Sorry about the title and content of this post. Yesterday late afternoon I decided to have a good clean out of my bedroom. To me, it seems like just yesterday I was writing about cleaning out all the dust bunnies from under my bed. I suppose it was longer than that, because there were plenty under there. So I had everything I could take out of the bedroom in the hall and by the door - a mess of things. The only thing I got done when the phone rang was the gathering and disposing of the dust bunnies.
The caller ID told me it was a friend who loves talking about her problems, and that's precisely what she proceeded to do for the next 90 MINUTES. I've always considered myself to be patient and understanding. After all, I spent over 40 years in the teaching profession. The moment she's all warmed up to tell me her problems and re-tell them again and again, someone knocks on the door. It's my 'favourite' neighbour who thinks I have nothing more to do than serve her. She wants me to find and print out all the minutes of the meetings of our building for the last few years. Hello! You got a copy of those meetings in your letterbox. If you threw them away, too bad. I only found about 21 pages or 5 sessions I could download.
I know we all complain (as I'm doing now), but there are those who just re-hash and re-hash the same old things. I know this person doesn't have a lot of people she can tell her problems to. Then again, she's sort of cut herself off from her old friends. However, after the first half hour, I was ready to climb the walls. Who likes to be brought down by negative people, especially when they're in the middle of a mess they need to clean? Do you think she felt better after all her complaints, because I didn't! The last thing about the matter that I'm going to say is some people don't know how to count their blessings.
In my last post, I shared a few photos of animals. In one there was my sister and her family's 5 dogs. Sadly, Ruby crossed the bridge last week. For the second time recently, she got confused and lost and was finally picked up by the dog pound the next day when they couldn't find her, and my brother-in-law even went up and down their road looking for her in all the ditches. She was taken to the emergency vet where they made the difficult decision to put her down. Here's a photo of her before she got really sick.
This is the weekend that we 'fall back' So far, I've only changed one of my physical clocks. Don't you just wish they'd leave the time alone?
Again sorry about such a depressing post. I know you'll be changing the time next week in America. Hope everyone who reads this has an enjoyable week with or without an extra hour.
In the last few years that I've been home in the summer, my sister and brother-in-law have invited me to a play. This time we saw The Secret Garden which we enjoyed immensely. Of course, my sister and I had wet eyes at the end (from the happy ending).
One thing that I've always taken into account when going out in the States is how cold it can be due to the air conditioning. In other words, I don't leave home without a jacket. I doubt that my brother-in-law suffered from the cold temperature, but my sister did until intermission when the theatre must have realized or been told people were shivering from the cold.
This photo I took of the night sky one of the first days I was there, and here's another taken on a different evening but looking out onto the same soy bean field.
On one of our evening walks while we were out to steal (with permission) some spinach from a neighbour's garden to make creamed spinach and to freeze some, we saw this flock of geese. Evening walks were pleasant unless there were mosquitoes. Of course, I got bitten the first night out.
This next photo isn't exactly the photo I wanted. For once all five dogs were lying in various positions on the floor in the living room. When I got up from the sofa to get my phone to take their photo, this is what happened.
Here's a good one of Prince, the white dog, under the table. He loves having his paws crossed. I miss all the dogs and my other family too.
We're having another sometimes rainy weekend in Madrid. Yesterday I got most of my winter clothes out though most of them need ironing. That's just about all I've got accomplished so far this weekend. Hope everyone is enjoying what's left of theirs and that you have a good week.
Here I am back to share some of my adventures and misadventures with you. I know I've been away from this blog for quite a while. First, some of the misadventures.
I'm one of those people who doesn't travel well. I don't like airports or travel in general, and I'm paranoid about missing the flight or nowadays being on a plane with crazy people. So one of my fears came to pass in Madrid airport.
I know I'm lucky to live so near the airport. It takes about 10 minutes to get there from my house unless there is a traffic jam. So I get to the airport, get checked in etc. and go to the WRONG gate where I'm waiting until I hear my name called. I was only off by a couple of gates, and I know I was the last person on the plane before the door of the plane was closed. Then when I got to Atlanta, I forgot my ipad in security and had to go back for it. Although the battery was dead and it wouldn't come on, they believed it was mine. End of misadventures and now some photos.
This first one was taken from the Incline in Cincinnati. It was really hazy and humid that day.
No matter the views from here are spectacular.
The haze disappeared on the Kentucky side. I was originally going to crop this photo. When I saw the puppy in the cloud (top left corner), I decided to leave it as is. Can you see the puppy with its ears, eyes, nose, mouth and paws?
For a long time, I'd been wanting to see the Serpent Mound in Peebles. It was a bit cloudy the day we were there, but with pleasant temperatures. There is a lookout tower from which you can see the Mound perfectly. My nephew took the photos of the actual mound for me as I have vertigo. Some of my friends live in a building with open-slatted stairs, plus the building is glassed-in for more natural light on the stairs side. I hate going up these stairs!
I took several photos of the different important points where people will gather at these times of the year. I suppose Serpent Mound is Ohio's Stonehenge. One sad note although I didn't photograph it: a 19-year old drunk man drove his 4X4 over part of the mound that's closest to the museum and other buildings, and the tire tracks can still be seen. I think his punishment was to write an essay or some silliness.
I have more photos to share, but will leave that for next week. Hope everyone's week is a good one.
