3 seasons in one.

 That seems to be the theme of March! Wake up in the winter, go to lunch during fall, and then drive in summer! Keeps things interesting.  I'm hoping that next week stays relatively mild so that I can work in my garden a bit. I'd like to get my onions planted.  My garden-goal this summer is to plant 6 tomato plants, 3 pepper plants, 3 broccoli, 1 zucchini, add to my strawberry plants, and then onions. That list as already grown since I first decided to downsize it a little bit for this year! Oh and pumpkins! I want lots and lots of pumpkins. My plan is to have lots of pumpkins and then a few weeks before Halloween, sneak out in the dead of night and put pumpkins on fence posts, stone walls, and other places. The chances of that actually happening is slim to none because a. once I'm in bed, I'm in bed, and b. I'm afraid of getting shot while sneaking around with my pumpkins. 

I told my colleagues about my retirement - my last day is exactly 6 months from today.  I'm really excited to be able to join the local quilt guild and to participate in some of the charity sewing groups they have. I'm excited to be able to participate in the monthly sewing days for the local Quilts of Valor program. I'm excited to be able to get the 10+ quilt tops from my aunt quilted and returned to my cousins and may actually go to Fairbanks AK to deliver my oldest cousin's quilt. And have a sip of the beer he brews - just a sip though. Alcohol, as it turns out, is very bad for my body even in small quantities. I wonder if he will remember me? I don't think I've seen him for close to 40 years. 

The more I talk/think about my retirement, the more it feels like the right thing to do. I know I could work for several more years where I am right now but it doesn't feel right. I think that I have outlived my effectiveness in that role.  I just feel as if I am being led in a different direction and I am SO excited to find out where that is!  

So looking at the weather forecast, although we are currently in the midst of a wintry mix, it looks as if it will be spring this afternoon with warm-ish temps and a little bit of sun. I'll make Casper very happy and take him for a romp down to the creek. And while I'm there, I'll look to see what good things are sprouting!

 

Spring.

I find it unbelievable that this will be the last spring that I will have to walk through campus on my way to work. Future spring walks through campus will be completely voluntary and I'm excited for that.  It's funny.  I thought that I would feel sad about retiring so early but I can honestly say that I have not experienced that. Last week I gave my official notice and it felt so right. I am so looking forward to my next career/life that utilizes my more artistic side. How I ended up doing the work I currently do, was totally happenstance.  I worked in banking of all things. That's where I started immediately after high school. I didn't really like the work but I was amazed that I could do it. I actually spent 13 years in banking, beginning as a clerk recording treasury rates and ending as secondary marketing underwriter. Around this time, a quilting frame fell from where it was propped and landed on my head. After that, my abilities changed a bit. I no longer had a head for anything mathematical and I switched to human services since that was a field that always had openings. I worked as a clerk/typist for the county base services/mental health and the department of welfare. Around this time, I may some changes and some rash decisions which led me to abandon where I was living and begin a new life with my 2 kids in a different part of the state. I wanted to go to college - I was the only one in the family who hadn't. I pressured myself into believing that I needed to attend the same university that the rest of my family had attended so off we went. In college, I had a wonderful professor who encouraged me to pursue a graduate degree in counseling. She taught a few of my 'chemical dependency' courses and said she thought I would excel in this kind of work. Since I really had no idea of what I wanted to do, I went ahead and applied and was accepted into the rehabilitation counseling program. Since then, I've worked in the counseling field - for a bit as a vocational rehabilitation counselor where I discovered that I really liked working with students transitioning from high school to college - and then on to advising in several capacities.

But it has all changed or maybe it is just me who has changed.   Does it matter? I think it will matter again one day. 

But the campus is beautiful and strolling through on a beautiful spring morning is a wonderful way to begin the day.

 

A mess.

This is a wall-hanging I just finished. I think it looks messy in this photograph - probably because it is so little.  The pattern is Bonnie Hunter's Rhododendron Trail - her mystery quilt from 2021. It was a challenge for me because not only did I make half the blocks, I made the blocks half-sized. For mathematically-challenged me, recalculating the block sizes accurately required me to focus fully on the task. Being able to focus for any length of time on anything is unheard of.  This photo doesn't really do justice - the wall-hanging isn't really that messy looking! There are a million little pieces and because it is a 'scrappy' quilt, lots and lots of different fabric.  Scrappy quilts are a Godsend for people like me who have been collecting fabric for a very, very, long time! 

So what isn't a mess?  These little beauties!  Glimmer and Tipper! I love them so much and look forward to spending lots of time with them when I retire later this year.  

 

A Miracle.

From May 2021:

My daughter has a bloodclot in her brain. As I am writing this, there is a new medication flowing through her body that is slowly dissolving the clot and preventing her from having a stroke. This medication is resolving a problem that was caused by another medication. 

So where is the miracle? My daughter is alive and laughing and living and being my daughter. The miracle is that her bloodclot - a 3 or 4 in a million occurrence - was discovered by a doctor in a podunk little town hospital. The doctor treating her recognized it for what it was, started treatment immediately, and then shipped her out to a larger hospital with more sophisticated equipment. The miracle is that instead of planning a funeral for my child, I am planning for her trip home to attend her brother's wedding in a couple weeks. God had his hand in this. There are too many coincidences for this not to be divine intervention. 

6 months later - my daughter is off the blood thinners and continues to do well.  She is as feisty as ever.  

I never posted this because it revealed too much and hurt too much.  It also seemed rather selfish for me to post because not all people have been blessed in the same way. That said, this Christmas I will be a little more reflective, a little more grateful. I'm going to not worry about whether there are gifts or if there's  enough cookies, or enough any thing else. I've got so much to be thankful for! I am blessed. Every day.

First Monday in Autumn

 

I'm not sure why this wasn't sent when I wrote it but here it is!  I've been loving being able to focus on my artistic side these days! I've been painting, quilting, building stuff - I finished our deck railing and built a set of stairs for it.  I thought I took a picture of it but maybe not.  

Scary Gary says 'hello'!

Autumn is my favorite season, my most favorite time of the year. For that reason, I decided to begin my retirement next year on 10/1.  

Miss Glimmer gets spayed

I'm hopeful that I am able to enjoy day until then without have a mental countdown of the number of days until I retire.  I love my job, I love working, I really do.  But what I ended up doing for my career was by default. I never really thought about counseling but I certainly did well in all of my counseling classes. Good enough that a professor suggested that I apply for a master's program in Counselor Educaton/Vocational Rehab. I think I'm good at what I do and what I did but I'm of the mind that people generally only need a nudge to get back on track. 

I'm ready to focus my life in a more artistic direction and the thought of it excites more and more each day! So bring on autumn! And winter and spring and summer! I'll enjoy them all!

Another season of spaghetti sauce

My favorite season

 First Day of Autumn - capitalized, just as it should be.  

I'm not really a fan of summer although I do appreciate being able to go outside without a coat, working in the garden, planning fun outdoor activities, hearing the birds sing, thinking about my mom - whose favorite season was most definitely summer, and I love the flowers, green leaves - all of that! And, after all, without summer, I wouldn't appreciate fall as much! I guess the only things I don't love about fall would be the gnats, the heat, and the humidity.  

We've had some absolutely gorgeous weather the past few days and the last of the summer flowers are amazing! This weather - so fall-like right now - more than makes up for the day of flooding rain we had last Wednesday/Thursday.  Our little creek has flooded more this summer than I can ever remember.

I'm starting to get into the Halloween/Autumn decorating mode. My daughters have been busy buying Halloween costumes for our new little Chihuahua who absolutely loves getting dressed up!  Little Glimmer has an appointment to be spayed tomorrow and I'll be on pins and needles until she is back home safely with me.  I'll be working from the rest of the week so that I can be with her.  

Fort Worth Fabric Studio's Suddenly Summer mystery quilt

Glimmer showing off her tutu

Glimmer feeling regal

Speaking of pins and needles, I'm starting a new my
stery quilt today which is always fun! But I also need to get the summer mystery quilt finished along with a few other quilts in progress. Along with that, I need to start my daughter's wedding quilt - I'm bound and determined to get it done before her wedding next August and I know that quilting is the last thing on my mind during the hot summer months.

Such a busy time.

These past 2 months have flown by! Mainly because I've been busy, busy, busy! My youngest son was married mid-June to the girl who lived across the 'crick' from us! There have never been 2 better matched people! It was a perfect wedding - not too hot, not too sunny, no rain.  It was just a great day to be surrounded by friends and family and witnessing my youngest child get married to a childhood friend!

Another earth-shattering occurrence was that I started their wedding quilt in April and finished it before they returned from their honeymoon.  And by finished, I mean I quilted it, labeled it, and bound it!  They have a little 1962 Shasta camper and I thought this would be a perfect quilt for them.  

Other big news includes an addition to the family - Glimmer, a 3 year old Chihuahua, came to live with me.  I adopted her from a family who was a little nervous about having her around their new baby.  I knew they were planning to rehome her and I sure didn't want her going to the pound.  I fell in love with her immediately and the other dogs and cats, while not in love with her, seem to tolerate her quite nicely.

Aside from the relentless heat and humidity and the blood clot my daughter has living in her brain, it has been a very nice summer.  

Halfway to Halloween.

Oh yeah, it is! Give or take a few days. 
 

But then, this was written 16 days ago!  So now we are even closer to Halloween! The flowers in these pictures have long lost their blooms and other flowers are opening up.  My son's wedding is in a little over 3 weeks and there is much to be done in order to have our yard looking neat and tidy.

But in the meantime, a lot of sewing has been going on.  I've made a table runner to match my Coca Cola kitchen decor.  I've finally finished and gifted, my daughter's Seaswept quilt.  I've started my son's wedding quilt (fingers crossed that I'll get it done in time), and have planned my daughter's wedding quilt.  In addition to that, I pulled out the blocks for my witchy Sunbonnet Sue quilt - I have 3 blocks yet to applique and I'm hoping to have it completed in time to enter into the county fair.

Coca Cola tablerunner

Block one of my son's wedding quilt

Home.

 I got the word last week that I will be heading back to work very soon.  In the real world, with real people, with real human interaction that doesn't take place through a computer screen.  While I will miss hanging out with my pets, I must say that the thought of returning to the worksite is very appealing. I will be able to work from home a little while longer and then will be able to work from home a day or 2 a week into the future.  

When I first began working at home, I thought it would be awesome to be able to sit out on my deck with a fire and work in peace.  Peace didn't really happen because around here in the mornings, there are ducks, chickens, and roosters that make a heck of a lot of noise.  I love listening to the cacophony of roosters but when I need to concentrate, it's a little much.  

What I will miss though, is the slowness of my mornings. I have a routine in that I get up and sit in the recliner with my little dog for about an hour. I then take care of feeding the cats, making my bed, and getting dressed.  I then take the dogs out and feed the pony and chickens and just walk around a little bit.  Then it's time to come in and leisurely eat my breakfast while reading my book and sipping on coffee.  By the time I'm done and the dishes are washed, it is 7:28 - 2 minutes to start my computer and get to work.

What is left.

Boots

 This is 8 days overdue.  I couldn't figure out how to add any pictures. 

Today would have been my mom's 88th birthday.  She made it to her 87th but no further. For her birthday last year, I called her and played a few of her favorite songs on the piano. She always wanted to listen to me play the piano at church so playing for her over the phone was a lame compromise. My piano at home is very out of tune and for some reason, I don't play as smoothly at home as I used to at church.  Luckily, it turned out that her telephone concert was good not only for a listen, but for a couple laughs too!  

For her birthday this year, I would have been able to spend time with her. Because of the pandemic, that wasn't possible last year. I believe though, that she is having an amazing birthday this year having been reunited with my dad, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and a large majority of her friends. 

How do I feel today? A little melancholy I suppose. I really miss her - I really miss both my parents. But I'm tired of crying. I feel like I'm crying about everything these days.  Everything just hurts SO much!  I'm tired of looking back over my life - I'm ready to look ahead but I'm not sure what for.  I'm so tired of living my life in front of a computer screen. 

Boots the cat - is what I have left of my parents (aside from my brothers, of course).  I can still remember when my dad brought home this scrawny little kitten soooooo many years ago.  Someone had dumped it at my dad's office, the day after Thanksgiving. I think that if my dad hadn't found Boots, she surely would have died.  Boots lived a very nice, very long, and very comfortable life with my parents.  She had the option of hanging out in their backyard watching the birds from the deck or staying in the house and sleeping anywhere she liked. Boots is now living with my daughter and her 2 kids, 2 dogs, and 2cats. Boots spends her days inside sleeping where ever she wants to sleep, her favorite place being on my daughter's lap.  Boots has probably had more baths in the past few months than she has ever had in her previous 101 years!  Boots also sports a very feminine cat collar!

So as life happens, the family is dwindling. It is sad to see people go but that is what happens and no amount of crying or worrying is going to change it. I think it is important for me to keep that in mind and to enjoy every single day. 

Added 4/28: I'm so glad that a few years ago, I decided that it was alright to feel sad and that I didn't always need to be happy.  Today is a better day!  

Spring.

I've always said that autumn is my favorite time of year. It truly is but there is something to be said about spring. After being in the house for over a year, the sounds of spring are so welcomed! The chirps of peepers, the neighbor kids screaming and laughing as they ride their bikes, the donkey braying in such a way that it sounds like a teenaged boy whose voice is changing! I love the chill in the air and how, when I have the windows wide open, the wind is just cool enough to still need a sweatshirt.

 This past weekend was one of the best weekends of my life and to be honest, I feel a little let down that it is over. We had a houseful and it was wonderful! Not once did I worry about my dumpy little home because this weekend, it was a castle. There was laughter, games, good food, and just plain happiness. It doesn't get much better than that.