friends — Page 3

Yarrow, Friends, & Chickens

June 10, 2021 at 9:21 am by Claudia

Let’s face it. Mother Nature is a far better decorator than most of us. Would I have thought of filling this part of the yard with masses of yarrow? No. I merely planted some yarrow years ago which faded away after a couple of summers. Then it turned up on the edge of the chickenwire fence garden. Then in it. Then one plant cropped up in the Memorial Garden. And all the while, especially after we no longer had the dogs, it started to self seed all over the corral.

Now I have a little meadow of yarrow. It makes me quite happy.

We had a lovely time with Rick and Doug yesterday (and Sam!) The enormity of greeting each other sans mask and with a hug was not lost on us. It’s been a year and a half since we’ve hugged each other – since I’ve hugged anyone but Don. It was truly wonderful. And after acknowledging the moment, we picked up just as true friends do, as if we were continuing a conversation that we’d had the day before. Sam was so happy to see us! Lots of kisses and cuddles.

A big day for us. We are so grateful.

We’re still taking it slow in terms of our reentry, but Rick and Doug were fully vaccinated even before us, so it’s safe. We didn’t feel one qualm about getting together yesterday.

And we sure needed it.

Thank goodness, the humidity has gone away. It was truly horrible yesterday. Just awful. We had some thunder and some rain late in the afternoon. When I went outside this morning there wasn’t a speck of humidity in the air.

I want to get back to painting at some point today. But first, a bit of weed whacking this morning – everything is overgrown.

I know a lot of us have been dealing with oppressive heat and I hope it has lessened in your neck of the woods.

By the way, our neighbors put up a chicken wire fence along the property line because the chickens kept coming over here, plus it’s difficult for their owner to watch them all the time and she gets concerned about predators. I’ve had to go outside a couple times a day and shoo them away. As they left our property, the rooster would sass me! Anyway, one of the most comical sights lately was the day after they installed the chicken wire and I saw them on the other side of the fence, staring at me, especially Mr. Pickens, the rooster. It’s as if they were saying, “What the ???!?” They looked like they were in jail.

I could hear Don laughing out loud in the kitchen. They are funny little creatures

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Day Seventy

May 22, 2020 at 9:41 am by Claudia

Porch sitting, guitar playing; all-in-all, a lovely day yesterday.

Today, there are chores to be done and errands to be run.

It’s going to reach 78 degrees today. Rain tomorrow. Before you know it – I give it about 5 or 6 days – we’ll be putting those window air conditioning units back in place for the summer.

I’m currently reading A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. It’s a book I should have read long ago. I found a lovely little Penguin Classics copy last fall at Shakespeare and Company in Paris. What a powerful essay on women!

Today should bring to my mailbox a new copy of The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies. That will be my next read. Or reread. As it’s been 30 years or more since I read it the first time, I suspect it will seem like a ‘new’ read. Don has been watching old episodes of Roy Rogers on YouTube. He met Roy and Dale once in a diner in Los Angeles. They were gracious and kind and gave him their autographs. (He lost them at some point.) He’s having such fun watching them again. Anyway, he mentioned Zane Grey the other day and wanting to read him, so I snuck in copy of two of his novels as a surprise for him.

I learned last night that a longtime friend of mine, someone I’ve known as long as I can remember, died last week. We were friends through the church we attended. I was very close to her family, her brother was my age. I was a camp counselor at a Lutheran camp when I was in college and while I was there I met a wonderful guy named Bob who kept me in stitches much of the time. We kept up our friendship and several years later, Bob was again working at the camp for the summer – this time as a lifeguard. While he was there he met Sue, my friend from church, who was working there as a counselor. They fell in love. Two friends from different parts of my life met and got married. I was at their wedding. They raised two children together and lived in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. She had cancer. They would have been married for 36 years this year. Heartbreaking. I’m very saddened by this news. Sue followed me on Instagram, so we were able to keep track of each other’s lives. She will be missed. Sue and Bob are two of the finest human beings it has ever been my privilege to know. Rest in peace, Susan.

Please keep Kathy from Iowa in your thoughts and prayers as she has been ill the last few days and tested positive for COVID-19. As you know, she is a truly wonderful person who responds to everyone’s comments with love and compassion. She had to keep working through this lockdown as she is a social worker. Let’s surround her in prayer and healing energy. You can read her comments about her diagnosis on yesterday’s post.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Yarrow, Friends, & Chickens

claudiahillsparks

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