June 27, 2017

Day 178 of 365, Tuesday. It is an absolutely beautiful day here in NC. We barely made it to 80, and it feels less humid. Donald and I decided to have dinner outdoors tonight. It was glorious.

June 26, 2017

Day 177 of 365, Monday. If you keep your eyes open, you will start to notice beauty or something cool in the strangest places. Today I had to make a trip to WalMart and decided to go in through the garden area. There are lots of plants on clearance, so of course I had to walk through. This is a hummingbird moth, checking out the blossoms. It is unusual to see these, I've only seen a few in my entire life. 

June 25, 2017

Day 176 of 365, Sunday. This cabinet holds a lot of intrigue for all things small, either children or cats. Patrick and Ellie love to hide in it, and today Jolly Mon tried to open the door on his own. I guess it is the perfect spot to hide.

June 24, 2017

Day 175 of 365, Saturday. This morning we met Dottie and her crew for bagels and a walk along the Neuse River Greenway. We ran into a man just staring straight up, and when we asked he pointed out the osprey nest on top of the utility poles. It was an incredibly cool experience to see the juvenile on the side of the nest, and while we watched, both parents flew in. This is my favorite of the photos I took. You can see the little one watching the mama bird. I can only imagine it is thinking about food.

June 23, 2017

Day 174 of 365, Friday. Boy, am I behind. I guess being on summer vacation has put me on island time. I will be writing this post (and the next few) as though it were really that day, so excuse the present tense even though I'm writing from the past. If that makes any sense.

Today, Donald and I had to attend a funeral in Clayton. It was a little tiny church, but it was beautiful on the inside. 

June 22, 2017

Day 173 of 365, Thursday. Each day I have been trying to get out and walk in the mornings. It is so easy to do that while I am on summer break, and it makes me feel good. Today, however, I wasn't feeling quite as peppy as I have the last few days. I decided to still take a walk, but to make it a little less strenuous. A little know fact about me is that I enjoy walking through the cemetery. Most people find it creepy, but I find peace there. It is so interesting to me to read the names of people and wonder about their lives. I especially like it when they include a quote or saying on the headstone. Oakwood Cemetery is very close to my house, so I headed that way. As an added bonus, both my grandparents and my great-grandparents are buried here. I always like to stop and visit, and wish they were still around. 

June 21, 2017

Day 172 of 365, Wednesday. This is a tale about WalMart and personal mistakes. Most of you know that I help my aunt at her farm. Part of that includes making sure the cats and dog have plenty of food. It isn't always convenient to go to WalMart, so I have been ordering the food online and having it shipped to her house. When I talked with her on the way home from Asheville last week she mentioned that she needed more food. So, when I got home I pulled out my trusty app and ordered. When I was checking out, I noticed I could pick up in store. Since I drive past the store on the way to her house, I thought that might be easiest, so that was the option I chose. Friday morning, I go to pick up my order, and I unfortunately selected the wrong store. The store I wanted was in Kannapolis, but I chose Concord. I knew Donald and I were going out of town over the weekend, so there was nothing I could do except move on. Fast forward to Monday afternoon. As soon as we got back in town, I headed to WalMart for the pick up. Would you believe that was the wrong store too? Good grief. As it turns out, I picked the store all the way out at Concord Mills! There was no way I was going out there at 5:00 in the afternoon, so I decided to wait until the next morning. Tuesday morning, I head to the third WalMart, and finally had the right one! But, not all items in my order had shipped. The girl at the desk looked, and the rest of my items were on the truck to be delivered that afternoon. My only choice was to pick up what was there and come back later. Finally, Wednesday morning, I headed back to WalMart AGAIN. Believe me, the next time I order food, it will be shipped directly to her house. 

June 20, 2017

Day 171 of 365, Tuesday. Each year, I look forward to planting a garden. Over the last few years, I haven't had much time to tend to a garden, so I decided not to plant this year. But, I did put some tomato plants in a pot just to see what happens. I have three little tomatoes growing, and I hope they make it to maturity. 

June 19, 2017

Day 170 of 365, Monday. We are home from Raleigh and I had some errands to run once we got here. Sitting at the stoplight, I glanced over at the laundry mat and saw this. I would like to know how they trained that cat to hang out on a leash. 

June 18, 2017

Day 169 of 365, Sunday. Happy Father's Day! Donald and I had no idea what our day was going to be like today, but Dottie wound up coming over with her entire crew. We had fun playing inside, then we all walked to the pool for a swim. Add pizza for supper and the day was great! Jackson is really starting to notice things around him, and he absolutely lights up when he sees Granddaddy. He has never paid any attention to me, and honestly, he diverts his eyes whenever I talk to him. But, today was different. We had a real conversation! I talked, and he was all smiles and cooed and cooed! Be still my heart!

June 17, 2017

Day 168 of 365, Saturday. Today we were invited to the Cole's for a 30th anniversary celebration. There were lots of kids there, and Patrick and Ellie had tons of fun playing with everyone. Ellie very politely asked for a cupcake, and I think she enjoyed it. What do you think? 

June 16, 2017

Day 167 of 365, Friday. I started the day with a walk around the neighborhood. For old times sake, I walked through the playground at Beverly Hills. Not only is this where I attended elementary school, but I taught there for 13 years. My class planted these big trees, and every day at recess that year, we brought water in gallon jugs. 

June 15, 2017

Day 166 of 365, Thursday. My participation in the NCDLCN cohort ended today. It has been a wonderful experience, and I feel I learned a great deal. As a surprise, the folks from the Friday Institute brought Howling Cow ice cream. This ice cream is made at NC State University, from NC State cows. You can only get it in Raleigh, and they packed it up in coolers with dry ice and brought it all the way to Asheville. What a treat!

June 14, 2017

Day 165 of 365, Wednesday. I am still in Asheville, and took the opportunity for a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway after the meeting. I stopped at overlooks, and took lots of pictures of the mountains. But, I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't share this one photo. When I first noticed it, I thought someone had littered, and it made me mad. But then, when I looked closer, I saw a beautiful tribute. I have no idea who Dakota is, nor do I know if he or she was human or animal. But someone must have really loved them to leave a tribute at a beautiful overlook. 

June 13, 2017

Day 164 of 365, Tuesday. I am in Asheville for the next two days for a meeting. I was able to catch up with my old friend Kelly for dinner and reminiscing. It was so, so good to see her! She even brought her daughter along, which was an added bonus! Here you see us at the Pisgah Inn, with the sunset in the background.

June 12, 2017

Day 163  of 365, Monday. Donald had to go in the apartment for something the other day and realized we had a tremendous leak somewhere from the roof. Today, he waited until I got home to climb the ladder and check it out. (For the record, he's not allowed to go on the roof unless someone is home.) Anyway, there were lots of limbs covering the roof, and tons of leaf debris. He made round one today of cleaning it off.

June 11, 2017

Day 162 of 365, Sunday. It has taken three years, but Jolly Mon decided to make friends with Patrick today.

June 10, 2017

Day 161 of 365, Saturday. We had so much fun hanging out with these guys today. Patrick and Ellie played and played, Jackson spent most of his time napping, Dottie enjoyed having extra hands to help wrangle busy children, Donald and I soaked it all in. 

June 9, 2017

Day 160 of 365, Friday. Today was the last day for students in Cabarrus County, and it was an early release day too. Donald and I had a goal of making it to Raleigh by supper time so we could get our favorite pizza. We made it, and there was even a little time to sit on the back deck. Here's the view, the only thing that would make it better is if we could see water. 

June 8, 2017

Day 159 of 365, Thursday. Today, Donald and I made a delivery of sweet feed for the horse. She doesn't always show her affection, but when she does it is such a good feeling. She was all over me, and I loved it.