Goodbye Jean, for now

Today I went to a memorial service for a dear lady named Jean. Jean was one of those wonderful saints of the Lord, the loved being a wife and homemaker and serving her husband, and mentoring the younger women, believing earnestly the Word of God and in the role He had given her. She was passionate about pleasing the Saviour and in seeing younger women strive to that purpose as well. She went home to be with the Lord on the 14th, and today is when her services were. I didn't make it to the graveside service, held at 10 this a.m., but did go to the memorial at the church. Her daughter gave a loving eulogy as did a good friend of mine who has been in somewhat the head role of caring for Jean during the last five years while she's deteriorated from Alzheimer's. Jean is fully well now, and I'm sure the Lord has told her "well done, good and faithful servant". Though I hadn't seen Jean in the last couple years, and had spent little time with her in the last 15, she will always be much loved and remembered in my heart. I will remember the passion and earnestness always emanating from her eyes as she spoke of the Lord and His desire for His children, as she loved Him wholeheartedly.

Thanksgiving...almost here

May everyone who visits here, enjoy a very special and fully blessed Thanksgiving Day (at least as celebrated here in the USA). May the Lord keep you safe should you be traveling. May He provide you with all that you need during this holiday weekend.

All By Myself

Hmmm, I seem to recall that as a song back in the '70s or '80s.

But really, Marty, Nick, and Nick's friend "Tino" left 5 minutes ago to go on a 2-day snowboarding adventure. Marty skis, Nick 'boards, and Tino will be learning to 'board. I'm praying they have a wonderful, safe time. Me, I get quiet solitude :) and I might attempt to do some sewing and see how my wrist holds up. :) :) Otherwise, I'll be spending time here on the computer and watching television and nothing more exciting than that.

Sunday ... and it's already late evening

Well, I didn't get my Final-Lee/Fina-Lee Friday post done this week. Oh, I had my notes, and I know where they are, but well, you know, l-i-f-e, it just kinda gets in the way.

• Back on Monday evening, I was playing around on that social network and saw a post from a friend, that she was headed over to another mutual friend's because that person (Jean) was dying. I became acquainted with Jean early in my Christian walk and she mentored me a little. She had a wonderful way of always turning my focus back to the Lord and to His Word when I bemoaned some issue in life. I had spent time in her home dining with her and her husband Chet. When I married, I was further away and didn't see her often though we would cross paths at church now and then. Chet passed away, and she remarried, and I saw her even less, then that husband passed away too, and well, I was involved in my own life, and she in hers. In her last years though, she was afflicted with Alzheimer's and my good friend "Ruth" (who was also my maid-of-honor) and Jean became close, and Ruth pretty much handled all of her affairs . Anyway, dearest Jean passed into glory around 10:30 p.m. (as I found out the next day). She is now free of the earthly bonds that chained her and we praise the Lord for that; Alzheimer's is awful. I couldn't bring myself in the last few years to go visit her...she wouldn't have known me at that point anyway; it had been hard enough a few times when she had enough clarity and was brought to church, but that had probably been over two years ago. Her graveside, and memorial services are set for this coming Friday and I'll go to those, hopefully.
• My lower back & hips have been bothering me a whole lot again, so much today that I was very uncomfortable at church. Uncomfortable enough to be near tears. And I don't know what I did to cause it to flair up again. I know I need to exercise, but it becomes a catch-22, pain when I don't, and too painful to do so.
• 23 years ago tonight, I was baptized at my church...and it was a Sunday then too :) I remember being fearful about presenting my testimony before everyone in this huge church, but they turn out the lights and you couldn't see but the first couple rows from the baptismal area :)
• Watching the Duggar's' trip to England....oh my that's a lot of kids (19), I love my own two, but thank you Lord that that's all I have! and she's expecting again !?!
  
• It rained today. It rained quite alot in a few hours. It rained enough to make the ceiling in my craft room drip steadily, AGAIN. Poor Marty climbed up into the ceiling area again to try to find the source...everything was dry as a bone as far as he could see. So he drilled a hole through the ceiling and stuck a dowel up through it to see from above as to where it was wet. And of course it's an area underneath the ducting for the A/C-heater unit on the roof, and the awful blown in insulation (that's the only insulation in this house and it's the yuckiest, most inefficient stuff (in my book!). So he found the wet spot, but still couldn't find where it was coming in from, aargghh. At least the stash closet is safe from this. I'll try to post pix tomorrow or later.
• Marty's taking M-W off work; he has 'overflowing' vacation time at work and is losing it because it doesn't continue to accumulate after so long, nor can he just get paid for it instead. Nick is off school all week too. I should be happy about this, having both my guys home. But I need a lot of attitude adjustments these days. Last year, we went to where my daughter and family live so that I could meet my grandson. We have no such plans this year. Marty had mentioned he might go visit his 85 yr old dad who lives 8+ hours away, but not sure if he will. He's been taking part in Nick's plans with a friend to wrangle a snowboarding trip to some mountains a few hours away now that they have snow.
  
• Need to get out of this chair, I think it may, at least in part, be contributing to my back pain.
  

Hummingbirds & one other

I find hummingbirds fascinating, don't you?
A couple of years ago, we had a hummingbird build a nest in a podacarpus tree that is to the right as I look out my kitchen window, far enough that I have to get to the left edge and peer hard to the right. This branch actually extends underneath the patio cover, so it's protected from rain.

I know, this photo isn't very good, hey, it's hard to get a camera underneath those leaves without actually disturbing the nest, and the flash was a little hot too. This shot is from above the nest looking at the two hummingbird babies that were there. Those orangy-looking things at "10:00", they're the beaks...yes, they're orange when they're that small. The width of the nest isn't very big, maybe 1.5" across. Sadly, neither of these babies survived to adulthood thanks to the marauding jay birds...I really dislike jay birds. And crows. Both are nest robbers and it doesn't matter if it's eggs or hatchlings.

This little cutie, not my hand - the hummingbird, is from the mama's second set the following year. The reason it's in my hand is that I'd gone outside, and as I took a step on the unswept-covered-with-leaves walkway near the tree the nest is in, I saw something buzz of sorts on the ground...there was the baby (an only child)! So I had Marty grab his camera and take a picture before we set it back to the nest. We came out an hour or so later and it was gone again and no evidence of it on the ground so we guess it fledged rightly the second time. I believe this was about April of this year, then mama had another set (twins), same nest a couple months later, and we'd watch and one day they were barely on the edge of the nest, again had Marty go get his camera, but I made a move and both just went WHIRRRRR and off to the roof of the patio then went and Marty didn't get his pictures. The nest is still there, so we hope she'll use the nest again.

The hummers are still around, whether the same ones or others. I'd stopped putting the feeder up over a year ago, even before the nest, because we were getting ant freeways going after the nectar. When I was shopping for my stash closet supplies, I discovered a pesticide-disc containing ant-guard that you hang from the hook and the feeder then attaches to it. The ants have to go into the guard and across the pesticide in order to get to the feeder :) no ant problem at the feeder now :), and I've had to refill it after just over a week, and when I did, I got BUZZED by one of the hummers, hey guys, don't you know I'm trying to keep you fed? And it was right there to feed as soon as I stepped away. I stood no more than 6' away while it landed and drank. There are at least three distinctly different hummers. One is quite large as far as hummers go, probably 4" easily, and he had the brightest red chest I've ever seen. My bird book indicates he might be a Broadtailed Hummingbird. The book says the Ruby Throat isn't on this side of the state, unless he's way off course! They're so fun to watch, especially when they try to guard their territory!

Our Modesto Ash tree draws quite a few birds throughout the year. Never nesting, but resting, hunting, pecking, whatever birds do in trees. So this next picture, taken by Marty, shows one of the raptors that often will land on a branch and eat his/her breakfast or lunch or dinner. This is, I believe, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. They're smaller than some, but gorgeous. I love raptors. They're just so majestic and ooze 'power'. and yes, 'it' was feeding for this picture but I'm not sure that shows real well...probably a good thing.

Something New

OK, I'm trying to figure out the 'pages' feature of this blog business, so bear with me in my learning curve. I need to figure out how to move and/or link the related items to the correct page...I think, lol.

Update: Well, I guess my comprehension of what 'pages' should be and what they in fact are, are two different things, so I won't be adding pages, unless I can find out a way to do what I want, but maybe that requires a different blog platform, or a $ upgrade platform beyond this free set up. :(

Fall

This is proof we DO get some fall color here in our area. I drive this street every day to take Nick to school. I was on my way home, after my PT appointment, and the sun was ahead of me so the color doesn't show quite as well as a couple days ago when it was overcast. The color really pops against white/gray clouds.


I was driving while I took these pictures, sshhh, don't tell the authorities.


These last two photos are on the street I live. The reddish tree is a Crepe Myrtle, they're always pretty in the fall. The other tree, still in the process of turning color, is a liquid amber tree - probably has another name but I don't know what it is. It's very pretty and directly in front of our house. There used to be many more of these trees on our street but folks have been removing them over the years. I guess they can be pretty invasive to sewer lines. They also drop round seed pods about the size of small walnuts.

And to think Marty drives several hours each way to get photos of fall color in the mountains, when all he has to do is step out the front door, but he prefers landscape/natural photography so I suppose man-planted trees in the 'burbs doesn't fit the criteria; I'll enjoy it just the same :)