Surviving Life

My dear friends and readers it has been a very long time since I've posted.  I wanted to update you as to what has been happening.

On September 4th my 90 year old mother fell and I had to take her to Urgent Care to be checked out.  The leg she had a knee replacement on was badly swollen and bruised.  At that time they x-rayed the leg and said nothing was broken.  They drained some fluid off it and sent her home.

A couple of days later I took her to see her regular doctor.  He said the swelling should go down and she should be up and walking in a couple of weeks.

We got Home Health to come out and start Physical Therapy on her but after several weeks she still wasn't getting any better.  The swelling had gone down but she wasn't able to stand on that leg. - In the meantime she had to be treated for another problem and eventually I ended up having to take her to the ER on the 7th of October.

It was there they discovered that she had apparently broken her hip and she ended up having surgery on the 8th.  She was in the hospital for 4 days and was then transferred to a Rehab center.

My life has been mainly taken up with hospital and now rehab visits.  I just wanted you all to know that I'm still alive, cooping as best as possible and missing all of you.

I'll be back blogging someday.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Life goes on.

1st Day of School 2019

It's that time of year again...time for 1st Day of School photos.

Coleen started High School today (Freshman year).

This is the outfit she chose for the first day of school.

Showing what grade she is in now (and a decent smile!)

Side by Side comparison from 8th Grade to 9th Grade

They sure grow up fast.

Willy Nilly Friday Five - July 19, 2019

Happy Friday!

Joining Tom (The Backroads Traveller) for:
WILLY NILLY FRIDAY FIVE

Playing "catch-up" on what's been happening the last 2 months.

1.  Coleen graduated from the 8th Grade in June.  It's hard to believe she will be starting High School in the Fall.  Here is a picture of her before we went to her graduation ceremony.

2.  She was a busy girl as she participated in a week long music camp and performed a number on the drums and sang.  There were 3 other girls who sang in her group number.

3.  During one of my photo outings I caught this shot of a Robin on the Sculpture at the Airport.

4.  On a drive with my mom up to Bennington Lake I thought this field and it's tracks made for an interesting photograph.

5.  Spotted this Pheasant out in a field on yet another drive with my mom.

6.  Getting the "Raspberry" from a deer we spotted on another drive.

7.  The 4th of July was nice.  We didn't go anywhere but made a great dinner that we ate at home and then went to watch the Fireworks.  Coleen loves to do Face Painting and Body art so she did herself up to celebrate the holiday.

8.  My photo that I took for 52 Frames (Edited by someone else) This was my edit:

and this was the edit that my partner did:

9.  I've been working a lot in the flower beds, weeding, watering etc...
This is a Rudbekia plant that I bought this year.  I think it's gorgeous.

That's it for me today.  Hope you all have enjoyed the photos and have a super great weekend.



Kitty Mania

One of my favorite things in the world are CATS incase you weren't aware of that.

Every Monday there is a post that I enjoy from the Plain Chicken blog called,  Meow Monday where she showcases their cats.  Please check it out.

Anyway I thought it would be fun to do something similar with our cats but since we have so many I'm doing them this week in Collage Form.

We have 9 cats that live at our house and one cat that lives next door at my mom's house that we rescued several years ago so he's going in the post too.

Please click to enlarge photos.  They are all in order from the oldest to the youngest.

From left to right...Miss Dottie (our 19 year old cat),  Harley J our oldest male and Captain Cuddles

Several of the cats were sleepy and would wake up for shots with their eyes open.

Next up is Piglet (that's my mom's cat) and then Spooky-Boo and finally Bandit.

Lastly:

Top Row:  Pepper,  Caramel Honeybun,
Bottow Row:  Speedy G and Gidget.

For those of you wondering, I'm still alive it's just been a busy & stressful summer and I haven't had much time for posting.

Willy Nilly Friday Five - June 7, 2019

Hey I'm posting again!  Wow 2 weeks in a row.  -  It's been a fairly easy week without to much stress for which I'm very thankful.

So let's join Tom (The Backroads Traveller) for:
WILLY NILLY FRIDAY FIVE

I'm behind on sharing some of the photo's I've taken this year so I'll sharing a few of them today.

1.  One night while waiting for the "Blue Hour" to arrive I captured this wonderful rainbow shot.

followed by this sunset shot.

2.  While out for a walk around the block one day I spotted this little fellow in someone's yard and had to snap a photo.

3.  Spotted in a Parking Lot - Coleen snapped this for me.

4.  On a drive one day we followed this:

Hubby drove around the block so I could get a better shot.

5.  Missed sharing some photos of the Magnolia's in bloom.

6.  On a drive up Mill Creek with my mom one evening we spotted this:

7.  Who remembers this post from last year?   -  Guess what?  I won again this year.  This time it was 3rd Place which was a 50 pack of $5 tickets.  I didn't win big but I came away with $160.00 which wasn't bad.  I'll enter again next year.

8.  Finally it's that time of year.  Klicker Strawberries are here!!!   I'll be making Strawberry Shortcake today.

In honor of the season:

 

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Willy Nilly Friday Five - May 31, 2019

I'm Still Alive! - Wow an entire month has passed by and I'm finally posting.  Let me tell you all I really miss blogging but taking care of my mom has become pretty much a "full-time" job anymore so blogging kinda gets put on the back burner.

Anyway I'm happy to post today for Tom's:  WILLY NILLY FRIDAY FIVE
1.  I've been busy this month planting flowers and weeding etc... on of the things I did was refurbish this decorative dog that my mom keeps on her porch.  See how "sad" he looks.

Here he is all fixed up after I painted him.  Doesn't he look happy now!

 

2. Here's just a few of the many pots of flowers that I planted and put on her porch this year.

 

 

3.  Had to show at least one Lilac photo from my mom's tree.  It was loaded with gorgeous blooms this year and for a change it didn't rain and knock them all off the tree before they could finish blooming.

4.  While waiting for the "Ducky Derby"to start I snapped a few sky shots.  The annual Derby was held May 18 and you might think this is snow but it's actually fuzz off of Cottonwood trees.

 

 

Also happened to catch a plane on it's way to the airport.

 

5.  Coleen and her friend, Helen enjoying their walk up the path to where the race starts and of course some shots of the ducks on their way down the creek to the finish line.

 

 

 

 

Once again none of my ducks won any of the prizes.  I'll try again next year.

6.  Memorial Day picnic in my mom's front yard.  Lots of good food.

Bonus shots:

 Allium in full bloom.

 Took this shot in the evening and happened to notice an orange lamp in the window of the house where I shot the allium so I leaned down and captured the orange glow behind the flower.  I think it looks really cool.

Pretty Peacock feathers at the park.

That's it for this edition.  Hope you have enjoyed the photos and have a great weekend.  -  Here's to June and Strawberry season!!!









Topsy Turvy World

This weeks theme over on 52 Frames was:  Upside Down.  I decided to try doing upsidedown landscape scenes at Bennington Lake.

These are my results. - You can find the ALBUM by clicking on the link. Do take a look as it's really cool.

This was the photo I submitted for the theme:

The others were my (alternate) choices.

Which is your favorite?  Doesn't the world look different turned upside down? - By the way I actually turned my camera upside down to take the shots.

Also linking up to Through My Lens.

Willy Nilly Friday Five - April 12, 2019

Hello and Welcome!

Spring has arrived and here we are experiencing the old saying of, "April Showers" bring May flowers.  - It's rained & rained and rained.  But it beats the snow so I won't complain (to much).

Joining Tom (The Backroads Traveller) for:
WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE

1.  Took another drive up in the mountains and along the way we spotted several deer in a field.  I pulled over and snapped a few shots.  After about 5 shots I realized that the camera was on Black/White mode so I switched it to color.  This shot however is in Black and White but I like it anyway.

 2.  On the same drive and in the same filed as the deer there were a bunch of Wild Turkeys - Yep you get turkeys again.  This fellow was strutting around and if you look in the brush you will spot several other turkeys. 

3.   A recent drive out to shot the new wheat surrounded by the Blue Mountains in the background.

4.  I like to try new recipes and the salad on this plate of food is one of them.  It's Macaroni Coleslaw and can be found by clicking on the link.  It was yummy but makes a ton of salad.

5.  After one of the rainstorms this week we had a huge double rainbow.  I couldn't get a complete shot of the entire rainbow but I liked how this shot turned out.

6.  A nearby Tulip or Magnolia Tree in full bloom.

7.  My daughter's dog, Baylie anticipating being able to eat that bone balanced on her nose.  This shot was for 52 Frames this past week under the theme of, Food.





Can't leave out the cats so here's one of them as well.

A collage featuring Harley, Bandit and Gidget

First Photo - Harley and Bandit (his favorite cat to take a nap with)
Second Photo -  Harley and Gidget (our newest furry family member) and Third Photo - Harley and Pepper.  A rare shot indeed because he can't stand Pepper and rarely spends any time near her unless it's to chase her around.  Good thing he was asleep and didn't realize she was next to him.

That's it for this week.  Thanks for visiting.  Have a great weekend.