It has been so long since I have posted, I feel I am a tiny speck on a distant planet calling out to all my long lost blogging friends.
So much has happened since I last checked in.
Eldest daughter has remarried and moved to the country with the granddaughters. They are having so much fun raising chickens, of which I am the proud recipient of dozens of fresh eggs.
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| Hubby has lost his job. Although we have had some sleepless nights fraught with hard decisions to be made, we have been very blessed. He has been at his new job for one week now. |
We had thought we would have to sell our home and make some major lifestyle changes, but his time of being unemployed was short. It has been good to take a hard look at our expenditures and cut unnecessary spending and fine-tune our budget. It is amazing how careless we can become with our finances when we are lulled into a sense of security and ease.
I have to interrupt myself here to talk about my Lady Banks rose. These pictures were taken just a few days after a huge storm had dumped over 3 inches of rain and pelted everything with hail. Although the blossoms are a bit beaten-up, I wanted to show you the symbiotic relationship between Lady Banks and the Redbud tree it has intertwined. The tree has thrived more than the other two Redbuds I have, and it taller and fuller than they are. It looks less bedraggled at Summer's end, and is always the first to bud out in Spring.
We have had several good rains, and although they have not lifted the water restriction caused by the severe drought, I have heard some cautiously optimistic predictions that the drought may ease this year. Fingers crossed! I am hopeful that we will not have the high temperatures of the last two summers again this year.
I am threatening to move to Alaska if we do! How nice it would be to live in the cool north during the summer and live the rest of the year in Austin.
I don't think I could leave this area for good. Just the thought of having to relocate during Hubby's job search was giving me panic attacks! The thought of leaving the grandbabies was more than I could bear.
Libby would die if she knew I was calling her a "grandbaby"! She turned 15 in February, and has shot up several inches taller than me this year, gotten her braces off, and turned into a beauty (she said with grandmotherly pride).
Charley has gotten glasses, and entered middle school. Loudon is busy with soccer and bug collecting, while Gibby is busy exploring everything he can touch.
Bocephus is still my gardening buddy and bird watcher--well, he does like to chase the starlings and squirrels. Go Bo, go!
While Tucker and Kiefer guard me while I am "computing". They give each other baths and doze or watch the birds and squirrels while I am working.
I hope that you all are well, and I look forward to catching up on all that has happened in your lives while I have been away in my self-imposed exile!
