Making Room to Bloom
Growth in One Place Means a Decline in Another One. Unless You Stay Up All Night.
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Spring is finally in the air, and I couldn’t be happier!
It feels like winter was extra long this year, but that’s probably because I was sick twice and spent the holidays at home. Some years, I travel to see family in Florida for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and that helps break up the monotony of overcast days and frigid temperatures here in the northeastern US.
The cold season brings a range of illnesses and forces us indoors, where we can easily spread them to others. This is a problem for everyone, especially those with compromised immune systems.
Mine used to be so hardy, but not anymore. Another unpleasant aspect of CLL is that the symptoms themselves can be more severe. I’ve had plenty of sore throats in my 64 years, but the latest one felt like I swallowed shards of glass.
Next cold and flu season, I plan to be quite discerning about where I go outside my home. Wearing a mask is fine except for eating out. I’ll get takeout from my favorite restaurants, but I won’t dare risk it by dining in.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. ~Benjamin Franklin
Frequent handwashing and disinfection of shared tactile surfaces are additional ways to eliminate all those nasty viruses and contagions.
I must also be diligent about NOT babysitting if the kiddos have runny noses and coughs.
I feel like such a germaphobe!
But, I’d rather be overly cautious than overly sick, that’s for damn sure…
I’m turning my attention to the upcoming summer season and have a couple of projects that I want to get started on right away:
Project # 1:
The pollinator garden that I’ve been wishing for these past few years.
This corner of my backyard was a patchwork of grass and dirt, so I thought it would be a great spot for a bunch of flowers! I’m having some landscaping done at the front of the house, and I figured I’d let the workers do the heavy lifting by preparing the ground: removing grass, covering the soil with plastic sheeting to deter weeds, and applying mulch.
I’ve drawn a layout and must get the plants in soon. There’s a lot of rain in the forecast, so I’m unsure when it will happen. The perennials will arrive at the garden store on Monday, so hopefully I’ll get them in sometime next week.
In the background, the shepherd’s hook holds a hanging basket on the left and a hummingbird feeder on the right. Hummingbirds are drawn to the color red, so I hope they’ll spot the petunias and feeder and become regular visitors.
I purchased a solar-powered bird bath pump to entice the birds even further. Apparently, they’re attracted to moving water.
Last year, my kids got me a bird feeder with a camera, and I’m anxious to get that up and working. I’ve seen videos of these, and they’re pretty entertaining!
I’ll keep you posted with pictures as this project takes shape.
Project #2:
Organizing a large collection of family photos.
The first step is to organize them by date, which I started a few years ago.
Many could also be discarded. On a long-ago trip to SeaWorld, someone snapped eight pictures of dolphins jumping through rings and performing other tricks. While watching it in real-time was entertaining, looking at the still shots was not.
I suppose the digital format is best since it can be shared with everyone and saves space. Several years ago, I had our home movies digitized by Legacy Box, and they did a great job. However, between the photos my dad took of our family growing up and the ones I took of my kids, there are far too many!
I’ve recently started searching online for photo-saving, organization, and storage options.
If you have any feedback or suggestions, please share them in the Comments. I’m open to any ideas!
Project #3:
Complete a written collection of memories printed in a book for sharing with family.
My children purchased a Storyworth Memoirs subscription for me, which offers a service to record your memories and then publish them in book form to give to family members.
This one is important, and I want to devote most of my “writing time” to it. I hope to create something my family will enjoy looking at for years. I want to tell the heartfelt and funny stories that describe my life before they knew me.
It’s hard to imagine your parents as babies and small children, not to mention teenagers. I’d like them to know more about the girl who grew up to become their mom and what her life was like.
Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten more than I remember. I plan to start going through the photos, and (hopefully) that will "jumpstart” my long-term memory into action. Perhaps some old recollections will inspire entertaining anecdotes for the book.
I want to create a collection of memories illustrating who and what was meaningful to me growing up.
This will undoubtedly take time. Therefore, I’m changing my publication schedule from weekly to twice a month. It may be photos of my garden, a report on the memoir project, or an article on something relevant that week or month.
Aside from these plans, I’ll also be doing activism to stop the assault on our democracy here in the States.
It will be a busy summer, and I’ll follow your adventures along the way. Stay safe and healthy, and make every minute count!
YOUR THOUGHTS?
Please share any fun ideas for photo sharing and storage. Also, do you have any travel plans or projects for this summer?
Thanks for being here; see you next time!
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Your garden looks lovely. Hope the planting goes well. 🥰🫶🏻
Great read. I enjoyed it.