We hadn’t seen our frog friend, Phileas, in a few days and Don was sure he was gone. But on Memorial Day, he appeared. As we sang to him, he swam toward us, hopped up on the ground, and looked up at us. He actually came  to us. It was amazing. And he stayed there the whole time we sang. I could have reached out and touched him but I didn’t. It seemed too intrusive.

Later, I walked down there to check on him and he was sunning himself on top of the culvert pipe.

Yesterday, I saw him on top of the pipe again.

He’s a friendly frog. I looked him up – he’s a Green Frog. That’s the name of this particular frog. Even my phone camera identified him as a Green Frog.

I spent part of that day pulling weeds and pruning here and there. I noticed this morning that the wild roses are just beginning to bloom, and that means the catalpa won’t be far behind.

We mowed the front lawn yesterday. Then we had lunch and promptly fell asleep for a half hour or so. We’re due for some rain tonight and tomorrow, so we’ll hold off on any more mowing for a few days.

Pru on Memorial Day.

Gosh darn it, she’s adorable.

I’ve moved the modern dollhouse into the bedroom. It’s once again sitting on top of the bookcase. I thought Don wouldn’t want a dollhouse in that room, but much to my surprise, he was all for it. He likes the clean lines of that house. It almost looks like a piece of art. I’m glad it’s there, because it was taking up too much space in the studio, space I need to work on the Beacon Hill and the doll I’m going to paint.

Today, we go grocery shopping. Boring, but very necessary!

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Well, the rain has finally stopped. But it’s in the low fifties and it’s going to stay there today. Tomorrow will be better. Cloudy today, sunnier tomorrow. (This photo was taken earlier in the week.)

Wait! I just saw the sun! What a difference it makes. The endless rain around here does wear one down. Don is ready to scream, as am I. But the up side to all of this is that our long drought is officially over. And that’s a very good thing.

I’ll be honest. I’m having a hard time lately. It looks like my career is over without my having made that decision and I’m still mourning that loss. You know how I feel about the felon and fascism and the dark deeds going on in the WH. I’m having trouble motivating myself to read, though I do read a bit each day. I’m trying to get excited about the dollhouse work ahead, but I’m also quite limited as to budget, so I have to get creative and those juices aren’t always in evidence. Don isn’t finding any work at the moment and frankly, he is so castable right now. He should be working a lot. Don and I feel lost at times – we want to work in our chosen fields because we love what we do and we’re really, really good at it. (Please don’t suggest other possible jobs. We live in a small town, have one working car, and believe me, I have worked all kinds of part-time jobs over the years. There’s really nothing available around here and we’re in our seventies.)

We still pay a hefty mortgage because we bought a house much later in life than most people. That choice was ours, but we feel the strain financially. However, we’re not special, we’re no different than so many people, especially nowadays. And we have no regrets about choosing this house. We love it so.

So something silly like three days of rain can really impact our moods.

But we are basically positive people, so we work hard to find moments of joy and laughter and gratitude in each day. We’re big on gratitude.

Anyway, I share this only because you might be feeling the same way. If you are, I’m sending you a big hug and lots of love. This too shall pass. I have to believe that things will get better. I’ve experienced a lot of little miracles in my life and have no doubt that more are on the way. So this is not a “Poor me!” post – far from it! It’s just an honest status update.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

It seems like it was only a few days ago that the tips of all the hostas emerged from the ground. Boy, oh boy, has everything taken off in the last week! Green, green, green.

And it has finally stopped raining – at least for a couple of days. I can hear the sound of the rushing river across the street. We got a LOT of rain. And the two people who reside in this house were sick and tired of gray skies and constant rain. However, our water table is happy, which means our well is happy. And all of the grass and trees and plants are very happy, indeed.

There isn’t a whole lot to tell you about as we were stuck indoors. I washed the sheets, vacuumed, cleaned, and read. Don played his guitar, made an apple pie, and ran errands. We watched old movies at night.

I don’t know how long it will take before we can attempt to mow. Certainly not until this afternoon. More likely, tomorrow. The grass is quite long even in the corral which I mowed on Saturday. You know I’m just itching to get going, but I also don’t want the lawnmower to clog. So we’ll check in on the wetness this afternoon.

Jessie on a rainy day. We had to stay on the porch, of course, but she looks rather spring-like, don’t you think? I have another Little Keiko head that I’m going to work on soon. I’ll be painting another faceup. The wig and eyes are in the mail. But she’ll need a body. I usually order from a shop in Spain, but I’m a little worried about the increase in price due to tariffs. I will have to contact them to find out the price difference and/or find another source here in the States.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.