It is the lilac's turn

Burgeoning buds

I noticed these lilac buds last week, taken from the driveway. That sure happened quickly, in my mind at least. Today I went out to the back yard to check out the perfect lilacs, all in bloom and looking as beautiful as I've ever seen them.

Lilacs in full bloom

You know, my favorite springtime blooms are short lived, but that just makes them seem more impressive when they are at their peak. I've noticed around here that the white ones come out first, then the light-colored lavender ones, and lastly, the dark purple varieties. 

When I was a teenager living in Puerto Rico, we had to order our school clothes from a catalog, and I was the proud recipient of a cotton shirtwaist dress made with a pattern of bouquets of lilacs and their green leaves. I can't look at lilacs today without being reminded of that dress. Today that would be a vintage look and unavailable from any store. My memories, however, are just as vivid as ever.

Deep purpIe

I spent some time online looking for an image that would remind me of that shirtwaist, but for one thing it was so long ago that I found myself looking at vintage stuff, and it reminded me also that I don't trust my memory that much, either. Did it button down the front? (no idea) I remember it was sleeveless, and I perused a bunch of old Simplicity patterns that I might have actually used long ago. I have forgotten all those habits that were once part of my everyday life. You can trust me, though, that it was cherished and well used by the time it disappeared from my wardrobe.

:-)

Cool weather but sun returns

Grey skies and wind, but tulips everywhere

When Lily and I visited the tulips last weekend, the day before was sunny and warm, but when we got there, it had turned cold and the wind made it seem even colder. We enjoyed ourselves very much, but it wasn't the sort of day for hanging out and strolling among the gardens. Even if they were beautiful, we were both a little bit underdressed for the cold. So, we didn't stay for long, although we enjoyed the display, after about an hour we decided to call it done. We drove to Mt. Vernon and spent some time in the Skagit Valley Food Co-op. I wrote about it on my Sunday blog, but here it is Tuesday again, and time for my weekly post on this blog.

I am writing this post before heading to the Retina Specialists' office for my next eye jab. I don't seem to be as anxious this time as I have felt before, but that might be due to me knowing that they will now give me a pill for anxiety beforehand. I am not sure what the tiny pill they provide is (they have told me numerous times, but I just cannot remember the name). It definitely makes a difference, but having the injection is not my favorite activity, that's for sure.

I have been hopeful that as time passes after that February fall on the ice, my right hip would get better, so that I might be able to rejoin the Tuesday hikes once again. But frankly, right now I can feel that the time has not yet arrived. Although I can go for around three miles without too much pain, it's definitely not getting better enough for a five-mile hike. I know that as the days go by, I will be losing more fitness, but there really isn't anything to be done to hurry the process. 

Saturday's excursion, photo by Lily

I am really hopeful that by this time next year, I will still be able to see well enough to take pictures like these. But just in case I can't, I'll have my dear friend to help with it all. And we get to travel in her wonderful comfy car as well! So, even if things are not the way I would prefer, I still have so very much to be grateful for.

:-)

Sunshine everywhere

 

More than 1,200-foot-long pier

The Little Squalicum Park has just opened this pier to the public. I went out myself to see what it's like, and this picture gives you an idea of what it looks like at low tide. It was a sunny weekend day, so lots of people were out and about. It's pretty neat to see what they've done to make it accessible.

The 1,248-foot-long stretch of industrial pier was built more than a century ago to carry railcars delivering cement products to barges moored in Bellingham Bay. It was donated to the city by Heidelberg Materials (previously known as Lehigh Northwest Cement Company) in November 2021, and pier improvements totaling $1.6 million were funded by the city’s Greenways Levy (Cascadia Daily News).

It's a wonderful addition to the Little Squalicum Park, and I suspect it will be well used during the spring and summer months. It was certainly well attended on a sunny weekend day when I took the picture. I'll be back many times, I suspect. The area has been part of one of my weekend walks for years now.

Tomorrow will mark seventeen years since left Colorado and moved into this apartment complex. SG had been here a few months, looking for a place to live, and we are still here, although in a different apartment. There are 26 different one- and two-bedroom dwellings, and the place has been home for us since we moved here in 2008. I saw this tree in bloom as we emptied our U-Haul van. We had downsized a great deal and managed to get all our furniture into the vehicle. 

Flowering cherry tree

It was a sunny day like this one, on the day we moved in. Neither of us would have believed we would still be here after all this time, but here we are. To access our apartment, we walk up the steps on the right (16 of them) to access the second floor. Over the years, it had changed somewhat, with a new roof and driveway repavement, but mostly it's just the same. The only thing that has truly changed is the amount of money we pay to live here. But it's really a nice place to have ended up. 

We are hoping that our Social Security checks will continue and give us a chance to stay here, but nothing in our current environment feels very stable. Uncertainty is the word that defines our country today. Hopefully it will all work out. In any event we are happy to be doing as well as we are, in our early eighties and still truckin'!

:-)

You win some, you lose some

First tulip of the season

I was more than a little surprised to see this lone tulip from someone's last-year planting, I suspect. There are few, if any, flowers in this garden, but I was so pleased to see that some are indeed getting there this year. Pretty, alone, and quite happily showing off its beauty right here.

I saw this yesterday, walking through the park on my three-mile walk home from the coffee shop. Actually, it was John who drove me to Cornwall Park after our coffee, and I ran into three old friends on the trail from prior Senior Trailblazer hikes from earlier years. We chatted for awhile, and then I came home, pleased that I wasn't in terrible pain and that the dreaded right leg/hip didn't seize up on me. Baby steps.

And today I went to the retina specialist's office for my every-other-month eye jab. I got dilated and processed quickly, and then escorted into the exam room. They had taken (as usual) images once the eyes are dilated, and there on the screen in the exam room I could see that image, along with two previous ones. Surreptitiously I examined them and looked and could not really tell what I was looking at. And then the doctor came in the room, looked at the images and shined a bright light into my eyes and declared that my eyes seem to be stable right now, and that I would have a choice: skip the shot today, or pay $400 for it. Apparently they receive several discounted injections that are sent to their office on a regular basis, and they had just run out of them, so I would need me to pay full price if I wanted to receive the shot today. He gave me an appointment for two weeks from now, and he said to call beforehand to see if they have any available. If they don't, I guess I'll bite the bullet and pay, but for now I am extremely happy to have dodged the needle for a couple of weeks anyway.

Since my eyes were dilated and I couldn't see anything, as usual, my dear sweet husband drove me home and now I am sittting here in my recliner as my eyes gradually return to normal. If I had received the injection, my eye would be sore and teary right now, but I am spared that for today. I suspect that with the way our health care system is changing right now, I might be forced to come up with that amount every other month. We'll see. I am just glad I am seeing as well as I am these days, and who knows what the future holds? In any event, I am sure happy to be home safe and sound and not needed to go anywhere else today.

Baby steps, right?

:-)

Flowering into spring

Magnolia blossoms

Walking home from my trip to the coffee shop this morning, I caught these magnolia blossoms looking quite lovely. There is another plant in bloom in the foreground, but I'm not sure at all what it is. At first I thought it was Oregon grape, but there are no open flowers to help me identify it. I know about the magnolia blossoms, though. They are out all over town, and I looked for a better picture, but realized that this will do well enough. Everywhere around town, there are flowers coming out to greet the longer days.

I also wondered the other day where the song sparrows were, since I hadn't yet heard their unique song. And then they were everywhere, serenading me while I am out and about. So, not only there are massive amounts of flowers to enjoy, the sound of various birds thrills me, too. I can no longer pretend spring isn't here!

I spent my time at the coffee shop enjoying my double Americano and a nice marion-berry scone. After playing the usual games on my laptop, and reading the news of the day, I briefly thought about joining the easier of the two walks with the Senior Trailblazers, but when I walked out to head to the Senior Center, it was raining. Again. Instead, I caught the bus home and took that picture in order to have something to liven up my post. I've got very little to write about, but after struggling to get going, you'll just have to be happy with a low-key, rather humdrum chronicle of my Tuesday. Tomorrow I've got a yoga class, and Thursday I'll be back at my usual volunteer lunchroom duties, and then I've got a massage scheduled for Friday. So it's not anything much, but it's all I've got today.

And then next Tuesday will be taken up with the scheduled eye jab. I can't help but think about it when it gets this close, and then I have to wait for hours after the injection before eyesight returns to what passes for "normal" these days. At least I still have my left eye's central vision and pray that remains for a while longer. It's still there, for now. Fingers crossed.

:-)

Happy birthday, sister

Stewart and PJ

I wondered what I might write about today, and thought about the date, and suddenly realized that it would have been my sister PJ's seventy-fifth birthday, had she not died of heart disease when she was 63. Here she is with her husband, Stewart, not long after her birthday in 2011.

PJ (her name is Patricia June) was born when I was seven. I still remember the day she joined the family, because when I learned that I had a second sister, I went into our backyard and climbed a favorite tree, spending some time trying to fathom how my life might change because of her birth. It didn't seem all that much, partly because I was always playing with Norma Jean, my sister who was two-and-a-half years younger than me. I suppose I must have had to babysit sometimes, but all that is lost in the mists of time. PJ, though, was a constant presence in my life from the time she was born until I left home at 18.

PJ was someone who read almost as many books as our mother. She always had at least one, but usually more, books open and being read. She was a true seeker of knowledge and spent much of her life taking care of others, raising two boys to adulthood, and volunteered much of her time to those less fortunate. She ended up with four grandchildren (I might have been a little jealous) and was always making her own jewelry and small pictures to give away. I still have some things she made for me; I can't really throw them away because she made them and they are all I have that still exists of her, but they are stuck in a drawer somewhere. That, and lots of pictures taken over the years. When I gathered to be with my siblings to celebrate her life, I wrote my own personal celebration of her life. Just now, I re-read it and remembered who she was to me and to all those whose lives she touched.

When someone has died, do we still mark the day as a birthday? Or is it simply a reminder that twelve years ago, she left this earth to start the next adventure? I wonder. There will probably not be a resolution to that question for me, but maybe once I am finally lying on my own deathbed and gazing at the faces of those sending me off to my next adventure, she might be there, peeking mischievously out from behind the others.

   Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. —Dr. Seuss

Two more sleeps

Jeff Barclay photo

I was wondering whether the Skagit Valley daffodils are coming up yet, and I found this picture on the Seeing Bellingham Group on Facebook. Jeff is a constant contributor to the site, and I have always enjoyed seeing his delightful pictures. The dark skies and brightly lit daffodils are incredible, don't you think? I know this spot because I always see it when I visit the tulips in April. This was taken three days ago, and I am so happy to see this scene. I am already looking forward to this year's Tulip Festival in the Skagit Valley. I suspect it will be a moderately average time for the blooms to show up. It's still too early for tulips.com to venture a guess.

It's just two more days before we experience the first day of spring. And I also suspect we won't have much more cold weather, although that's definitely not a given. I remember one year after we moved here when we had a foot of snow right here in town in April. It was almost like I hadn't left Colorado behind! That said, I don't think we will have a repeat performance of lowland snow this year. We already had a month of below-normal temperatures, but next week the forecast is for above average temperatures.

I am trying not to get too freaked out over the Social Security fiasco that is apparently emerging from Washington, DC. We are completely dependent on getting our checks deposited into our accounts each month, something that has happened without a hitch since we retired almost two decades ago. But now, who knows what will happen? They are cutting staff and closing offices all across the country. And I know we are not alone in needing our SS to keep on coming regularly. I am hoping that saner heads will prevail before it's too late to fix it. Sorry to bring this up, but I am puzzled and mystified by this and wonder if anything is safe anymore.

:-(