I just saw the biggest woodpecker I've ever seen in my life! There are numerous woodpeckers of various kinds in Central Florida, but most of them are about the size of a robin or similar bird. I was out on the screened porch, talking on the cordless phone, and this bird landed on one of the trees and my mouth dropped open. The dude has bright red plummage with a mottled black body and must measure at least 18 inches from bill to the end of his tail. Holy cow! The people up north must be laying out huge amounts of wild bird feed or something.

I spotted one cardinal fledgling this morning. Have been seeing a pair for the past three or four weeks - annual visitors for the past few years. Well, I really haven't the faintest idea if it's the same pair. This year the male has been extremely flamboyant and active.

I’ve debated since this afternoon about the addressees for an email I want to write, and have finally decided to make this a blog entry, instead. I will be asking Micah, Mandy, and Daisy to read it, but I’d like my sisters to read it, too – and Sheri, because it might be particularly relevant to her at some point. Then I realized Tiff might find some value in it because of her brother. And Beth has expressed wanting to learn about health in the family, to help protect her children.

The serendipity continues!

December 28, 2007

Luanne and Jenni seemed somewhat taken aback when I said in Chat on Sunday night that Allen and I would be cooking two turkeys for Thanksgiving. This is at least the third year that we've done so. Here's why. Turkeys have sold for 59 cents a pound for the last three years. We put the first one in the electric roaster about 11:00 on Wednesday night at 300 degrees. Allen got up about 5:00 Thursday morning; a thermometer showed that the meat needed to cook a little while longer and get about 10 degrees hotter.

I can't believe I actually got it all done! I'm ready for the two bedrooms and two bathrooms to be painted tomorrow! Boy, do I feel virtuous.

This is an extension of my "home improvement" efforts this year. The bathrooms still had the wallpaper that was on them when I moved in 8-1/2 years ago (!) (and how I hated that gray guest bathroom) and I really don't think I had the bedrooms done then, either - both had been painted by the former owner after the renters moved out.

Sometimes I can't believe how much these Scrabble games mean to me. They truly are a haven from the every-day business of doing all the things that need to be done in life. - Another stroke of luck of living in this day and age. And I've begun to realize more than ever why Mom and her sisters looked forward so to receiving the Round Robin letters. I imagine they felt the same about those being a haven during the time they sat down and luxuriated in all the news of family. Wow.

April 19, 2007

“My” cardinals are back this year, as they have been for a long time now, to mate. Sitting on my screened porch just now, I watched their fledglings testing their wings. Small moments such as this remind me of the part of Harrold’s farewell letter to his daughters, where he tells us (paraphrased here) to remember that no matter the ills of the world, i.e. Earth or our personal lives, the sun will still come up tomorrow; there’s so much more out there than our own micro-lives. I’m grateful to be exposed to that in instances of surprise like the one I just witnessed. I’m at peace this morning – well, except, maybe, when I realize I have to learn how to use the digital camera I bought yesterday! But that’ll take care of itself, too.

On Friday afternoon, we went to see Cars. This excellent movie gets its own entry as I've now added the Movie Review module to the web site. After the movie, and a trip to the grocery store, we went home for some outside play time, including our first round of wild rasberry picking for the season. We ended up the evening with an encore viewing of High School Musical on DVD. So this morning brings a short entr