The Challenge View - June

This is from the quote:

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
fills the children's hand with posies.

I no longer have roses in my garden and my lillies have already lost their bloom. I don't have posies or children to hold them either, sorry LOL! So here are some pictures I took of some of the flowers we do have blooming right now in our yard and some of our neighbors. Oh, there is one of a momma duck and her baby. Usually there are a lot of ducklings but this is the only one we have seen this year. They wouldn't let us get very close and I didn't want to scare them so it is not a great picture even though I tried to zoom in on them.

The left middle flowers are bleeding hearts. We took a cutting of this plant from my Mom's yard before she came to live with us. When we moved to where we are now, we couldn't dig up the whole plant so we took another cutting and planted it here. It dies back every winter but then comes back. I love watching it grow because it was part of my Mom's love for plants. She had such a green thumb! The top and bottom right are of roses from a neighbor's yard but we have been having so much rain lately it is beating the poor flowers to death. The rose below is much better. It came from a friend's yard. When we lived in Pennsylvania I had a yellow rose bush that was absolutely beautiful. It was called a Gina Lollobrigida after the actress. It had the most wonderful smell and the flowers were huge. Alas, when you move, you can't dig your yard up and move it with you. LOL!

Since my normal view is of Henry, here is a picture of him after he had spaghetti for dinner Friday night. You can see he thoroughly enjoyed it!

That does it for me today. I hope everyone is happy and healthy! xxxx

May Quotation Challenge

Lynne has given us this challenge for our May quotation. It is from Mahatma Gandhi.

“ The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”

I used to do quite a bit of volunteer work in my younger years. I seem to have the energy then. Now, not so much. I think one of the most rewarding efforts for me was when I would volunteer to help out with the Special Olympics. Children with Down's Syndrome are such happy, loving kids. They try so hard to please and thrive with the encouragement, high fives and hugs they would receive during and after their sports event.  It did my heart good to see the smiles on their faces and the pride they displayed for their endeavors.

I have a soft spot for the elderly (I really miss my Mom) and where we live they are in the majority. We had a neighbor who lived two houses down and I would stop and spend time with her when I would take our dog for a walk. She loved talking and I know she was very lonely at times. She would watch for Thadd to be out working in the yard and come down to talk to him (with her walker). He would also do things for her such as changing her vacuum cleaner bag (she couldn't get the hang of it). She was so sweet and I was sad when her daughter put her in a nursing home where she passed away within a few weeks of being there. I don't think she was well but she hid it from me.

I had plans to do more volunteer work when I retired but so far I haven't gotten around to it. We live in area that does not offer many services. I wanted to do Meals on Wheels but when I checked in to it, there are no offices even close on this side of town. This area is more rural and to be truthful, there just isn't much out here. Like Lynne, I don't want to be put in a position where I am tied to a specific schedule or time frame. I am sure I will find something to do sooner or later where I can help others.

I do spend a lot of my time doing whatever I can for my family. My daughter especially has her hands full with two little ones. Sometimes just being there to listen to a family member or friends problem helps me to feel like I am helping out. 

Nostalgia Challenge - Party On!

The prompt for May..' Party Memories'.... tell us about some of your special party memories.. they can be a long way back to your first birthday party memories or as recent as a good party for New Year or a wedding in the past year.. all you have to do is share the memory, the laughter.. or even the tears!

childhood birthdays
weddings
graduations
college parties (!!)
milestone celebrations .. 21st / 40th / 50th birthdays or anniversaries
fancy dress and themed parties


Our challenge this week is about nostalgia and parties. I am going to put pictures of what brings back nostalgic memories for me whether it was at a party or just being with friends and family having a good time. Most birthdays do not mean much to me but vacations and family gatherings provide me with my 'party memories'. So here goes!

This collage is of my son Donald, daughter-in-law Christie, grandson Zach, my sister Sherry and her husband Bernd (and Thadd), and my daughter Stacey with the babies. Being with family means a lot to me. These were taken at family get togethers.

The first picture on the top left is of my niece Christina on the far right, her daughter, my great niece Kaleigh (in the middle) who is graduating from high school this weekend, and my other great niece, Gabby (far left). Then there is Zach at karate getting his yellow belt, my step-grandsons Erik and Reidar at soccer, and on the bottom right, my step-daughter Traci, her husband Justun and the two step-granddaughters, Morgan and Madi. They are big into sports.

This is a collage of Thadd with the grandsons. It does my heart good to see him be able to interact with them. Henry and Spencer are the first grandchildren to live locally to give us this chance. Henry loves his PaPaw!

These are pictures of some good times we have had. Thadd being silly at a St. Paddy's Day dinner, my retirement celebration, my 60th birthday cake my daughter made for me, and Thadd and I holding and feeding a baby tiger in Costa Maya Mexico.

These are pictures of friends that we have had celebrations or good times with. You might recognize Peter and Lynne! (Elizabeth and Guy top left, Don and Kim bottom left, and MaryLou whom I have been friends with since I was about 7 years old)

These are pictures from cruises we have taken that have created such wonderful memories for me. The one picture on the far right is my Mom who I still miss so much. Just looking at a picture of her makes me feel nostalgic for the times we spent together.

Lastly is a single photo of Henry giving his little brother Spencer a gentle kiss. This picture will always give me a sweet, warm feeling of love. We will have plenty of good times, memories and parties in the future to look forward to.

The View Challenge and Let's Reflect May - ENJOY

I am afraid I am way behind.  I have been tied up running back and forth to the hospital for our little seven week old grandson Spencer has spent the last 12 days there. He somehow developed a blood infection that required IV antibiotics. Problem was, he is so small they had trouble with keeping an IV in his little arm or foot.  They finally put one in the top of is head. It was shocking to see it and made me cry! But the good news is he is now better and is home. It was a stressful time for us all and adding to that was the fact that little Henry, his brother, couldn't understand what was going on. All he  knew was his mommy, daddy, and little brother weren't at home with him. Here is a picture of Spencer's IV. I hope it won't upset you too much to see it.

My regular view is of Henry. Here is a picture of him taken at his Nanny's sitting in a little chair on her upstairs patio. He is a regular little ham! He is 16 months old now.

Here are some pictures of my neighborhood. Spring is in full bloom here so there were lots of pretty things to show. Some are from my yard (Jasmine, Palm tree, and Magnolia flowers) while the others are in neighbors yards.

As far as the additional prompt for the kitchen window, my view has not changed. I guess I could get Thadd to stand in front of the window and I could take a picture of him. LOL!!

Now for Let's Reflect for the month of May - ENJOY

There are many things I enjoy. Most of them are simple things. Reading, spending time with family, watching TV and movies, cooking and eating, drives around the neighborhood in our golf cart, playing with my dog, traveling, and many more things. Sometimes I enjoy just sitting and doing nothing but reflecting on what is going on in my life.

So one can enjoy 'doing' things or enjoy 'having' things. I enjoy having a cup of tea or coffee in the morning while I read the newspaper. I enjoy having friends come over for a cookout or meeting somewhere for lunch. I enjoy seeing the flowers all bloom and the ducks hatching their babies. There is so much in life to enjoy.

And yes, we Americans do have a habit of saying 'take care' and 'enjoy' and we truly mean for those things to happen. LOL!! So take care everyone! xxxx

April Quotation and the Word BIRTHDAY

Since I have been gone for the past couple of weeks, I am playing catch up with the Lucky Snapping blog. I will put everything here in one instead of going back. For the April quotation Lynne has challenged us with the following:

Here is our quote…
 “ Make rest and refreshment a necessity, not a luxury”

I am hoping that this quote will get you snapping again!
Let’s show each other photos of ourselves, friends, family and even strangers resting and eating or photos of what we do or would like to do for rest and for refreshment!

Since I am retired I know I get a lot more rest and relaxation than I used to. In fact, some days I feel guilty that I haven't done more than I could (and probably should) have done. I am a night owl and have trouble going to sleep before the wee hours. Because of that, I sleep later in the mornings. I think this might be a bad habit but at this point, I am not sure I care. I have never been a morning person and doubt I ever will be. I had to get up early and go to work for so many years, that now that I don't have to, I am taking full advantage of it. I so enjoy reading, fooling around on my computer, watching TV and sometimes, just sitting and staring off into the distance at what is around me.

I have bad knees so I cannot walk too far without causing immense pain, so I walk and rest, walk and rest. I have to say I really miss being able to walk more. There are many places I would like to go but because I cannot walk very far, I stay home. Even a trip to the grocery store can be trying for me. I miss the days when I would go to the zoo or one of the theme parks and walk around all day long. Oh well, you learn to adapt which I guess I have done.

We just got back from two weeks in Belize. We rented a car and drove all over the country. We are considering moving there when Thadd retires and this was our 'reconnaissance' trip to check out the different areas of the country. Our favorite was Corozaol which is in northern Belize and close to the Mexican border. While we were there we had plenty of time to rest and refresh ourselves so our trip fits in well with this challenge. Here are some pictures of Corozal.

This is a picture of the beach access at the place we stayed called the Copa Banana.

This picture was taken in Placencia which is in southern Belize at a restaurant where we were getting ready to partake of some refreshment.

It was a wonderful trip and we both came back rested and refreshed!


And now for the word BIRTHDAY....

We don't make a big to-do about birthday's for the most part. Usually they are just family affairs without a lot of pomp and circumstance. I am going to put some pictures of my husband Thadd's, 60th birthday because I did throw him a party. I have already posted a picture of his cake once before but I will put a few other pictures here for you to see.

Here is a picture from my daughter Stacey's birthday. She and her half sister Chelsea have the same birth date but eleven years apart. The picture on the cake is of Stacey holding Chelsea.

Here are a couple of pictures of my grandson Zachary's first birthday. He will be seven years old on the 23rd of this month. My, how time flies.

And then there is Henry who wasn't too crazy about celebrating his first birthday but here are some pictures.

But he loved his riding car that he received as a gift from him mommy and daddy!

 I guess this does it for me. I don't have any pictures of me at birthday celebrations for myself mainly because I do not like to have my picture taken. I am just not a photogenic person and most of the shots come out horrible. For my two major birthdays (50th and 60th) we took cruises to celebrate. Sorry this is so long but you know how it is playing catch up. I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts and looking at your pictures. Take care. xxxx

Just a quick update

I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to post this week. For those who are interested, I did talk to my doctor about my issues with my high blood sugars and we have tweaked my pump. So far things have been a little better and hopefully will continue to even out.

This will have to be a quick post. If I can find the song I am thinking about, it always brings back memories of my senior year in high school and that summer when we finished up and spent a week at the beach celebrating. It was with my two best friends and one's older sister as a chaperon. I don't know why I like this song or group so well, but hey, I was 17! It was done by the Lovin' Spoonful. To this day, when I hear it on the radio, I travel back in time.

We are leaving tomorrow morning for a two week trip to Belize. I will not be able to post as we are not taking a laptop or even my cell phone! Costs too much for roaming charges, so I will have to do without. I can feel withdrawal symptoms already! I will catch up when we get back.

Take care everyone. xxxx

Vulnerable

I know I have already posted on the subject of vulnerable earlier this week, but a problem I have been experiencing brought the word into immediate focus for me today. I have been having problems all week with my blood sugar levels running high.  I am an insulin dependent diabetic. I use an insulin pump (5 years now) so my body gets what it needs to keep my blood sugar in check. This week, I have been all over the place with my readings and I don't know why. I can say, this makes me feel very VULNERABLE. I have tried different solutions and have not been able to come up with a fix. Uncontrolled blood sugars can do significant damage to your body if left for any length of time. While mine are not bad enough to make me go running to the nearest hospital ER, I am bothered by it greatly.

Today I am pushing drinking water and trying to stay away from carbohydrates as much as possible. Just about everything you eat (except for pure protein) has some form of carbs. I have been very good so far today but my blood sugars are still running high. If I can't get things back to normal by Monday, I will call my endocrinologist and ask about tweaking the settings on my pump. Illnesses can cause your blood sugar levels to go up as well. I have had sinus headaches all week, so maybe I need to see my family doctor on Monday.

Here is a picture of my insulin pump (for those of you who have never seen one LOL). It's pink!

Everyone have a good weekend. xxx