Today Stop and Remember

Today is Memorial Day, a day to remember the men and women, past and present, who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so much for all of us. I am guest posting over at Words of Wisdom. Please stop by and help me honor them.

The World Turned Upside Down

It's been nearly two weeks since I last wrote a post so you might think I have a lot to say. Yet here I sit struggling to think of something with great content to write about.

Great content? In case you don't know, that's my shameless plug for the new blog that Pam and I began recently. Please take a few minutes and visit Words of Wisdom to see what it's all about. Let me say right away that this post is not going to fall into the great content category but maybe it will help me figure out why it's been so long since my last post.

Let's see. I'm happy to report that real estate has been very busy these last few weeks. Several new clients and a couple closings have taken up a lot of time. Recently I was invited to a very special lunch with the President and CFO of our agency to honor the Top Producers of 2009. I was really pleased to be one of the 18 agents to receive that distinction.

I also attended a Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast at Fidelity Investments locally to thank the many, many people who donate their time, energy and money to Adopt-a-Family each year. The people at Fidelity are responsible for providing for 10% of the children we help annually. Our program is just one of many they are involved with, and it was terrific to hear about all the great work they do.

I saw a great production of The Odd Couple at Trinity Rep a couple weeks ago. Based, of course, on the television sitcom of the 70's, the play was set in a 1960's television studio complete with bright lights and live commercials between acts. With two of the favorites of the company cast as Felix and Oscar, the show was full of great laughs.

And last but not least, another reason I have been absent is my new laptop! I have been spending lots of time transferring files and learning the new programs and operating system. This is my first laptop and it is taking some getting used to but I know I'm going to love the portability of it. We are hoping to get away for a few days soon, and it's going to be great to have a computer with us. The desktop will now be Paul's. Yahoo! No more sharing.

So that's about it. In addition to neglecting my own blog I'm afraid I've been neglecting lots of others and have not visited much lately. I'm almost afraid to open my Reader. I'm expecting to see over 1,000 unread posts. As much as I hate to, I just might have to hit that dreaded delete all button. And I was doing so well keeping up with all of you! Oh well, tomorrow is another day. It's great to be back.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I was out taking some pictures this week. This one of Rosey in a patch of bugleweed is my favorite of the day.

Have a great weekend all.

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

It's well before 6 a.m. and here I am. Up. The dogs aren't even awake. The only sounds I hear are the birds, which is nice, and the noise of my keyboard. I'd like to say the milkman woke me but he didn't. I was awake before he came this morning. (Yes, we have a milkman. He even delivers our milk in glass bottles. I know. How very 1950's.)

What I wouldn't give to be able to waste a few hours away in the morning sleeping late. I saw a newspaper article about organizing your life starting with the morning. It went something like this: When your alarm clock goes off, do you hit the snooze button and sleep another 10 minutes? When it goes off again, do you hit it again for another 10 minutes? Do you hit it again 10 minutes later? When it goes off again do you jump up in a panic realizing you only have 20 minutes to get out the door?

Oh I wish. I would love to sleep late, to laze in bed until 10 or 11. But I can't. I haven't set an alarm clock in at least 15 years. That is unless I have an early morning plane to catch and then I set two and wake hourly because I'm sure I have set them wrong, overslept and missed the plane. On those nights I probably shouldn't even go to bed.

Otherwise, I never set an alarm clock. No matter what time I go to bed or in what condition, I wake up at 5 o'clock. It's a curse. As soon as I become conscious, my mind starts to go. As hard as I try to distract myself, to clear my mind, I can't go back to sleep. Most mornings I give up after 30 minutes and get up.

The only good thing is that during that first half hour when I'm still in bed, I think I write my best stuff and come up with most of the topics for blog posts. Or at least that's when my creative juices seem to flow more easily. But oh how I would love to go back to sleep and wake to find it's 9 o'clock. Never happens. I suppose now it's because I'm old or going through menopause but that wasn't so 15 years ago.

Paul laughs at me because if I lay down on the couch in the evening to watch television, I fall asleep. It doesn't matter if it's the most fascinating program I have ever seen; turn on the TV and Sandy is asleep. But I've been up since 5 a.m., I'm tired! Fortunately I seldom have trouble falling asleep, just staying that way.

Last night was particularly short because I was up until nearly midnight. Four-thirty this morning I was looking at the clock, thinking Oh gawd, not already!

This afternoon I have a company lunch to go to. I received an invitation to a Top Producer Luncheon with the president and CFO. I think I better find some cucumber slices to put on these eyes so I don't look like something the cat dragged in. Falling asleep in my salad wouldn't look right either. Or maybe I could just go back to bed and try to sleep. Nah, where's that cucumber?

Highbush Cranberry--May

It appears that I have come full circle with this project of posting photos of our Highbush Cranberry. I have been faithful to my commitment made last June to post monthly photos of this beautiful shrub in our yard and many of you have been faithful in checking in and commenting.

The change from April until today is really amazing. We have had a wet spring so maybe that has had an effect but as I've said all along, even though I love this bush, I have never paid quite this much attention to its changes.

Some of the berries from last year are still hanging on although they are looking pretty sad and getting ready to make their exit, I'm sure.


There are berries hanging in there right along side the new growth of what will become this year's fruit.

Last but not least are these blossoms getting ready to pop and become the beautiful white flowers this shrub produces in June.


If you've been following along monthly, Thanks! If you haven't, take a look at each of these posts to watch the progress.

June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, and April.