). It was time for the upgrade because I needed another sit-down hobby to add to my arsenal of things to do when the MS monster has me lashed to the couch.
Speaking of MS, my next Ocrevus infusion is at the end of this month. Let’s see, this will be my second full dose which means I’ve been on it for 18 months. For the first time since starting it I think I’m experiencing the “crap gap” I’ve heard other MSers describe just before their next dose. My already ridiculous fatigue intermixed with poor balance, endurance, gait, bladder issues, clumsiness, sluggish word finding, and occasional cog-fog have all ratcheted up to the next level over the last few days. I hope topping the tank with more O-juice knocks my symptoms back down to the previous notch.
Part I: Riparian and Lakeside Entertainment
I’m guessing it’s a northern crescent.
Common buckeye
Fiery skipper butterfly
Northern pearly-eyes
Brown-eyed Susans
Dewberries??
Blue dasher
House Finch before the rain.
House finch during the rain.
House finch after the rain.
Mourning Dove trying to stay dry.
Same dove after the rain.
Female house finch with Niger all over her beak; steady rain.
I NEVER pass up the opportunity to snap pics of this skittish Red-bellied woodpecker. BONUS: Carolina chickadee 🙂“Who said that?”Suet on the tip of this chickadee’s beak.Our resident nuthatch. This little thing fascinates me.Carolina wren and female finchMy Laudy girl 😻My Pipper boy 😻He is Bee-A-U-tee-ful!Her eyes! Her little whiskers!! Her white undercarriage (as hubby likes to call it)!!!Her fur feels like crushed velvet and she insists on being held nearly all the time. What’s not to love?!
Not to be outdone, Pip is our resident lap and shoulder snuggler. He has the sweetest disposition and is an absolute riot to play fetch with. He has gorgeous golden eyes and perfectly preposterous ears!!
CRX waves to make anyone jealous.
There’s a reason hubby calls Pip “a tender little guy.” He gives the best snuggles and makes me smile.
Here we are at the end of another blog. I looked back and realized I have been posting weekly lately. I didn’t mean to, or not mean to, it just happened. Will there be another blog next week? Maybe, I guess we will both have to wait and see😁. Either way, I’m glad you stopped by for a look-see. May God be with you! Amy
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange — The size of it made us all laugh. I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave — They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy, As ordinary things often do Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park. This is peace and contentment. It’s new.
The rest of the day was quite easy. I did all the jobs on my list And enjoyed them and had some time over. I love you. I’m glad I exist.
~Wendy Cope
Oranges are my favorite food. Orange is the color for MS Awareness. I love poetry and Wendy Cope writes good stuff. Titles for my blogs are always kind of hard to settle on, but this one was easy. And so, it occurred to me that it must be time for a post.
Besides, daily and ordinary things are important. Tethers feel good when life is pitching up the sea all around you. Maybe your ordinary day looks different than it did at the beginning of the year (cough– Covid), but I hope you have found some level, familiar ground upon which to walk. Everything is pretty much the same as before for me thanks to my parasitic sidekick MS. It’s been doggone hard to walk the past couple of days, so I’m especially grateful for the little things that help me get through the endless hours of sitting.
Cue a few of the pictures I’ve taken this week.
Part I. Light
Shiney cobweb
Sunbeam, sunbeam, I want to be a sunbeam…
Part II. Birds
The backdrop of my peaceful little backyard world.
Cigar or seed??
Somehow he reminds me of a Muppet.
A chipping sparrow’s senior portrait, perhaps?
A mourning dove perfectly displaying all the glorious colors that make it a personal fav 😍. Seriously, just look at those preposterous feet!
Friends or aquaintances?
You’ll have to indulge me, I know I take a lot of pictures of finches. Their songs, friendliness, and the sheer quantity of them at our feeders delights me.
Another senior portrait pose 😉
I get so excited to see downy woodpeckers at the feeders, but I have to be quick because they don’t hang about long.
“But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of it’s indomitable spirit.” ~ Tom Brown, Jr. – The Tracker
Titmouse delicately holding a sunflower seed.
Carolina Wren (top) carefully chosing a seed…
…deciding if he has the calories for it…
…indulging himself anyway.
Red-bellied woodpeckers always seem to be smiling about some secret delight.
This lil’ nuthatch sang his heart out just for me!!
Part III. Cats
Pip (L) and Laudy (R – pronounced LAW-dee) just after I stood up from being seated between them…
… and now they pretend the other is not there. 🙈🙉🙊
Part IV. MS
Lousy, good for nothin’, traitorous legs. But, I ❤️ my yellow Crocs 🐊!
My new shirt 🙃
Part V. The Orange
I hope you have a “huge orange” kind of day. God be with you! ~Amy
There I was having a perfectly good day last Saturday riding around with my hubby as he ran into a couple of stores for our weekly shopping, when all of a sudden I felt a familiar pain in my lower tummy. Within just a few minutes I felt the next stage of an all too familiar urge hit and I knew before we made it home I had a UTI.
Fun Fact: One of the most common symptoms of MS is bladder control problems. The bladder has spasms and won’t empty completely causing frequency and urgency. Because the bladder won’t empty completely, MSers get a UTI very easily.
Anyway, my suspicion was validated at urgent care that same Saturday afternoon and I came home with the usual round of antibiotics and some Azo to ease the pain. I typically feel better within 24 hours, but when things felt worse by Sunday evening I knew we needed to go back to see what was going on.
A kidney infection was what was going on. I got a different script for a stronger antibiotic for the next seven days and then a thigh-full of another one. They warned me it would hurt as they added Lidocaine to the concoction and said it would take about 30-40 seconds to give because it was “thick”. I made it through the shot, but then nearly passed out 🥴. My blood pressure dropped too low very suddenly, I got all sweaty, and felt myself going. No big deal, I recovered and they let me go within another 30 minutes. Passing out was nothing compared to the pain throbbing through my thigh! With hubby dragging me by one arm and my cane propping me up to stay vertical with the other, I limped and whimpered my way to the car and thought, “That shot better be worth it!”
I’ve had lots of UTIs, but this was my first kidney infection; I wasn’t quite ready for how hard it kept hitting and how long it took to feel better. By Wednesday I knew I was going to live and felt back to my normal self on Thursday.
During the time it took to recover, I didn’t do much. I filled the lethargic days by hanging out with and generally loving around on the cats, reading an Inspector Morse mystery, listening to Dickens’ Bleak House, putting some puzzles together on my favorite puzzles app, and sleeping a lot. Finally, on Thursday and Friday, I ventured back out on the patio for short bits in the mornings and evenings – to avoid the heat, another no-no when you have MS – and even managed to muster the energy to sew a cute little tunic with an adorable cat print for myself!
There is a river just a mile and a half down the road from our house with a lovely bridge and trail from which to admire nature. Hubby humoured me and took me for a while around noon on Friday. Though I can’t walk the trail anymore, we traversed the bridge and took in all the special delights that fill the senses when around running water. Birds chirping, breezes blowing, water rippling, the faint whiff of fish in the air, the sight and smell of earth and dirt eroding, tree roots erupting on trails down to the river banks, and the beauty of wildflowers clustered along the banks and in the undergrowth, or definitely blooming in solitary confidence and glory.
It feels so good to feel better! It was a good reminder to appreciate my general health, despite the MS. I’d take a lot of crummy MS days over going through that again any time soon. I hope you enjoy the pictures below and are able to get a sense of their feel and place for the ones not captioned.
A tired Laudy.
Waiting to be scratched…
… the progression of the scratch..
…finally leading to sleep in various positions.
Our handsome, big, chocolate Rex 😻😍❤️!
Those eyes!
Pip noticed this goldfinch at the window one morning. I snapped a quick pic with my phone.
Snickerdoodles 😋
Hubby got new tires, always an exciting day 🚴♂️.
It goes this way ➡️
I gave homemade tortillas a go…👍😋.
I took this a couple of weeks ago. What a beautiful universe God has made!
I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. God be with you! ❤️
I like looking at YouTube videos and other blogs that chronicle the everyday activities of someone else’s life. It’s both reassuring and fun to see that we all basically have the same rhythm to our lives that encompasses everything from humdrum chores, to work, to family ties and responsibilities, and an innate need for some kind of leisure activity or down time. This sameness, no matter where we are from or what we look like, reminds us we are all created in the image of God and that He has bound us to need each other as humans.
So, with that in mind, let me take you through some of the things I’ve been up to lately. Along the way you will find some cats, a brief snapshot of the music I’ve been listening to, a little sewing project, and a few meals. Of course, there will be a fair few birds, too.
I think I’ve learned some important lessons while photographing wild birds that have resonated with me as pretty good general advice for life, especially at this time. 1. Be patient, nature works on its own schedule and at its own pace. 2. Always be ready, opportunity only lasts a few seconds . 3. Only about 10% of the media (in my case, photos I take) is worth keeping, the other 90% is missing the picture and destined for the trash can. 4. Remember that everything you see on your screen is only what you can see through the lens, you have to look up to get the whole picture. Conversely, not everything in the big picture is worth focusing in on. 5. Keep a sharp eye out for the things that are beautiful and zoom in on them.
(Yep, I like Monty Python. If you have to ask what I mean, don’t bother.)
No matter what, I always have my box with me when I go out back onto the patio. I keep it stocked with “essential” bird watching gear including: my camera, a couple of field guides, binoculars, sunglasses, a hat, sunscreen, a tub of Vaseline to keep the squirrels away (I’ll explain later in the post) and a hankie to wipe the sweat out of my eyes. I take it outside with me even when birding isn’t my first priority. For example, as in the last picture above, I needed something to use as paperweights to keep the pages from turning in the wind. As I’m sure you can tell, it is my box of many wondrous things!
EWW! As my cup says, I’m a CAT Person NOT an entomologist. It looks like I need to either add bug spray or something with citronella to my box.
Rain or shine, I love our backyard. I had no idea River Birches shed leaves all summer but they sure do.
When the birds are thin on the ground or I just need a breath of fresh air, I often have music playing in the background while on the back patio. It sure helps me pass the time pleasantly as I sit in my rocking chair and soak up the lovely, golden, warm rays of vitamin D. I guess my mood was kinda jivin’ on this day!
As I’ve written before (here’s the link: https://amysaxons.com/2019/07/10/when-music-sounds-gone-is-the-earth-i-know/), I love all kinds of music and that definitely includes big band and songs from the 1940s. One of my favorite artists from that era was the British singer Vera Lynn, who was widely known as the “Forces’ Sweetheart” to the English troops. Sadly, she passed away last month aged 103.
We added a wren box (L) and another bluebird box (R) to our backyard habitat. We’ll have to wait until next year to see if anyone moves in. Fingers crossed!!
As I looked out the patio door one morning, I found this Goldfinch on the stem of this Shasta Daisy picking the petals out one by one and eating the exposed seeds. I had no idea a stem could hold the weight of a bird, much less that a Goldfinch would destroy the flower piece by piece for the seeds. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. I knew it would fly away if I opened the door so I got this shot by putting the lens of my camera through the slats of the blind and hoped the glass tint on the door wouldn’t result in just a blurry shadow. I ended up having to play with the saturation to make the picture clear, but it worked. It’s a favorite of mine simply because it reveals a part of the secret life of a Goldfinch that I never knew existed.
Quite happily, we have had a surge in Titmice the last couple of weeks. They make me think of my Grandma Lois who always told me they were friendly birds.
Well, it turns out that most of the birds I have labeled as Purple Finches in previous posts are actually House Finches. I think I can tell the difference now; these are all House Finches. They are probably the most common birds we have at the feeders, but their songs are anything but common. The male has a most beautiful, lilting, various note call that not even Mozart or Schubert could have written.
One of my favorite visitors to the feeders is a Red-Bellied Woodpecker. This one is particularly gorgeous.
The blue rim around a Mourning Dove’s eyes is stunning!
Who doesn’t love Northern Cardinals? They are a beautifully vibrant red and are always chipper. The bottom Cardinal is a juvenile male. I think he pretty convincingly makes the point that no matter what species you belong to, teenage years are awkward. HA!
I hadn’t seen our little Downy Woodpecker for a few days, I was glad to see him at the suet feeder today.
He likes the safflowers and black oil sunflower seeds in the feeders, too. I guess the house finch doesn’t mind to share.
I’ve greased the bird feeder poles and the tops of the feeders with Vaseline to keep these little Houdini’s out of the birdseed. They were not best pleased, but they still let me snap a couple of pictures of them.
I’d never seen a bluebird do this before. He stayed stock-still prostrate for a good 20 seconds or so. Does anyone know what he is doing??
He flew up to the fence and seemed to be just fine after he was all splayed out.
I think the first picture of this cute little Chipping Sparrow is funny. He or she is pretty friendly and not too skittish when I’m outside.
Our first Carolina Wren!!
Maybe it will come back next spring and nest in our new wren box!
This, my friends, is what an armload of love looks like. Our arms are full nearly all day, every day with these two.
I’ve been working on some little Christmas tree ornaments on and off for a few weeks. I’ve sewn some on a machine but I am finishing the rest by hand because it is hard to sew the seams around the buttons. Handmade is more special anyway, I guess. That and I needed a little project to put in my new sewing box!
I love to cook so eating most meals at home hasn’t been too big of a deal for us. Clockwise from the top left: egg salad sandwich with fresh veg, an orange, and honey wheat pretzels; summer salad with avocado and roasted mixed nuts, apple, and pretzels; beef-lentil stew divided into single-serve meals for the freezer (they keep us alive when the ol’ MS makes me too tired to cook); sloppy joe, mixed summer fruit, and salad; and BBQ boneless pork chop with garlic smashed potatoes, a salad, and an orange. Since hubby has been working from home we have been getting chicken salad sandwiches for lunch on Thursdays from Spring Creek Tea Room–it’s our favorite meal of the week. I”ll try to remember to take a picture of it this week for another post. It’s hard not to dive right in the second you see and smell it!!
I made strawberries and cream for dessert after lunch on the 4th of July – mmm! Hubby and I split this Dutch Baby I made for dinner before all the fireworks around the neighborhood went off on the 4th. It was absolutely DELICIOUS, especially with the leftover strawberries and cream spooned over it. I have been getting hungry mid-afternoon lately and usually eat an apple or banana to tie myself over. Today I decided to splurge and have graham crackers with peanut butter topped with banana and a few Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips. As my sister says, “Yum-a-lum-a-ding-dong!!”
So, to end this peek into my life, here is a picture of me sweating it out under one of our River Birches this afternoon catching a few last minute photos while wearing my favorite cat shirt. I know life can feel hard these days, so dig your claws in and hang in there! God be with you.
I didn’t know MS recruited, but it seems that it recently acquired the mythical legend Hercules to it’s dark side. I guess he took a shine to my electric toothbrush because it certainly feels like I am in an all-out, do or die wrestling match against some kind of superhuman force the entire two minutes it runs. Oral hygiene shouldn’t require a 10 minute power nap to recover from, right? It’s been so long since I’ve experienced “normal” energy that I can’t remember.
Anywho… despite insipid fatigue, life has crept quite happily along. Because I have the best hubby and sister in the world, they each drove ten hours both ways (!) so I could spend a week staying with my sister in Texas. We didn’t do anything or go anywhere because CV-19 is crazy in Austin at the moment, but we had fun anyway and I love spending time with them all.
I helped my nephew study for his permit.I sewed a toy for their new puppy, K.C. Yep, they are die hard Chiefs fans 🏈My bro-in-law shared his addiction to these cookies with me 😋.Peanut butter and jellyS’moresNot to be outdone, my sister opened my eyes to this tasty delight 😋.
(L-R) chocolate, raspberry-white chocolate cheesecake, red velvet, lemon.
Other than having to start a diet when I got home, everything else fell back into place like I had never left. I still have the sweetest hubby and cats one could ask for and the birds are as photogenic as ever. Oh, and a squirrel has found the feeders. He’s cute now but he probably won’t be if he decides to invite his friends.
Purple FinchNuthatchLook how long the nuthatch’s beak is! They are easy to identify because they do everything upside down.GoldfinchYoung female FinchCardinalEastern BluebirdHe is a cute little booger!LaudyPip
A few days have been nice enough I have been able to spend time outside, but heat and MS don’t mix so I’ve been indoors a lot more than I would like. I’ve had extra entrenched primary MS fatigue which has made it hard to do much. (Primary fatigue is thought to be due to nerve messages from your brain and spinal cord having to navigate the areas of damage caused by your MS. It takes more energy to send and deliver messages to other parts of the body, like the muscles in your arms and legs, causing a build-up of fatigue. – mstrust.org.uk). However, it feels good to be back home and I have books that need reading, shows that need watching, puzzles that need putting together, music that needs listening to, and apps that need playing.
Below you will find a few more pictures from the scrapbook of our May under CV-19. We have completely settled into our new home and are grateful to be here, virus or not.
Tis a pleasure to live in the Ozarks!We went for a drive in the country on Memorial Day.Slowly, restaurants in our neck of the woods are opening back up.Napping buddies.We’ve had a lot of rain and storms the last few weeks. I see a lily in the clouds, can you?This little house finch found a good spot to shelter during a heavy downpour.One of my favorite backyard views.A friend from church gave me this beautifully fragrant peony……and this old world rose.After some research, I got a couple of new, weighted feeders and a different suet feeder. The seed feeders are on a spring that closes the seed ports when triggered by anything greater than the weight of a couple of finches. I also changed the kind of seed I put out and stopped spreading it on the ground. It has worked to cut off the riffraff grackles, crows, and brown headed cow birds.RobinEastern Bluebird deep in thought.Mourning DoveCardinalPurple finches, female and maleHouse finchCarolina Chickadee, I think. It’s hard for me to tell the difference between a Black-capped and a Carolina.Chipping sparrow and blue buntingRed-bellied woodpeckerDowny woodpeckerOne of our neighborhood squirrels hanging out on the fence.Our newest critter, an eastern chipmunkMy very favorite animals, Laudy……and Pip!
We’re ready to ease into June with fewer restrictions and, hopefully, greater normalcy. May God be with us one and all! ❤️
A quiet lane a block or so from our house.Along the quiet lane. Dogwoods in all their glory.Spring comes alive in our backyard. Our neighbor’s tulipsBlooms in our backyard. Our neighborhood has a small lake with a walking trail around it.A bit of sunbathing. Breathing new life into our old iron rocking bench.😂My stepmom gave me a cutting from a plant my sister Glenda gave her 20ish years ago. Glenda died in a car wreck 14 years ago next month. It’s a happy coincidence the pot she put the cutting in matches the lawn ornament behind it 💙.I added a few bird feeders last week and they sure have been busy!To the left……to the right.Momma Tree Sparrow and……baby in one of our nesting boxes.White-throated Sparrow Downy WoodpeckerThis Nuthatch is a new visitor, I get so excited every time it visits.Goldfinches are a favorite of mine.Such a cute baby Goldfinch!We have a pair of stunning Bluebirds nesting in one of our boxes!Momma Cardinal sporting a beautiful crest.This little fella thought “crest” meant a mohawk!! We’ve had a lot of House Finches at the feeders, they sing and chirp until you can’t help but smile that God created such marvelous creatures!(Female House Finch)Elegant and gorgeous Mourning Dove.I think this dove may have a birth defect. He comes around a lot and I’m always happy to see him. I’m rooting for him out in the great-wide world.Hubby has kept himself busy with chores……fun……making labs for students……and teaching from home.Meanwhile, my life under the shutdown looks exactly like it did before Coronavirus. I always have a cat nearby and I don’t leave the house very often. I guess MS has been good for something, it’s made surviving the shutdown easy-peasy for me. I’m still sewing when I have the energy, but I have swapped my usual tasks to making masks. As ever, Laudy supervises my work. Pip as my parrot 😉.LOTS of napping! Yes, I did cut my own hair 🤫🤭.I’ve been using my foot pedal a lot these days. My MS has been a beast lately, but I’m determined to keep moving by hook or crook.We celebrated Hubby’s birthday on the 20th of April……and mine on the 22nd. (I forgot to take a picture of the donuts we had for Hubby’s breakfast.)Texas Roadhouse for dinner on my bday 😋.
We’re both ready for the current madness to end and return to whatever the new normal will be, I’m sure you and yours are too. Stay sane, safe, and healthy, we’re all in this together together ❤!
Come on, you know you want to! Let your inner ROAR come yowling out!!
Get enough meowvelous clothes to cover all the seasons and to wear one every day of the week.
2. Don’t forget the Purrfect accessories.
3. Snuggle in with snazzy, P-awsome jammies.
4. Lots and lots of drinking vessels, and I’m not kitten.
5. Pawsatively beautiful art – bothLARGE…
…and small.
6. Plenty of toys to keep your kitties feline fine.
7. Customized furniture
8. And last but not least, you will need to get professional photographs taken with your cats at least once in your life. These oldies but goodies are from 1998! 😹 😹
Amy's Axons 