Tuesday, April 27, 2021

MY CORNER OF THE WORLD...





I was looking out the kitchen window

 the other day 

and seeing the Lady Banks rose

 coming to life.

  It was rather one sided, 

tucked back in a corner, 

and it reminded me somewhat of

 how it has been for the past year,

 always waiting to see what was coming, 

always waiting to see what was happening just around the corner. 

 Would we be able to stay healthy, 

would the vaccine be available and when, 

would Main Street businesses stay afloat

 or would the doors close? 

 All of these questions seemed to be waiting just around the corner. 


 

Those were hard questions to answer 

and it took time, too much time, 

but the light at the end

 is beginning to shine through. 

Things are starting to open up,

 masks are not being required

 in some outdoor circumstances. 

 If these are good plans only time will tell. 

 What is most important now

 is that we get our vaccinations. 

 I have been trying to be a voice

 for what I think is right for me

 but that might not always be

 right for someone else. 

There are a lot of 

different opinions out there,

 and we all have to do 

what is right for ourselves. 

 Some think after you are vaccinated 

that you are safe 

and don't need any other precautions.

 I think differently

 and when a small county such as I live in

 has three times more cases

 than they did the day before,

 I find that discouraging. 

This is the last

 I will speak on the subject

 except to say I hope

 that everyone gets vaccinated 

and that thinking about 

your fellow human beings

 becomes first and foremost

 in your hearts and minds.




Every spring, 

just after the first small miracle

 of life starts to sprout, 

I have hopes that the garden will 

come back to life 

and at the same time,

 I really doubt that it will.  

Even though our winter normally

 isn't a harsh one

 it still does unthinkable things

 to the garden.  

I have always maintained

 that our garden 

grows in spite of us

 not because of us 

and I try to blame it all on winter

 but then miracles do happen 

and I can clearly see

 around the corners.




I have a "gardener"

 that is very proficient 

with a pair of clippers! 

 No matter what the time of year is 

if, to his eyes, 

something looks out of place, 

when in doubt, chop it off! 

 I, on the other hand, 

tend to love to live under jungle conditions, 

so I don't like to trim, 

but then that always shows 

at the most inopportune times,

 so I complain how we should have

 trimmed at the right time,

 and that sends that "certain gardener"

 looking for his clippers, 

which nine times out of ten, 

he can't find 

but it is that tenth time

 that is the killer.  

See,

 in spite of us, not because of us!





We only had one clump of daffodils 

that came up this year.  

It must be those pesky squirrels!

  In order to preserve the occasion,

 I tried to dry them. 

 Actually, they didn't do too badly

 although this one, above,

 was the prettiest. 

 They will be tucked 

into a wreath someplace 

come next spring.




I would like to thank you  all 

for your kind comments about the books

 in last week's post. 

 It seemed to bring back good memories

 to a lot of you 

and I am so glad. 

 I mentioned that we also got visits

 door to door from 

other types of salesmen.

  We bought a vacuum cleaner,

 I can't remember the brand, 

but it was a cannister type 

with a little top that unscrewed 

where you could put a rag,

 soaked with your choice of 

something that smelled good

 and as you vacuumed 

the scent was everywhere. 

 My personal favorite was eucalyptus oil. 

 It brought back memories 

of when I had a cold 

and my mom put a pan of water,

 with a bit of eucalyptus oil in it

 on the wood stove 

and then I had to stand over the pan 

with a towel over my head.  

It was supposed to make breathing easier and it did. 

 It also made me feel loved and

 well taken care of. 

 I remember when the salesman came

 to the house and we paid him.  

We were contacted by the company wanting us to pay for the vacuum. 

They later found out that the salesman

 sold these vacuums and 

then absconded with the money! 

 Another purchase was

 Life Time pots and pans. 

The salesman came to the house, 

where we had invited a few friends over, 

and he cooked us a whole, delicious meal.  

We sold quite a few sets for him

and after 50 years, 

we are still using three of the pans 

to this day.





The Captain was gifted this tree  

when he retired from the school district.

  After the last storm 

we noticed that it was leaning badly 

so we called a tree professional

 and he said it needed to come out 

before we had another storm.

  We were concerned 

that it might fall into the street.  

Although it was tall,

 it wasn't very big around,

 but when the trunk and the bigger limbs

 hit the ground,

 it shook the whole property.




It took them only about 1 1/2 hours

 to cut it down 

and run all the branches

 through their chipper.

 They left the yard cleaner

 than they found it. 

 Now, we need to clean the corner up, 

and we have a special piece

 to replace the tree.




These are 

the neighborhood wisteria trees. 

 The one on the back left

 and the tallest middle one

 belong to two different neighbors. 

 The one in the foreground 

and the one far right 

is our bush that overlooks

 the Secret Garden...





...but this is all we can see of it 

from the screened porch.

  Aw, the Wonderful World of Wisterias.




Well, life has turned a few corners since I started this post. 

 We drove to Santa Cruz to attend a memorial service for our sister-in-law. 

 It was held in a large tent 

on church grounds, 

three sides were closed 

with one big end open. 

 It was considered an outside gathering. 

 It was a wonderful remembrance of her 

and our niece and nephews 

did such a wonderful job 

of taking care of her and their dad.  

We got to see and hug our kids,

 whom we haven't seen in a year. 

 We came right back home

 after the service 

and now, I guess,

 you can say 

we have taken more baby steps

 towards getting around

 the corners

 that are yet to come.



Have a wonderful week.


...Judy...





Sharing today with:

Love Your Creativity at Life and Linda




22 comments:

  1. Hello sweet friend. How wonderful to see so many flowers blooming. We are starting to see new life here in Illinois too. I agree with you about vaccines. I am a nurse and believe in the science of vaccines to protect and save lives. I wish everyone would think like that but that is the country we live in everyone is free to figure out what is best for them. Too bad the tree gifted to the Captain at retirement had to come down. I hope he kept a piece of it in remembrance. Hope all is good. Sorry about your SIL and happy that you could hug and see your kids at the memorial. It does seem like life is slowly returning to normal. Whatever normal is lol! Have a great week. xoxo

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    1. Thanks so much, Kris. Time is getting shorter for you "homeless" people. Can't wait until you get settled and we can see what it will be like. Beautiful, I am sure. We had a lot of rain this past week but the lilac wasn't beaten down too badly. It has been chilly and windy today..xxoJudy

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  2. Beautiful trees and flowers! When we start seeing color, it really does brighten our world, in more ways than just seeing them. I get to feeling more energized and motivated to get outside. Not much color here, except for daffodils here and there and a few trees with pink blossoms. but that's better than nothing at all! Glad you got to see your kids.. and I'm sorry to hear about your sister in law's passing. How sad for her family. I don't see much "back to normal" happening around here. People everywhere still wear their masks and keep apart, and things are still closed. Oregon has more covid cases than ever, which makes me wonder that if, because of the vaccine, people are being less careful, thinking they are totally safe? It's still scary to me, with or without the vaccine. Keep safe and well! Marilyn

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    1. Thanks so much, Marilyn. I'm sorry that things aren't going better in your town. We had 12 new cases on Friday and 30 more over the weekend. It is crazy and maddening that people can't get it together. The ones that care can only do so much so what are you going to do? I heard a doc say that even if we are fully vaccinated we still have to be careful of the ones around us. How can we tell or know if they are safe. I agree about the colorful flowers. My lilac is hard to take a photo of because it is against the sky, but it was so pretty and then we had rain this weekend and it got kind of bent down, but it did perk up so I was glad of that..Take care, xxoJudy

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  3. Wisteria trees. Biggest sigh -- they don't do well here, or at least with me. A tree is a splendid retirement gift. And I'm so sorry about your sister-in-law. These are hard times.

    I'm with you on erring on the side of caution. I'm glad things are loosening up and I am "out there" more, but carefully. Earlier this week, my pulmonologist really stressed how critical it is not to let down guard despite the vaccinations. It doesn't mean that when I'm with others who are vaccinated that I will wear a mask. I don't. But I'm very careful in any public setting and probably will be for awhile, especially if I have to be inside. He said more, too -- but no one else will care!

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    1. Thanks so much, Jeanie. I will now take my mask off if outside and no one else is around but if I don't know them or know that they have been vaccinated I will stay away. I am feeling better but am not going whole hog yet!..xxoJudy

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  4. Beautiful roses and wisteria! I so wish I could have my roses back here...but just too many snakes here and I hate snakes. I had to get rid of my barberry bushes for the same reason. Janice

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    1. Thanks so much, Janice. I don't blame you, I don't like snakes either especially if you can't see them!!..xxoJudy

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  5. Beautifully written! Spring has so much charm :) In our garden, only forsythia reminds us that it's already spring. The rest of the plants are still dormant. April is terribly cold.

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    1. Thanks so much. We will still have some cold weather before it is all over..xxoJudy

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  6. Such a loaded post....loaded with wisdom, beauty, peace and sadness. I'm afraid I'm not as kind as you. I want to throttle anyone hedging on not wearing masks/practicing sanitizing, gathering indoors and partying, and not getting vaccinated. We need to move forward carefully, and curtail those who do not get vaccinated(work,play,travel, public venues) It's like speeding drunk through a crowd without insurance---you are a culpable hazard and danger to all. Basically a felony...phew. Needed to get that out. Hugs on your loss, and your wise words...from someone not as wise, Sandi

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    1. Thanks so much, Sandi. I am really trying to get my head on straight about all this. I know there are ones that may not be able to take the vaccine (but they can stay away from me). It is the ones that are against it for more than medical reasons. Those people I can't abide. I will follow the guidelines and I did take my mask off the other day coming out the door from the blood lab. No one was around and it felt good to do it, but I will always have it with me no matter what the rules. If you don't know someone and they tell you they have been vaccinated, it will be a long while before I could take them at their word. One thing about the last few years and all of this virus, it sure has made me lose faith in the fact that the human race can make good decisions!..xxoJudy

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  7. So much nice bloom where you are! Especially roses. Mine are just coming on. I always get sad to see a big tree come down, but they can be so destructive if they fall down on their own. I got away to see family for the first time in many many months. It was very nice but also stressful. We are just not out of the woods yet with Covid. I wish people would wise up and get vaccinated.

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    1. Thanks so much, Jacqueline. The garden is starting to look better but still lots of work to do. It is stressful putting ourselves out there after such a long time, but I am trying my best to accept it and move forward a little at a time. I will always take my mask with me no matter what the rules. You never know who you are talking to..xxoJudy

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  8. Judy,
    You will be glad to hear that I pulled the trigger and booked an appointment to get the vaccine. I finally was able to see my Dr. after 3 years of being forced to go to another Dr. because of insurance. He did not see any reason why I could not get the vaccine with all my health issues but he did say that since I tend to be very sensitive and have reactions to new medications and other vaccines, I very well could have a severe reaction to the vaccine. So he left the decision with me. He feels there will be another surge in the Fall when people start to move indoors again. My son Joey who is now fully vaccinated as is Joe, voiced his concern over him now starting a new job and going into an office 4 days a week and coming over our house for dinner daily and me not being vaccinated. So there is a clinic next week 10 minutes away that will have nurses and other medical personnel there should I need them for any reaction I may have. I chose the Moderna vaccine as my son was deathly ill after the second shot of the Pfizer. I have heard of people not having as severe a reaction to the Moderna. So we will see how it goes but at last I will be vaccinated!!
    Thanks so much for stopping by!! Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

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    1. Oh, Deb, I'm so glad you were able to do it. I can see how stressful it would be if you have had bad reactions from shots in the past. Your doc knows the best for you. With your son getting a new job (congratulations to him) he will be around more people than usual. We didn't see our kids for about a year for that reason. They didn't want to put us (oldies) in jeopardy. We both had the Moderna and Jerry did not have any reaction (except sore arm for awhile) from both of them, I didn't have any from the first one but had slight chills and very tired from the second. Just went to bed and next morning was fine. I have heard that too about not as much reaction to the Moderna. I'm glad I had mine before J&J came out. I would be very leary to take that one now, especially having had a blood clot in the past..Good luck and I'm proud of you. xxoJudy

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  9. The flowers are so pretty in spring, Judy! Your place always looks lovely. I have been enjoying the view from a distance, since too much spring makes me sneeze!! Have a great weekend!! xo

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    1. Thanks so much, Kim. Well, I am right there with you as you will see in my post for next week..xxoJudy

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  10. Amazing corner, I love your flowers ❤

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  11. I'm sorry for your family's loss... Fun to read about your lopper! Of course I enjoyed seeing your garden and sad for the loss of your tree. Have you seen the wholesale slaughter of trees by pge now, I literally cried at the 100 plus year old oaks being felled for larger air space near wires. First the do nothing, now clear cutting 😭

    Sent you an email, Linda and I would love to meet you this week, bring a bucket to load up on fresh cut roses 😊

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    1. Thanks so much, Jain. We hated to lose the tree but it was starting to fall and that was a liability that we didn't want. Every place we go around here there are fallen trees. I hate to see it but they certainly look better that the botch job the did with the big one by us. I also sent you an email and thank you so much for the invitation..xxoJudy

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Your comments are so special to me...Judy