Friday July 30th

Morning,

Ah but it is so lovely out there today. One client down and one to go for today, it is going to be a really good day. I get to enjoy my family tonight. We are having a family Birthday Celebration at the Summer Shack Restaurant for dinner tonight. Happy Birthday Tim! You are a welcomed addition to the family and we love you. So tonight I get to dress up in really grown up clothes, not my daily scrubs and be me, how fun is that. It is going to be a nice night so we may stroll around after dinner too. I do so enjoy being with my family, they are so grown up, so independent and such good kids. I am proud of them all.

Alas I am working the week end shift Saturday and Sunday but that is OK, I have had the last three week ends off. It is only fair.

The weather has broken from that oppressive heat and humidity, thank goodness...today feels like heaven out there. How enjoyable is that. I plan on going to walk Wollaston Beach once I am done here really appreciate it.

I am doing much better, I got a second opinion on my knee, no surgery for me. That is good news, I got a totally different opinion of the situation and am happy to explore alternatives. So far the pain is a great deal less and we are working on making it being much better. Never take the opinion of one doctor or even two from the same office, seek someone outside for another opinion. It may work out for the best for me. That is not to say that down the road some day I may need a knee replacement, but right now, no surgery is better in my opinion.

Well folks, enjoy life to its fullest, live laugh and love like there is no tomorrow. Live in the moment, do not take anything for granted.

SC I got your card, thanks. You need to stay focused on the positive as far as your health issues. This too will get better, not easy, I know.

Monday July 26th

Wow I really do not think it could have gotten any hotter out there than this past week end was. I was out hiking, yes me hiking on Saturday morning with a large group of friends. We took a three mile hike thru Worlds' End in Hingham. It was Scott Kelbys' World Wide Photo Walk Day all over the World. This means that all photo camera nuts were all out on the same day shooting in different areas. Larry and Ray lead a large group of us up thru different trails on Saturday. It is good that we started early but man oh man was it ever so hot and humid. It was kind of cool knowing that my sister in Virginia was also taking part in the World Wide Walk in her neck of the woods. I was told that Virginia broke a record on Saturday of being over one hundred and five degrees that day. I guess I should not complain then, we only hit ninety eight. I met a lot of new people and enjoyed matching up with others from the camera club while walking. We all met back at Brueggers Bagels for a nice tall cold Strawberry Lemonade when we were done. We came home, changed and took off to my sisters and cooled off poolside for the afternoon. I swear you could hear us sizzle as we got in the water. It was fun and relaxing.

Life is good for us here. Hope you are all staying cool, today it is so much nicer out there, get outside and enjoy it while it lasts. Time to go switch the clothes in the washer and dryer.

Keep your cool out there.

Sunday Morning

Wow what a day yesterday was. I started off the day by cutting off the tip of one of my finger. It is really difficult not not have the middle left hand wrapped up. The bleeding and pain was something awful, I actually contemplated going to the ER.

Then we went to a family cook out, I cannot believe how much Jimmy has grown. he makes me happy and very nostalgic at the same time. He is my brother Jimmy's, (who passed away) grandson. I am sure he is smiling down and watching over them all.

We left the cook out to go to Buttonwood Farms in Connecticut to the Sunflower Festival. Wow 12 acres of all these beautifully tall Sunflowers everywhere the eye could see. I have attached two pictures, I hope they show off how spectacular the place was.

I am heading off to church now, then to visit Cara and Tim, I have some zucchini bread ad sunflowers to bring to them. It is going to be a very nice day.

Smile, be happy, make the world a better place.

Friday July 16th

Morning,

Well I do believe these would be considered the dog days of summer. It is so bloody humid out there I cannot stand it. I come home wiped out and totally drained. Thank goodness for updating our electrical in the house, we have the air conditioners running almost all the time these days.

Life is going along pretty well here. We are off to Buttonwood Farms this week end. They have a Sunflower Festival with 14 acres of Sunflowers planted. They give tours and rides and sell the sunflowers. All the proceeds go to the Make a Wish Foundation, what a worthy cause, I was planning on buying some but now I make get a few more and share them. I hope the weather is not so humid so we can enjoy the ride thru the farm and events planned.

My car is still in the shop, this is week number two. We were read ended and the back end of my care was really smooshed. Three weeks of waiting to get my new baby back. We had been a red lights and were hit hard from behind. She never saw the light or us stopped. Dumb shit! Sorry. At least no one was hurt and my car did what it was supposed to do, absorb the hit. That was good. The rental is nice, it is all covered by the insurance, but I want my car back as good as new. They assure me it will be, so now I wait. Do you all remember me, the impatient one, the one who wants it done now, not wait. Not easy, poor Larry, he has to deal with me.

We are enjoying the summer so far. We have a lot of camera club events starting up again as of next week, so that will be good too.

Hope you all try to stay cool and enjoy the week end.

Sat July 10

All is well here, it feels so good to get a really good deep nights sleep. I have gone back to reading at night. I find for me that reading stops me from thinking and planning what has to be done the next day. It is not easy when your a planner and list maker to shut the mind down on personal things. I find by reading a book, I am turning my attention to a good plot, really enjoying the words and the story I visualize what the characters look like. Then when I go to sleep I am free of the every day stuff and can sleep.
I had Physical Therapy again yesterday, man is he pushing me hard, I know I need it, I can feel the stronger my left knee/muscles are already. I think I have come to the decision of waiting on the surgery for a few months. When the pain is with every step or close to it, then I will schedule it. As of now it is only when I turn the knee or step on uneven ground. My knee has no, zip zero nadda cartilage behind it. What I do know is it does have lots of arthritis there. Oh the abuse that knee took in my younger days, soon it will be time to pay the piper for it. So as long as I walk knowingly and carefully it is less painful. That I will live with for a while and am OK with that.
We are having a lay ow sort of week end again. I am making Blueberry Slump, his Moms Recipe, oh oh this is a first time for me, I only hope it comes out close to hers after hearing all about it for all these years.
Stay cool this week end. Life is good and just keeps getting better.

Tuesdays Hot

Well folks is it hot enough for you all? I mean I have never been that bothered by it, and would admit to enjoying the heat, BUT this is just crazy...The humidity has to drop some to make it a lot more bearable please. I have never in all my years left the AC on in my house for the entire day when we were not home. Today if felt so good to come in to the house and have it noticeably cool. So to everyone out there who have to be outside, drink lots of water and try to stay cool.

Monday

Hello,

What a busy few days we had. I planned on doing not much but what is they say, the best laid plans etc...So we managed to move book cases around, rearrange the spare room and so much more. It is those little things that take time that never show. I took a screw driver to all my kitchen cabinets and tightened the handles, simple enough but I just never took the time to do it. We bought new Smoke carbon monoxide detectors and better yet he installed them already too. See what I mean about those silly household things that do not show but need to be done. It feels good. I made new desert with home made vanilla wafers, home made pudding and built a desert with them and a little banana liqueur and bananas. Oh so yummy. I built it sort of like a trifle, I made three small ones. I will give one to Cara and Tim, one is made without bananas for Ian and the other one is for us. Larry made some delicious Gazpacho Soup, it tasted so good today since it was so hot outside. We are having an easy dinner of simply BLT's.

I did work today, tomorrow everyone else will be back to work too. All is very well.

Happy Fourth Week End

Happy Fourth of July to you All,

Let us remember all those who are no longer with us, and those who cannot be with us at this time. I plan on laying low this week end and enjoying being home. My goal is to do a little work around the house, very little, and just sit back in my favorite chair and read. I have been fortunate to have been able to travel a lot lately so some down time is going to feel really good. I am one of those people who will be working on Monday.

Enjoy, eat, drink and be merry.