Little Z — Page 7

Thoughts on Saturday

June 24, 2017 at 8:49 am by Claudia

There is a small black raspberry bush in the midst of all the strange weedy stuff that grows around our weeping willow stump. That area gets a lot of direct sun. The day before yesterday, I discovered some berries were already ripening. They are so, so good. I ate them as I talked to Don on the phone, hoping he would forgive me for having them all to myself.

I did the usual sort of errand running yesterday; groceries, post office, and then I decided to buy two more hanging geraniums for the porch. Since I’m going to be gone for a while and my usual choice of hanging plants need to be watered every day as they get a lot of direct sun on the porch, I thought the heat-tolerant geraniums would be better. I don’t want Noble to have to stop by every day to water them. I will now find a shady place for them, someplace where they’ll catch the rain and won’t dry out so quickly.

As I was puttering around the porch, Don called and we chatted a bit and then I had to run in the house, so I told him I would call him right back. The porch was so beautiful, there was a lovely breeze that helped to cut the humidity, the wind chimes were tinkling, and when it was time to call him back, I plopped myself on the glider and hit Face Time. Believe it or not, this is the first time we’ve used Face Time since he left for the West Coast.

Ah! There he was. We sat there talking to each other and we couldn’t stop smiling. I was so happy to see his dear face. He seemed to be equally happy to see mine. It was simply lovely, that time together, with the breeze blowing and my love right there on my phone. Eventually, I got up and took him on a tour of the gardens, so he could see what was happening back home.

I know it seems silly not to avail ourselves of Face Time more often, but I’m sort of happy we didn’t, because it made this all the more special. One week from Monday I will be winging my way out to San Diego. I cannot wait to see him in person.

It rained during the night and now the sun has come out. Two bunnies were dining when I looked out the window of the kitchen door, though I had to gently remind them that the garden was a no-no. They ran off, white tails bobbing. The same for the beautiful deer that was feeding right outside my kitchen window yesterday evening. I ran to get the camera and as he moved, I moved to the den to see if I could get a photo. Much to my surprise, he walked right up to my butterfly bush, clearly eyeing it as a possible meal choice. So I knocked on the window, he looked up, right into my eyes, we studied each other for a minute – and then he ran off.

It’s a special day today. Don turns 66 years old. Little Z turns 6.

Isn’t that perfect? 66 and 6.

I love that they share a birthday, these two boys. They have a special bond and their shared birthday makes that bond even more precious.

Last year at this time, I was unveiling the mini studio that I made for Don. This year we’re apart but we know we’ll be together soon and we’ll celebrate then. He told me he didn’t want a card or a present, that he would prefer that I buy him something that he discovers and falls in love with on our trip across the country. Sounds perfect.

He has two shows today and two shows tomorrow, so he’ll be busy.

Happy Birthday to my big love and Happy Birthday to my little love. Two of my favorite guys.

Happy Saturday.

Heroes, Angels & Gratitude

May 25, 2017 at 8:48 am by Claudia

The antidote to feeling blue is doing something constructive. Around about noon, I went outside to do some weed-whacking. As I went to the porch to get what I needed, I saw this. And gasped.

There are flowers and there are flowers. All beautiful, of course, but this?

Spectacular.

One poppy had opened up and the splash of orange among the green of the garden was gorgeous.

It’s planted in the midst of the purple catmint and I love the purple/orange combination. The petals are like tissue paper.

It’s raining today – so far, a gentle rain – and I hope it stays gentle so the flower can hang in there.

After dealing with the weeds, I decided to mow the rest of the front lawn as I knew we had two days of rain ahead and the grass would be much harder to cut if I waited. The day eventually turned sunny and I was in my happy place: garden, property, porch, watering plants, sitting on the glider, sitting on the funky patio. The birdsong was everywhere and I felt a deep gratitude for this house, this property. I waited a long, long time to have a house and a garden I could call my own.

I never, never take it for granted.

Hijinks in the birdbath:

He was shaking himself and the movement caused my camera to focus on the plants rather than him, but I think you can get a sense of his happiness at getting a bath!

Emerging from the bath, ready to shake the water off.

But the most moving and life-affirming thing to happen yesterday involved my Little Z. He had his ‘moving up’ ceremony at his school. He’s moving on to kindergarten in the fall. I told Mere to shoot some video (which she would have done anyway, of course) and send me whatever she could. I won’t speak too much of this because she should tell the story and she will.

The kids had little graduation gowns on and mortarboards and when it came time for Little Z to get up from his chair and cross the room to get his certificate, he stood up, using his canes, and started walking toward the teacher. He looked up at the crowd and proudly said “I’m walking up!” whereupon the crowd cheered and laughed and fell in love with him as everyone who meets him does. Seeing him walk with his canes, justly proud of himself, brought tears to my eyes. He is my hero. I forwarded the video to Don who watched it and also cried.

This magical child, who blesses everyone he meets, who has taught us so much – oh my, how much I love him! His mom and dad and his big brothers were there to cheer him on.

I’m sure Mere will post pictures when she has time to write a post.

Heroes can come in small packages. So can angels.

Happy Thursday.

Missing My Husband, Garden, & Little Z

May 20, 2017 at 9:42 am by Claudia

It’s a good 15 degrees cooler today than yesterday. I must confess, I did a lot outside yesterday, culminating in mowing the larger part of the lawn. This is tiring on an average day, but yesterday, it was extremely tiring. Maybe because it was warmer and humid? I’m not sure. But I had to stop more than a few times and hydrate myself and rest. I felt frustrated by the whole endeavor, though I did finish. I’m not one to back off of chores like this and the fact that it was harder than usual ticked me off.

Anyway, after it was all done, I came into the house, took a shower, plopped into a chair and a wave of missing Don completely engulfed me. It’s been over 2 months now, with a month and half yet to go, and I felt overwhelmed with loneliness. And I knew I couldn’t call him because he was in the middle of rehearsals, so I had to wait until later in the day to speak to him.

Most days, we both handle this pretty well. But there are some, like yesterday, that are too much. We often say, “If we could just give each other a hug, everything would be better.” Not being able to do that is just plain hard.

Today is a new day and I’m better, as I knew I would be.