Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

I woke up early this morning, right at sunrise, and the first thought through my head was I'm so lucky to wake up to all of this.  I could hear the mourning doves cooing, the finches singing, and other birds joining in to welcome the morning. No car noise. No people noise. Just birds. After getting in my morning walk with Ado, and after feeding him, I jumped on the bike. The wind the first few days this week was awful. 20-30 mph with gusts to 40. Not much fun to cycle in, so this morning, with the wind out of the west at 9 mph, I decided a ride was in order. Thirty hot and sweaty miles later, I rolled into the driveway. I had to laugh when I looked at my stats. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to go 15 miles out. It took me 45 minutes to go the fifteen miles back. The whole time I'm cycling into the wind I keep telling myself it'll be worth it when I turn around. And it is so worth it.  I'm averaging 30 miles each ride at this point. Not bad for only having a good...

We went straight from cool and rainy to hot, muggy, and sunny. Although, there have been a few days in between of perfect: low 70's and sunny. I'm finding that if I leave the front door closed from mid morning to late afternoon, and close off the back two bedrooms all afternoon, the house stays cooler. So far, the high inside the house without the air conditioner on has been 80, and that was just the other day when it was 90 degrees outside. That's not too bad, at least in my mind. I know others cringe when they hear I live in a house that I allow to get up to 80 degrees. The nice thing about this? It's my house. I can do what I want. Funny Delightful Son came for a visit last week. We had a great week together, and I surprised myself -- when he pulled out to go back to his place, the tears came. I'm so proud of him and what he has accomplished. He finished up his four-year degree in May, and now he's planning to enter into the Master's program in the fall...

Another magical moment happened at 2:30 am. I woke up, which I do a lot during the night these days because Ado is up and down all night, his nails click-clicking against the hardwood floors. He meanders out to the living room, down the hall to the second bedroom, then back. This happens three or four times a night. I'm going to have to start closing the bedroom door to keep him confined. I know why he's doing it, too. He's mad at me because I bought a new bedframe, and the mattress is now too high off the floor for him to just step up onto. He's too lazy to jump up on the bed with me, so instead he wanders around the house, nails click-clicking against the hardwood floor. So I was awake at 2:30. Through the lace curtains I could see Jupiter and Saturn. A few minutes later, the half moon peeked above the trees across the street. It had a hazy rainbow ring around it. I got up to part the curtains for a better look. Seeing all the stars, planets, and the moon never ge...

As I walked through my dining room today, I looked out the windows and saw this beautiful creature. A first for me. So I snapped some photos then set to work researching to see if I could find what it likely is. My best guess at this point is it's a juvenile Summer Tanager. I've never had such colorful birds at my feeders. Ever. The color just takes my breath away.

The weekend weather, sunny and 70's, spoiled me. I need more of those days. Today, however, is not to be one of those days. No. Today is 40's and misting. Today is an inside day. Thankfully I did get the lawn mowed yesterday. I love seeing how pretty it looks right after being mowed. That being said, I'm already thinking about turning as much of the lawn as possible into garden. While I enjoy mowing, I enjoy flowers and trees more. My goal is to turn my lawn into a beautiful, whimsical garden. This can't happen in one summer, I know. It'll be the rest-of-my-life kind of hobby. This summer, I'm mostly going to see what's already here. All the way around the house there are daylilies. I like daylilies, but I might relocate a lot of them to another area of the yard. Maybe on the other side of the garage where they'll get a lot of sun in the afternoons and evenings. I also have a few irises that are nearing their bloom time. And I've found some m...

I made my first mortgage payment last week, and I've not been so excited about paying a "bill" like I was that first payment. While I never really dreaded making my rent payment each month, doing so had a very different feel to it. It was just something I did for a house that belonged to someone else. My mortgage payment, though, is something I'm doing for a house that belongs to me . . . well, actually the bank . . . but I get to do all kinds of fun things to it without having to ask first. And the money I sink into my new house isn't completely lost if I get a wild hair and decide to move. Which I won't. I'm so over moving. I did learn, though, water gets into the basement when it rains for 24 hours and the wind is out of the north. I had a very nice small pond in one section of the basement, which for all intents and purposes is a really nice basement. When it doesn't have a very nice small pond in it. I'm pretty sure basements are not where v...