Demolition!!

About a month and a half ago, I drove by one of my former elementary schools and saw that it had mostly been demolished.  As with many schools in Ohio, older schools are being replaced with brand new buildings, then the older ones demolished.   This particular picture has been on my mind this weekend.

It's been a rough weekend.  Nothing BAD happened, but I've been battling negativity, and found myself losing too often.  But now, the poor pitiful me attitude needs to end.  That's where this wall comes in.  There's something about how this small piece of the building withstood the demolition ball that spoke to me at the end of February, and speaks to me still.  Yeah, it got knocked around and took some close blows, but at the end of the day, it was still standing.  That's the important thing.

This picture of the chair leaning against the tree just made me chuckle.  Someone had to place the chair there, and juxtaposed against the chaos of the demolition, it definitely caught my eye.

Inquiring minds want to know:  if you're not supposed to pull or push the container, just HOW did it get there?

This is the other elementary school that backed up to the demolished one.  Considering the two schools were consolidated into a single building, this view seemed to present a foreshadowing of its own demolition.

This view had a nice symmetry (which I'm not usually a huge fan of) with the equipment and how the debris was stacked, as well as the nice framing provided by the trees.  That's the new school in the background off to the right.

As sad as it was to see the old schools go, mostly for the memories of some very fun and silly elementary school shenanigans, it did bring to mind a couple of things.  1)  It really is just a building; my memories of time there with some wonderful teachers and great friends can't be taken away from me.  2)  There are a lot of things that are beyond my control; let go of it.  3)  Probably most importantly, not so good things happen to people all over the world, many of which are far worse than the cause of my little pity party; it's time to get the big girl panties out of a bunch and move on.

The universe has reverted to it's usual planetary rotation; I am no longer the center of it.

Good Friday??

Yup.  I was out taking photos in the yard again.  Looking at different angles and different subjects, trying for those interesting shots.  This was one from the maple tree in the front yard . . . wish those little whirligig things would be gone . . .

This is one of the trumpet vines that take over the yard every summer; they attract
the hummingbirds, but sure are hard to keep under control.

I don't know how the branches have gotten so intertwined, but it makes for an interesting
looking plant in winter and spring!

And back to a maple in the front yard!

I love spring and watching the flowers budding and blooming, and the leaves popping out on the trees. I even enjoy seeing some of the very sunny dandelions.  There's so much encouragement from the plants that "return" to life every year.  That's one reason I only plant perennials; the other is I'm lazy!  If I'm going to plant something, I want it to come up in the same spot every year.  I don't want to have to dig and plant every year to enjoy it.

The trumpet vine is one of the most frustrating plants in the back yard.  I love it when it's blooming, but wish I wasn't constantly pulling up volunteer shoots (or mowing them over), or pruning them almost weekly.  But, I love the hummingbirds they attract, so I will put up with their idiosyncrasies.  I shouldn't be amazed, but I am every spring when I see what looks like dead wood sprouting new growth and green leaves.  How can something that looks so far gone produce anything?

I love the maple trees out front in the summer, but not so much in the spring and fall.  I feel like I spend a lot of time wrangling the buds in the spring, then the dead leaves in the fall.  The trees are at least 53 years old, and have rarely been pruned.  That makes for a lot of branches with a LOT of leaves!

So what does all of this plant talk have to do w/ Good Friday?  Oh, so very much.  We think of spring, and Easter comes to mind (among other things).  But beyond the season of the year, seeing the new growth really made me think today.

On the original Good Friday, Jesus chose to experience a horrible death after being accused of crimes he did not commit and being tortured.  He chose to die for me.  He chose to die for you.  He chose to die in order to save us from our sins.  My sins.  The ones I commit every day (day in and day out).  The ones I'm sadly aware of, and the ones I have to have pointed out to me.  HE did this.  For ME.

But, there's more!  Yes, Jesus Christ died on Good Friday.  What was so good about that Friday that found him beaten, bloody, whipped, mocked, falsely accused, and then nailed to a cross?  The good is that He died and then rose on Easter Sunday.  He did what no one had done before, and no one has done since. He defeated death.  He rose from the grave, just as He had said He would do.  And He did this for me, so I will one day be with Him in heaven.

Whenever I see the new growth on the apparently dead branches of the trumpet vine, the lily of the valley coming up, the butterfly bush turning green, or my beloved lilacs blooming, I'm reminded of new life.  Not just the new life for the plants, but the new life Jesus has given me.  Every day is another opportunity to grow in faith and share His love.  There are times I get frost-bitten and pruned back, but the care and nurture from His Word and the love of His disciples keep me going.

Good Friday?  That's short for "God's love brought Good out of a tragic Friday."

It's the main thing

Don't know if we got the freezing temps last night or not; I do know that it was 40 when I got up at 8:15 to get ready to go walking.

Good thing I was up, because the doorbell rang at 8:30!  So began Day 2 (third round) of the water main contractor screw-up.

Last year in late October, early November, our oh-so-wise city leaders decided to tear up our street to replace the water main.  It was a fiasco, with large equipment parked in spots that blocked sight of oncoming traffic, and/or in the narrowest parts of the street.  There were also large piles of gravel/stone left in the street (all up and down the street) throughout the entire process, which lasted well into December, then picked up again in March through May.

I found out just how bad a job the contractors did in February when I had to call the plumber for the 2nd time in 2 months to come out and do the "roto-rooter" thing (typically we may have to do this twice a year).  So, our friendly plumber came on out (same day!  They really are nice people to work with.) and started snaking the pipe outside the house (I had been running errands and he made it to the house before I did and got started on it).  Because he knew the timing of his visits was closer together than usual, he used a very long snake to make sure any clogs got pushed all the way out to the water main.  Guess what?  The snake got stuck!  They called the city the next morning and told them what had happened, and that it was their professional opinion that the contractors work was a) the cause of the snake getting caught; and b) the cause of me needing their services twice in such a short time.  City people came out and ended up digging up and replacing work that day; the contractors had left large chunks of concrete inside the water main, which is what the snake caught on.  Several other neighbors had similar plumbing issues as well, so I know it wasn't something I did.

Upon the advice of these wonderful plumbers, I submitted my plumbing bills for December and February to the city to be reimbursed.  Eventually they reimbursed me since the contractor wasn't dealing with it at all.  I was assured that all of the work was being double checked before the road was paved, and that there would be no further problems.

So, April 4, 2012 rolls around, long after the road was resurfaced, and while I was busy on the computer, I eventually recognized the sound of cars/trucks and guys talking nearby.  Looked out the window and saw several water company guys around the fire hydrant across the street.  I thought maybe they were flushing the hydrants, so I went back to the computer.  About 1/2 hour later, they were still around, but not doing anything, so I went on out to see what the heck was going on.  Turns out there was another issue w/ the water main, not 50 feet from where they had to replace work last February, and this problem impacted the fire hydrant.  The guy who had the equipment to determine where they needed to dig had been called, but was at least an hour away.  That was around 4:30.  Those poor guys were working until about 12:15 or 12:30 a.m. - some of them must have pulled a double shift.

I really wanted to go out and take a few pics while they were working (of the equipment, and some of what they were doing), but didn't know how they might react to it . . . and since I had (and still have) no desire to end up inside the hole they dug, whether by my own clumsiness or their irritation w/ me, I stayed inside, camera in it's bag.  These pics were taken this morning after my mile walk.

Now we have a nice little patch of dirt in the middle of this previously very nicely resurfaced street.  Who knows when that will get fixed since it wasn't a planned repair.  Nothing else apparently going on up or down the street (so far).  I don't know how many of us are on a boil advisory, but that's why the doorbell rang at 8:30 this morning; it was another water department/company worker asking if he could test the water from the hose spigot out back.  He explained that if they could get the samples in early enough today, they might be able to get the boil advisory lifted early tomorrow.

While this wasn't what I would put in the "happy accident" category, it certainly could have been a lot worse.  I'm very glad they found the problem before firemen needed to use the hydrant!  I'm very glad the workers took a few minutes to explain what was going on when residents approached them.  I'm very glad they fixed the problem (I hope, I hope, I hope) last night.  I think this might end up in the "shared information makes the process go more smoothly" category of things I'd rather not have to deal with!

But, deal with it we do, and move on.  One more obstacle to hurdle, but not the last one.

Spring Freeze

Knew it had been too good to last.  All of this unseasonably warm weather would have to suddenly turn on us.  Yup!  Tonight we have a freeze advisory until tomorrow morning at 9 (right now it's in the low 60s).  So glad I haven't started planting anything yet.

But, talk of potential freezing temps tonight reminds me of the previous two February snow/ice storms we were "blessed" with.  I didn't mind them too much because I didn't have to go anywhere either time, but those who did sure had some fun cleaning off their cars and negotiating the slippery roads.  I did get to go out to take pictures (I know, that's not a surprise) . . . it was, of course, freezing, but another opportunity to try something new - snow/ice pics.

These are from the snow storm in February 2010.  It was a great day to be living on the 3rd floor (which is how I was able to get pics of the upper branches coated w/ snow) and cuddling w/ the beastie boys.  It's funny that they are such a good indicator of how cold it is by how close they want to be to each other and to me . . .

These ice pictures were from February 2011, and I was in the midst of packing and moving.  It was a great excuse to take time to do anything else.  I think I took about 30 pictures in 10 or 15 minutes 'cause it was definitely COLD.  I also defrosted the car windows, which took about 20-30 minutes.  I couldn't even begin to touch the ice before defrosting; I considered myself lucky to be able to get into the car w/out much effort.

Yes, I'm aware that we are highly unlikely to have similar weather conditions tonight.  But, the "threat" of freezing weather reminded me of these pictures.  There are so many times we're all faced with sudden changes (weather, health, employment, etc.) and feel as if we can't cope.  But, how many of us, when faced w/ a sudden snow or ice storm, but MUST get to work, find a way to deal with it and get to work?  We may not have a plan, but we work at shoveling the snow or scraping the ice until we can move the car or see out the windows.  Did we use the best or easiest method?  Maybe; maybe not.  Does that really matter?  We did what we had to do under the conditions faced at the time.  There will be time later to reflect on whether we either could or should have done things differently.  Let's celebrate the success for what it is - success!!  We succeed at many things every day; let's not spend those days beating ourselves up for what we didn't accomplish or succeed at.

Vets, Visits, & Tornadoes

What a day!  I started the day tracking the beastie boys down to take them to the vet for their comprehensive exam and dental cleaning.  Pinkerton was fine, but I had to crawl under the bed to get Bandit; he absolutely HATES going to the vet unless I stay w/ him.  Then, on the way to the vet, Pinkerton must have gotten nervous because he peed in his nylon carrier, which means it was all over the cloth car seat.  Fortunately I had paper towels in the car and was able to draw most of it up; when I got home, the seat received a liberal dosing of vinegar, and is now finishing drying out.  Bandit was NOT a happy camper when I went to pick them up, but seems to have forgiven me now.  They're both a little wonky after the anesthesia, but nothing major.

I guess I should be glad they were well behaved yesterday, 'cause Sunday I was pretty grossed out when I found a dead mouse in the living room and realized that when I woke up to hear one of them scurrying around in the bedroom, they were probably chasing down the poor little thing.  Overall, I was very thankful they didn't wake me up by dropping a dead mouse in my face . . .

Next on the schedule was a brisk mile long walk with a friend, then back home to take care of some odds and ends before checking facebook and other fun computer stuff.  Two of my high school friends (brother and sister) reminded me that 38 years ago today they lived through the F5 Xenia tornado (it was almost categorized an F6; winds were over 300 mph) after their house was hit directly by it.  So to find out recently that tornadoes were twisting away down in Dallas, TX hit home for two reasons:  one being the memory of Xenia's 1974 tornado and the other being my brother and his family live in Plano (a Dallas suburb).  Fortunately, I received a text from my brother saying they were all fine.  Whew.  Sharing a photo I found indicating the damage from 1974 - people who lived through it said you could look for what seemed like miles and view the path the tornado took, just from the damage.

This second photo was posted by my friend who was in his house (the one marked My house) with his mother and sister when the tornado hit.  Mom and sis were buried under debris for a while, but sis got free and found mom; brother was  under a wall, which was removed by neighbors.  Believe it or not, physical injuries were limited to scratches and bruises.  

With thoughts of the 1974 Xenia tornado in the back of my mind, I headed out to visit Mom.  What was the first thing she told me?  They'd had a tornado drill earlier that day, followed by a presentation by the Red Cross and a weather person from a local TV station.  When I left (around 3:15 after the vet called to say the beastie boys were more than ready to head home), I hadn't heard anything about the weather in TX, so I was a bit surprised when we all got home and I saw several posts about bad weather, and then suddenly received a text from my brother that they were fine.

What an emotional whirlwind of a day.  Makes me very thankful to have time with the people I care about, and having fun in simple things like coloring Easter eggs.  Life's too short not to look for the good in life, and so am I.  Figure that one out?

Bloomin' Lilacs!

It's been a busy day, running errands, visiting Mom, dinner w/ friends.  I finally feel like I can relax now.

I'd been outside earlier checking out the plant status, and am a little disappointed that the tulips are taking forever to come up.  The clematis is greening nicely, and even the straggly rose is looking pretty good.  Just for kicks, I checked out the re-blooming lilac, and it was blooming!  Tiny, itty-bitty blooms, but blooms anyway!

I can relate w/ this particular little lilac bush right now.  It's been a rough couple of years, but there have been so many positive "little blooms" in my life during that time.  Being out of a job for over two years hasn't been easy, but it would have been a whole lot harder to deal w/ Mom's medical issues if I'd been employed.  I also wouldn't have been able to spend time w/ my niece and nephew, or just go out experimenting w/ my camera.  I've been MUCH more creative in many different ways, some to save money, some to try a new way of looking at things.

So, whether it's a drought or a downpour, hot or cold, sunny or overcast, windy or calm, I can be thankful for the deep roots to hold me through those times.  Nobody is promised an easy time in life, and at times we're all overwhelmed.  But I'm determined to see the lilacs bloomin' around me no matter how bad it gets.  I know there are many people who are going through much more difficult times, and my heart goes out to them.  I may be there some day, but today, I'm making it through by the grace of God.

Looking for the bloomin' lilacs all around me every day and looking forward to seeing them re-bloom.  God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

Bright and beautiful day

Yesterday was SUCH a busy day, I'm not sure I had time to think.  So glad it's over, even though it was a HUGE amount of fun.  Got to see friends I hadn't seen in a long time, so no matter what, it was a great day!

So today, I'm taking it easy.  A lot of easy.  As in doing next to nothing!

But, since it's such a beautiful sunny day, I decided to see what was "springing" in the yard.  Just about a 10 minute sojourn around the house to see what's up (pun kind of sort of intended).

I was oh so pleasantly surprised to find one of my lilacs in full bloom!  I love lilacs, and have planted several the last couple of years.  The one in full bloom is one that grew outside my bedroom window all through childhood, and for many years was that sweet message that summer couldn't be far off.

Then, it was over to the re-blooming lilac.  It didn't happen last summer, but maybe this year?  If it gets enough water, it will re-bloom several times throughout the summer.  We planted it before Mom moved into Assisted Living, so it's been growing about 2 1/2 years now.  Hoping this is a great blooming season for it!

The lily of the valley is coming up like crazy as well.  That's another one of my favorites, because it's my birth month flower.  May baby who likes lilacs (typically bloom in early May) and lily of the valley . . . who'da thunk it?

The peonies are also on the way up . . . wish they didn't attract the ants though.  Have to keep them outside so I'm not overrun by the ants inside!  Just got rid of them, so don't want to go through that hassle again.

I planted a very small "twig" last spring, but lost the box it came in, so I don't remember what it is.  Even worse, at one point early on, I mowed it over.  But, it was hardy, and withstood all of the punishment I threw at it.  It's grown about 8 inches, and is sprouting leaves . . . anybody have an idea of what it might be?

And, the ever spreading Trumpet Vine is starting to sprout (I cut this one back pretty severely).

But the surest sign of spring being here is a weed.  The dandelion.  Can't help but find the color cheerful, even if it causes extra work with weeding.  

Relaxing the rest of the day, thinking about all that's growing out in the yard (except the weeds; not thinking about them today), and how soon even more plants will be sprouting and blooming.  Can't wait for the butterfly bushes to start budding and blooming, as well as the daisies, and some lavender.  And a couple more plants that I don't remember what they are (good thing I'm partial to surprises); at least I remember where I planted them.  Life is very good this Palm Sunday 2012.  Beautiful, warm, sunny, and peaceful.  Taking full advantage of it and heading outside to read for a while.

Wishing you all bright and peaceful days!