Willy Nilly Friday Five - July 24, 2020

Thank you everyone who commented on yesterday's post. - I appreciated all the nice comments and condolences about losing my mom.  - While it's been a rough year it's also had some good moments and I know she would want me celebrating those more then focusing on the not so good moments.

So today I am joining Tom (The backroads Traveller) for:
WILLY NILLY FRIDAY FIVE

1.  PURPLE RAIN
Earlier this year after a rain our driveway was loaded with the purple blossoms from my mom's Lilac Tree.  It looked as if the sky had dropped, purple rain down from heaven.

 Sharing the song, Purple Rain as well.

I'm not a huge fan of Prince but I thought it would be fun to make all my photos song titles today & include some version of the song in my post.

2. YAKETY YAK
Took this photo of some pelicans earlier this summer.  Thought the one with it's beak open was comical.

3. POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE

Like so many graduates this year our daughter did not have a regular graduation ceremony.  Instead it was done virtually.  She still wanted to wear her cap and gown and we had a little ceremony at home while we watched her graduation on the television screen.
She graduated with a degree in Cosmetology from the local Community College.  We are proud of her for seeing this through. 

4. ANTS MARCHING
One thing around here this year that's been (not so good) are ants, ants & more ants. - A neat little way to get rid of them,  Borax, Powdered Sugar & Maple Syrup with a little water.  Mix it up well and put it inside pop bottles, cans, anything that a pet wouldn't get into.(When ants eat the borax bait, it interferes with their digestive system and eventually kills them. ... That's because, for effective ant control, you need to eliminate the queen and the rest of the colony. Worker ants will consume the borax bait and bring it back to the colony for the other ants to eat. )  Here's the can I had on my office floor yesterday.  Within minutes there were loads of those nasty little critters.  Today only a few are feeding. 

 Looked up songs about ants,  Found this one by Dave Mathews Band (never heard it before) It doesn't really have much to do with ants but hey, it fits my idea so who cares.

5. CHERRY RED - Around here summer is filled with loads of fresh local fruit,  Cherries being one of them.  I've been enjoying these lucious Bing Cherries all week.

 Again the song has nothing to do with cherries but I needed one to keep the theme going.  So here it is:

Plus I actually like ZZ Top.

Hope you have enjoyed the photos and the music.  Have a great weekend.

Elusive Butterfly

It's time to try and get back to blogging again.  So today I'm sharing my photo that I submitted for 52 Frames this week for the theme:
"Details"  - If you click on the link you'll be taken to the entire album. - Well worth checking out.

Here was my submission:

“ Elusive Butterfly ”

My inspiration for this weeks theme was a little garden stake that belonged to my mom. She loved butterflies and flowers. Butterflies now serve as a memory reminder to me of my mom. I love all the pretty details of the garden stake and how the sun was shining on it and how the muted flowers in the background help to bring out the details of the garden stake. I used a feature on my camera, HDR Backlight that takes 3 consecutive pictures at once and combines them to create light and shadow. Did a smattering of Editing on PicMonkey as well.

I'm doing okay.  It's been a busy few months since she passed away.  We've had to clear out her house and get it ready to be rented.  We are in the process of doing a remodel on it right now.  Lots of time was spent remembering her through the various items
as we decided which to sell and which to keep. There have been moments of tears and moments of sadness but also moments where I am so grateful that she is no longer suffering and I cherish all the wonderful memories I have of her.  This is one of those memories.
 

Rest in Peace Mom

This post is so hard to write.  I'll do a better job at a later date.  

Heaven gain a new soul last Sunday, April 26th.  My mom passed away late Sunday afternoon.  She was 91 years old.

I love and miss her tremendously but right now it's just hard to talk about.

   This is my favorite picture of the two of use together.  It was taken several years ago but she was actually smiling.  Mom hated having her picture taken so it was hard sometimes to get a good one of her smiling.

The flowers from the grave. The lilacs were from her own tree as this was one of her favorite flowering trees.

 May Day flowers. The first year I haven't given them to her in person since I was in the first grade. 

 We didn't have a service because of the restrictions on funerals right now.  At a later day we are having a Celebration of Life service when more people can attend. 

Again at a later date I'll do a better job with a memorial tribute to her.  

You are loved and missed mom.

Staying in touch

First I just want to thank everyone who sent such wonderful condolence messages on the loss of our sweet kitty,  Miss Dottie.  We were able to bring her ashes home last week and she is now on the shelf with several other of our beloved kitties.  It meant a lot to us to know so many cared and understood how hard it was to lose her.

So today I'm trying to get back into posting a little more often.  It has become very hard to blog in the last couple of years being a full time caregiver of my mom.  She has good days & bad days and sometimes it is overwhelming but we are managing.

I'm just sharing a few random photos today.

 Some of our spring flowers and an Easter chick to make you smile.

The neighbors flowering trees.

 A new recipe I tried.  You can find it here, (Biscuit and Gravy Casserole.)   It was delicious.

See you all soon (I hope) with another post.

Over The Rainbow Bridge

Well my friends it's once again been quite some time since I've posted.  I've postponed this post for a week now because it was hard to write about.

Sadly last Saturday (14th) we made the hard decision to put our old kittty,  Miss Dottie down.  She had come down with a cold/virus? sometime in late January or early February and we had tried to treat her on our own before taking her to the Vet.  The tumor in her mouth had also started acting up again and the Vet felt it was pressing into her sinuses which caused her to have breathing issues. 
After several weeks on antibiotics and other medications she just wasn't getting any better and was declining rapidly.  We knew it was time to let her go but wanted as much time as possible with her.  

Finally on Saturday I was ready to let her go.  We made arrangements with an out of town vet since there are no on-call Vets here on weekends and took her to be put down.  I cried of course as did hubby but we knew it was best.

So here my friends are a few photos of the sweetest cat ever.

This is the earliest known photo of Dottie way back in 2000 when we first got her.  The other cat on the right is Snickers who passed away a few years ago.

 One of Dottie's favorite things to do was ride on your shoulders.  We have many pictures of her on our shoulders but this is one of her and I together.

Another favorite thing she loved doing was taking naps with you.

Here she is with Mike.  She spent many hours sleeping on his lap.

Once in a great while she got to go outside and this is an image from one of those times.

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 Enjoying bath time.

Petting herself,  she loved to rub her face with her paws.

Dressed up for the holidays.

Just a few nice shots of her that I liked really well.

One of the last pictures I took of her before she passed on.

Miss Dottie was so special.  When we first got her I had originally planned to get a different kitten but my daughter spotted her and the first thing I said when I saw her was,  "That's the One!" and indeed she was the one for 20 years.

She had lots of nicknames,  Miss Dot-Dot, Pest-a-Dottie (she would not take no for an answer about sitting on your lap), We joked that she was a "Bad Ass Cat that didn't take no crap off of nobody" because she would hold her ground against any of the other cats even if they were bigger then she was.  

Once she ran full bore into one of the male cats and knocked him over so we gave her another nickname,  Freight Train Dottie.

I can't begin to tell you how many wonderful memories we have of her and how hard it was to let her go but we have peace about it.

We'll never forget her and I could go on & on but I'm sure you know she was well loved and will forever be in our hears.

Rest in Peace Miss Dottie - 2000-2020.