Stuff!!!

My pony Subaru filled with the remainder of my downsized belongings, my cat Toby, and nine more boxes that came on Greyhound buses were the total of my belongings nearly six years ago when we traveled eastward to Pennsylvania. Now look...

Panorama this morning of my Stuff in Marge's living room which has become the staging area for the move to Dock this coming week. This evening, there is more.

Have I been saying "upsizing"??? Well, this is what happens when you upsize. Pat lugged boxes and bags, trotted up and down these three floors right along with me...

My iPhone.

...and Marge got in on the endeavor, too. And we're three "old ladies". Ha! There is plenty left in these seventy-somethings. It ain't over till it's over, Y'all. All three of us will pack our ponies up and Wendy, John, Aidan, and Keoni will jump in, too, with Wendy's Cadillac of trucks.

It is interesting that those six years ago Wendy's neighbor and our good friend Lydie, who helped me get my stuff packed and loaded in Tucson, just yesterday had a window of time in Maryland during a trip she's on so that she and Wendy could meet for a quick visit...

Hi, Lydie and Wendy.
What a treat to see this that Wendy sent me.

Wendy and John last weekend roasted lamb for throngs of people. It's a good thing the big yard next to the driveway was dried out enough from the rains so the 15 cars parked there didn't get stuck in the mud.

Game time.

Carving time.

And, there was another graduation. This time in Missouri...

Jackie, Della, Harper, Chad.
Congratulations, Harper! Well done.

Flowers are everywhere. Several days have been sunny, or mostly so. Aidan and I got another walk in and this time I didn't get chewed up by oak mites because I sprayed myself with repellent. It is deer tick season, too, and we know deer come along the path around the farm to get to the pond water. We find places they slept or laid low while chewing their cud. We approach the pond with a light tread and are rewarded with a couple of bullfrog croaks. So, it's not just the little high-pitched frogs we've been seeing up until now!

Aidan talks about school and describes the duresses of the Fitness classes he's taking this semester--we're talking extreme fitness. My 62 flights of stairs would be a warmup for him. He muses about the possibilities of his coming summer break. He is good company and his ways are gentlemanly.

Right after helping me move Keoni will be flying away again. I'll miss him but look forward to his return when he'll do another concert at the church that he and buddies are cooking up for the end of June. Aidan will be away in Michigan by then.

In Utah, great-grandson Dimetrios is improving a lot now, coughing and breathing better as he recovers from pneumonia. He's still in ICU and likely will have his 15th birthday there tomorrow, too. Get well, Dimetrios! We all love you.

Happy Update: Just got word Dimetrios went home today with oxygen, but Home! Yay! Hope your birthday is very, very special, Great-Grandson!

It's always a pleasure seeing the outdoors changing with the different times of the year.

Pat saw this fabric and thought of Toby; then, she made a hot pad for my table.

Toby and Frezz this morning when I stopped by the farm for some more empty boxes and bags.

May 15, 2019: Sunshine just got in my eyes and I had to shift position a little to see this screen. It's early here and the sun just rose over next door's, mammoth-sized camper trailer. The sunlight is so welcome that I leave my shoulder in it. We are on the part of this continent that is receiving rain in uncharted amounts. It is May and the night took us down into the 30s. I have only been here five years and 10 months. The trend is away from the first two years' experience. And, it's enough time to appreciate that the current precipitations are rain and not snow.

That was Wednesday morning, and it happened again on Thursday morning! and this morning! Now, it is Friday evening and the rain is back.

In between the rains last week, Marge and Pat chose plants from their favorite nursery to populate the front fence planters.

They had them all planted, lickety split.

On Saturday and Sunday, Wendy and John drove to Georgia to attend Keoni's graduation from McDuffie Center for Strings, Mercer U, Macon, GA....

This was run during the graduation...



And, Keoni and Atticus played during the ceremonies...

Graduated! Congratulations!
Happiness rules!

And, here are the happy parents...

...enjoying that Georgia weather and a job well done.
Thanks, for the photo, y'all. It's a keeper.

Meanwhile, Aidan took care of the animals at the farm. I came over a couple of times to let the dogs out for a spin while he was at school. He basically did it all in the rain and slop, early and late, including inviting me over and making me a Mother's Day breakfast on Sunday which was delightful.

Thank you, Aidan! I loved it.

Keoni had sent this from school...



Jeanenne shared some of her Mother's Day...

Jon, Jackie, Jeanenne, and David.

The mothers.
Krista (David's wife), Jeanenne, Jackie, and Sarah (David's wife).

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We learned on Monday that Great Grandson Dimetrios was in the Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. He had been in ICU with pneumonia all weekend. He is gradually improving during the week but will remain in ICU until he no longer needs the bi-pap machine to help him breathe. He is awake more today, able to cough, we learned. All are sending their love and supplications from what lies deep in their hearts for his continued healing.

Tim, Dimetrios' grandfather, at the same time was closely following the heart surgery his niece unexpectedly needed. She is healing also and now able to be home with OT and PT in her immediate future.

*

From the Upsizing Desk: A trip last week over to Dock with Pat and Marge, and in a resale shop there I found this for my upsizing...

A lovely, all-wood, tongue-and-groove chest of drawers. $80, and they're holding it there for me until I move in on the 28th.

I have new sheets, mattress cover, and a blanket to put on the brand new bed and pedestal drawer bed frame that are scheduled for delivery and set up on the 29th.

We're gonna do this thing.

Despite having a great deal of my belongings packed already, it is still a daunting exercise in planning A, and B, maybe C, in patience, and in just plain old grunt work. My mind gets on overload easily and a walk or expenditure of elbow grease on something is an antidote to a tendency to mind-freeze when the brain spins too much. Easy Does It, woman! you're not a spring chicken.

Sister Susie in Missouri was enjoying a sunset at her new home and sent this...

And another walk at the farm as Aidan took a break from his essay assignment. So very nice to have Keoni home to enjoy it with us, too.

*

So much takes place to celebrate, to cherish and love; yet all the while great needs occur, great tragedies unfold, and profound sadnesses happen; all this mysteriously renders the beautiful moments in our lives all the more poignantly wonderful while they are happening, that we are there to see, to live a part of it.

Toby and I had that conversation I mentioned earlier...

"So, what's over there at that apartment you're moving to on the 28th?" he asked.

"Oh, a lot of people around my age." As an enticement, I added "Some of the people have a pet."

"Any dogs?"

"Well, I don't know yet. There must be some because they have a designated exercise area, leash rules and other rules about where they can't walk, and immunizations, and such."

"You, mean dogs can't just run around like Frezz and Fancy and Sebastian?"

"Not according to the rules."

He thought about it for awhile. "I hope there aren't any cats. I hate cats."

"Hmm. There might be some, but we'll be in our own apartment."

"How big is it?"

"Five hundred seventy-two square feet, if I've calculated the floor plan correctly."

He stopped pacing around my ankles, "That's a hundred square feet smaller than the condo in Tucson!"

"Well, that is true, but we'd be together. And, no more little twin-size bed. I just ordered a queen so I don't roll over on you during the night." He circled my ankles again, this time leaning into it. My chest felt a big throb.

"Are there any mice or rats?"

"I seriously doubt it, the way the Mennonites take care of the place."

"How about cockroaches? They're pretty tasty in a pinch."

"No guarantees."

Just then, Frezz barged onto the porch to take up his Alpha position. Toby stuck out his tongue making a noise somewhat like disgorging a hairball, then said, "I have my own dogs here, my barn, my porch, my woods, my fence rows; and, besides, Frezz and I match."

I could see what a fickle dream it had been that Toby would want to move in with me when he started winding around Frezz, leaning into him with purring affection.

Then, he went back out to the barn to check on his domain.

You win, Frezz!

*

From the Music Desk: A trip to New York!

That's Wendy driving and John navigating.

Keoni got us four tickets.

A fund raiser New York Style.

Eight of them from McDuffy Center for Strings are going to Rome this summer.

It was a packed venue with handy libations, foods, desserts and they didn't forget the cannoli.

We had some of the best seats in the house. That's Aidan's profile on the right.

And Aidan captured on my phone the last six minutes of the Mendelssohn performance...

There was a post-performance soiree...

Besides a thoroughly fine evening, a very large bonus for me was during the soiree when Wendy tugged my sleeve to pull me through the crowd to Robert McDuffie who was calling out he wanted to meet Grandma Judy! I enjoyed a big bear hug from Maestro.

I was astonished and touched that Keoni had painted his Grandma Groupie in such favorable light. Thank you, dear Grandson. And thank you, Robert McDuffie.

Keoni and several of them are planning a multi-city European tour on youth's shoestring after Rome. I'll watch for updates later on.

Aidan is taking his cello to Michigan for a summer music institute. Updates, too, as I learn more.

*

From the Celebrations Desk: Great Grandson Elijah celebrated a fourteenth birthday over in Utah. My sister Sandy sent a screenshot from FaceBook...

Happy Birthday! Elijah.

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Springtime's blossoms dress up the grey days and often now we have some warm sunny times. Walks at the farm brighten up my outdoor longings. Aidan and I make sure we have a look at the little nearby pond. We wanted to try to see the frogs that hatched. We hear them splash into the water but can barely see them they are so quick. Suddenly yesterday, Aidan thought of a slow-motion video...



...and, presto! there are the frogs. He shared it with me.

*

From the Upsizing Desk:

Two little end tables that Marge no longer uses...sanded...

...primed...

...painted...

...drying in front of my new couch...my future coffee table. Thank you, Marge!

The new bed will be delivered to the new apartment on the 29th. And, I added a couple more essentials to my upsizing...

Found at Tuesday Morning. Un-pictured is a set of queen-size sheets.

Ah, well. It's only money.

*

Time is galloping now. I'm trying to hold a soft rein and enjoy the forward motion. Details abound and I can't get my head around them. I write essential minutiae down, then think it would be better to put it on my phone but my hands are wet, or messy, or I'm too slow, so now I carry 3 x 5 cards and a pen and try to assemble the results in the evening and see what's what. I believe there is progress, but I might be mistaken.

Wendy's Clafoutis on Easter Sunday tasted as good as it looked...

Around the neighborhood...

A volunteer by someone's mailbox, thriving in a curbside weed-patch.

At the farm.

Neighbors by the farm.

Marge's tree.

So, spring is a balm. The multitudinous neighborhood children play in the streets lacking a serious amount of common space to launch their energies but they don't care as they abandon themselves to the business of play and growing up.

The basketball players left this one day. A bit of a mixed message, but they are thinking about our home.

Our world and the good that somehow keeps emerging and thriving on it make me glad I'm a part, too. It may all be a but blip in the scheme of the Universe but we are here now and I love that.