That Time of Year Again

The iris...they are a-bloomin'!

Los Coyotes

Celebration Song

Bewilderbeest

Liger

Pinkness

An unknown two-toned...

and one of the new ones I planted last year...the list and names of which I have misplaced and forgot.  My mother is spinning in her...urn, I know.  But I can still appreciate why I chose it!  I think it's lovely.

More are opening up daily! It's an exciting time for me.

And yet, as I walk around the yard, clicking my photos, I am noticing it is going to be a big year for splitting the rhizomes.

(All photos will biggity on clickity.)

Where The Wind Blows

Over the Memorial Day holiday, I took my second trip in May.  Youngest and I loaded up the two grand-girls and traveled back to my hometown to celebrate Favorite Aunt’s 90^th birthday.

My siblings came in from all their respective places…Kansas, California, Nevada…and we had a few days of eating and visiting and keeping each other humble.

The Grand-girls had a fine time at the parade, on which day I left my fancy smancy camera back where we were staying….30 miles away.  (Seriously…I did….but better the camera than one of the grandbebes, I say.) The Memorial Day/Class Reunion parade is a typical (very) small town parade consisting of flags, horseriders, a few farm implements, old firetrucks, some motorcycles, and a few little ‘clown cars’.  It lasted maybe 20 minutes…maybe.  But there was candy!  Woot!

We received a personal tour of the new hospital from my BFF, and it really is a pretty spiffy concept.  All green and full of energy saving and other good ideas.  Like free child care and free something else…maybe meals for the employees?

Main Street has been rebuilt and there are several (7-8, maybe 9) business now.  There is a new city hall, a commons building, and the new Kiowa County school that looks very nice.  I am thinking all the churches are back, too.  It’s a church-y town.

There are still lots of empty lots.  Many homes were not rebuilt.  There are new trees planted, but I missed the big towering trees that were topped by the tornado.

The day of the parade was overcast, but the next day dawned cloudless.  Then the wind picked up, and by 10:30, I was thinking the sun felt good, but my! It’s a bit warm.  On the way back to the room, Youngest said the outside air temp read 102.  Yes.  A bit warm.

And the wind was crazy blowing.  Blew all day.  Strongly, and didn’t let up in the evening.

And that is why the powers that be figured out these are a good idea for this part of the country.  There are now several in town, bigger ones supplying a business (like the hospital), and smaller ones providing for residentials, and then this line outside of town, which I think either the town or the county own.

We returned home on Memorial Day, after a trip to the cemetery, wind still blowing.

It blew All. The. Way. Home.

But.  The weird thing?  I fought it as a crosswind across Kansas south to north….and when I headed north out of Denver?  I fought a crosswind all the way home, west to east!

No breaks for me.

Yoga

Eldest thought that I might enjoy a good yoga class.  A good yoga class…and she spent some time researching and contacting potential yoga people in my town to determine what would be a suitable environ for her mother to be introduced to the healing, strengthening, and soothing properties of the ancient art.

And also hopefully to help her mother quit whining about her aching back, I am sure.

To whit, for my birthday/mother’s day and general health maintenance, she has purchased for me a mat, and introductory classes at a couple of different places around town.

So far, so good. And by good, I mean I have not embarrassed myself nor my family by falling ungracefully splat on my face in the middle of class.

There have been some interesting experiences, but on the whole, I think I am not too bad at this.  The day following the first class, I was mighty stiff, but that went away, and I have not been too bad off since.

Of course that was before spending 20 hours over 4 days in a car, hauling bebes in and out of carseats, hefting and lifting, loading and unloading, all the up and down…

I am enjoying it all to this point, and see myself continuing in some fashion.  I am glad she decided I should do this.  Sometimes my girls are bossy, but what the hey?!  Sometimes they have good ideas!

Also, I have a pattern picked out for a knitted yoga mat carrier.

Don’t judge me!!

Dead

My Kindle kicked the bucket.  The screensaver won’t go away.  The customer service people asked me if my Kindle has been subjected to:

- Undue pressure... (I did read the four published books of ‘The Song of Fire and Ice’, each over 700 pages, in…what? Four weeks??)

- and/or heat... (102 in SW Kansas over the weekend…)

- or being dropped... (No. But if so, I wouldn’t admit it to the customer service people.)

I really don’t know what happened.  Perhaps carrying it around everywhere with me in only my felted cover isn’t the best practice.  Perhaps I need to invest in a ‘real’ cover.

However and whatever and anyway, the Kindle customer service people were as nice and kind and friendly and helpful as the counter person at a small town grocery store back in the day.  A new kindle is winging its way to me, free of charge, all bright and shiny and ready to read, by the end of the week.

Still…they are really and truly fortunate that…

1)      I had finished the currently published books of ‘The Song of Fire and Ice’.

2)      I am in between books on the Kindle.

3)      I have real life books to read.

4)      I was not in the middle of one of those crazy addictive Fire and Ice books.

5)      Because seriously?  I might have been murderous.

6)      Seriously.

ETA: The new one arrived last night!  I had forgotten what it takes to set it up, but all my books are transfered and I am good to go once again.

And Again!

I have inadvertently taken another hiatus. But much has been keeping me so busy that the writing has fallen by the wayside.

One might be curious as to what has kept me so busy?

The yard has been righted for the growing season, with the exception of planting the 13 pumpkins seedlings that sprouted. That is correct. 13. No peppers. One zuchinni. 7 yellow squash. Some sunflowers that are long and leggy and probably not going to survive transplanting…and 13 pumpkins seedling that are THRIVING!

A trip to the nursery provided the annual annuals, which were all planted the same day. Boo-yah! Tomatoes are in the ground, pots are arranged around the patio in an ascetically pleasing manner, and all is right with my outside world. Including the first of the tall bearded iris blooming.

That same day, Wonderful Guy and I got the bikes out, blew the cobwebs off, put some air in the tires, and took them for a spin. While there has been no commuting, and it is the first of June, I am ready when 1) the weather is right, and 2) I am not getting ready to leave town, 3) nor recovering from a trip.

I played bunko this week. It was my last time as a substitute. A couple of women are moving, and I have been asked to become a regular regular, rather than a regular substitute. Gosh. I don’t know if I want all that responsibility and commitment, but I am taking it all. No more flying along on the coattails (and the housecleaning and the feeding of the snacks) of others.

I decided for the dresses I intend to wear for the Eldest’s wedding hoe-downs, as the garments were lined, and I was not going to be wearing hosiery, that some sort of ‘foundation garment’ was required. A bit of shopping found just the thing for the right price at one of our local outlet stores. Trying the foundation garment on, I wondered if the dress that I really wanted to wear to the wedding…the one I really needed to lose 5 pounds for...but for the life of me….even with my increased exercise regimen and efforts at decreasing intake (even as all those around me may lay claim to my occasional lapses with shortbread cookies, I cannot deny!)…would work.

Well. It does. So I took the newly purchased dress back for a refund, and now? I only need not gain anymore.

Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?