Life Is a ...

As our family navigates living with pancreatic cancer, we find exceptional days of jubilee, and inevitable days when our situation is the pits.

We're all in this together. I'm contemplating the effects on me. I'm feeling older, but wiser, and gradually more capable.

Life is something, isn't it?

Mimi-Abby Time

Jodie and Kenny received some much needed rest and recouperation while I had a couple hours with Abby at their neighborhood park. This little two year old is such a joy!

On our walk to the park, she named the colors of each flower we walked by.

She took quite a bit of time following a bee who was flying from dandelion to dandelion. She'd bend w-a-y over and remind herself, "Don't touch!" even though she kept reaching out.

Take off! 

She liked blowing the seeds of the ripened dandelions, too.

We played on slides and the rock wall and the ladder and the twirling pole and the bouncing bug. We counted holes in the play structure's platform. We went from tree to tree, finding big sticks. She paraded around with the stick that was even taller than she is.

But her favorite thing to do at the park is to play in the sandbox. I helped her form a forest of sticks ... which she counted as she pulled them out and tossed them.

Dale and I are incredibly blessed to live near this little sparkle girl. The sun and the outdoor play were good for both of us. Mommy said Abby was well worn out and took a good nap that afternoon.

Micro Organizing

One of my favorite ways to spend time when life's been unsteady is to over-organize my belongings. This Threads and Bobbins Project has been on my radar for years. 

I've got around 50 spools of thread, each with their matching bobbin. My previous organizing system involved spool toppers that held the bobbin to the top of its matching spool of thread. The problem with the system is that because the spools are not of even height, the lids to my thread boxes wouldn't close. The stack was quite tipsy.

So I got myself some bobbin cases to hold the threads and bobbins separately. But how to match each thread to its corresponding bobbin? I decided to number them. My first attempt, using paper reinforcers, nearly worked. But not quite. 

So today I used a black ultra-fine tip Sharpie to mark the front and back of each bobbin, and the top of each thread.

Voila!

Completing this organizational task makes my heart go pitter-patter. 

When there's chaos in our world, in our household, and in my brain, having a small corner of order and calm delights me.

Better Days

I walked around the ponds of Golden Gardens Park carrying my Big Girl Camera with the telephoto lens attached. Alas, it was the wrong time of day to catch the blue herons sunning themselves on the logs. Birdsong was all around me, but the birds were too small and too fast for my camera to capture. (I'm so out of practice!)

But this red dragonfly alighted on a bush not too far from the path and let me take several photos.

It wasn't until I was editing the photos that I saw that he's seen better days. The rear left wing and the front right wing are quite tattered, poor thing.

Yet his color remains spectacular!

The Last Sunflower

in my backyard

Its neighborhood

Its brilliance

Its geometry

Its texture

Pollinators

Our sunflowers have begun to welcome bees into our yard!

Say a Little Prayer

Today is the first time I've ever seen a praying mantis "in the wild."
This one was resting on top of the mums by our front porch.

Fascinating creature!

I hope it sticks around ... 

and brings some friends.

The Pinks of Summer

These flowers are a large as dinner plates!

Other Than Sunflowers ...

These beauties are gracing our yard in August.

The strawberry plants have sent out runners. I thought the fruit was done for the season. But the leaves are lush, and a few more flowers are blooming. Today I even found four more ripe berries!

These pansies are technically volunteers (weeds!) that are creeping through the bark on the ground in the front yard. But I like them, so have been fertilizing them and encouraging them to grow.

The mum plant I bought last September decided to stick around all year. The plant has doubled in size. This is the first little bud to open.

The morning glories are doing well. Nearly the entire back fence is covered in the vines. The flowers are starting to emerge - in three colorways:

Alongside the driveway, our neighbor's large hibiscus bush is in full bloom. So pretty. Reminds me of where I grew up in southern California.

This is a drop in the bucket of the colorful vegetation in Eugene at this time of year. Wait until you see the flowers I spotted on my walk. Gorgeous.

Knock Knock

 Whose's there?

Artie

Artie who?

Artichokes when he eats too fast

I've been watching this artichoke plant growing all Spring. I walk by it on my usual route through the neighborhood. It was fascinating to watch the sturdy stems get bigger and bigger as the "flower" swelled in proportion. This particular plant had four artichokes. A few days ago, they started going to seed. Then they got their vibrant dandy spikey top hats.

The Perfect Strawberry

Look at this pretty gem

This year our five strawberry barrels grew full and lush and green. They flowered and the pollinators helped them out. The "strawberry rocks" kept most of the bugs away.

We got around 3 dozen little berries this year. They tasted terrific on top of vanilla bean ice cream. This was one of the last I picked. 

We probably won't get many more berries this summer since the plants have sent out their runners. But, oh! We savored the few we grew!

Luscious

I took a longer route through the neighborhood on my cloudy morning walk and received this lovely surprise.

When I got in close, the roses smelled divine. 

First of Its Kind

 I planted morning glories from seed this Spring. The first bloom has arrived.

Our hope is to have the entire back fence covered in these blooms.

#manysmalldreams

Ruff Park Magnolias - 10

Centerpiece

Purple Pleasure

Ah, Wisteria!

I love how it tumbles over the fences in our neighborhood

Close

Closer

Closest

Mmmmmmmmmmm