Derailed! with flowers

Ever have one of those months?  I'm going to rant a bit- for the last six weeks since I returned to my home, it's been one thing after another.  Mom is in a rehab/nursing home 45 minutes away, fortunately I have a nice place to stay when I'm there. Unfortunately that means my acres are left on their own. Mother nature has not helped- it has rained almost every day, which is either climate change or some new pattern that disrupts the normal weather. Oh, that IS the definition of climate CHANGE.  Not exactly sure of all the causes but one result in the Black Hills is three foot tall brome grass, hundres of dandelions in my "I don't need a ground barrier" wood chip path and michaelmas daisies taking over my flower beds.  I know that last whine is overkill. The daisies are aggressive and beautiful at the same time.  Still.... stay in your place!

Crum... out of focus but I'm out of time so it'll do! 

My newly installed dishwasher trips the new GFI outlet and turns out wiring those things are harder than it looks. No dishwasher but water in other places...  My toilet overfloweth and the adjoining rooms, including the guest bedroom closet, soaked up more than I thought. So it's lots of vinegar and fans because the carpet cleaner is at mom's so I can do her floors before she comes home the first of August.  After my company leaves and my quick trip out of town.

Columbines love the rain!

At least there's warm air to dry things out.  Too warm.  When I bought my Acura in California, I didn't think the AC was great but they assured me it was fine. I rarely used it because it's not that hot here. Now, eighteen months later, my compressor is definitely shot and that will be thousands of dollars, thank you very much.  So much for certified pre-owned.  I'll start that fight after the kids leave.

Yesterday the long-awaited crew arrived and my little "she-shed/ art shack/ overflow bedroom" was lowered onto the foundation. It's been sitting on precarious wood jenga piles for almost two years and it looks much worse for the wear and weather. But it's down and I can start to figure out what to do- mostly replace the back wall that had to be demolished in the process.  And see if there are in swallow eggs in the nests- the birds are going nuts with the destruction. A condo in town looks pretty

Except I wouldn't have these!
The random board appears to be holding up my shed... hmm

 good right now.

So in the middle of rain and more rain, weeds and more weeds, I've had the blessing of several rounds of company and today, two of my sons and two grandkids are arriving!   The new toiled it sitting in the garage and the caulking to repair the leak from the exterior sill is on the washing machine. The location is to remind me to have them pull that out and check the water line for the crazy lint build-up in my laundry.  Whew... the list is much longer but you have to prioritize when you'd rather play with your sons than use them as handymen.  I do hope putting the Christmas tree box away happens...

So that's my rant and why my Camino blog is so delayed. Add a few days of inertia, meetings, public library book sale, multiple weekly trips to Rapid City and, I confess, more than a few summer escape reading days and my brain is working at summer speed

 But the flowers are looking fine!

Well, those photos were a bust and I don't have time to retake them. Sometimes done is better than perfect!  I can't see what I'm shooting until I load it on the computer. Clearly my auto-focus doesn't!  These are art shots- fuzzy and impressionistic.  Enjoy.

Home on the Range

Home On The Range


Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day 


Yep- that's my fantasy!


Home, home on the range- well there is a some cool pasture land off my big porch...

Where the deer and the antelope play- I do have deer wandering through but I'd have to drive an hour to Wyoming to see antelope play.

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word- ah... reality hits.  If you leave a house in the Black Hills all September, you can return to Lord of the Flies. All those gross things trapped in my house by the terrific caulking job have hatched and died trying to escape.  My mother reminds me that last year they were shoveling them out with snow shovels... I'm merely filling vaccuum cleaner bags. Still.... this is gross.  ( You don't want a picture... trust me)

And the skies are not cloudy all day - YEAH! That's right.....except today. As I vaccuumed flies and contemplated why my clothes have multiplied like those flies.... it really is cloudy.  


So I guess there is no paradise this side of heaven.  My kids came for a week in August and we unpacked some boxes, moved some, ignored more.  I made piles in my house in the few days I had there after they left. But mostly I stayed in Rapid City and cared for my mother after her surgery. I flew back east and ran around like a crazy women- northern Virginia brings out the crazy in me.  I returned west and spent a few days vacationing with friends and family in Colorado.  Life is sweet.... 


Now I'm here- "home". In a small town where I know a handful of people- none of whom really know me. I have no internet cause I'm mooching off my brother and his is down.   I have a land line again but my answering  machine doesn't appear to be working.  My cell phone won't work at my house at all.  I'm in a Best Western coffee shop doing my internet stuff.  Life isn't exactly normal yet. 


So what is normal? Is normal having instant access to information or forcing myself to slow down and really read books instead of skim for highlights?  Is it being able to post a blog as soon as I write it or is it being patient with the process and writing anyway?  Is normal having the same people know you and put up with you anyway or is it being open to the new relationships God will bring?  And bringing your best to them. 


Could it be a season to discover who I am?  Who I want to be.  What I'm supposed to do next. More important, who I'm supposed to BE!  BEING not so much DOING. 

Lake Sheridan and my future kayak course

How often at night where the heavens are 
bright

Just a quiet spot

With the light of the glittering stars
Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of ours 

Then give me a land where the bright diamond sand
Flows leisurely down to the stream
Where the graceful white swan goes gliding along
Like a maid in a heavenly dream 

Oh I would not exchange my old home on the range
Where the deer and the antelop play
Where the seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day







I'm home. Not exactly a range and not a swan in sight. The skies are cloudy occasionally but the home He has given me. And I'll discover the rest.