Summer is flitting on by and I believe I have spent this entire season trying to “catch a tiger by the tail” as that expression goes. I feel like I’ve flitted from one work project or house disaster to another, pausing way too long before moving on. I feel a little like this beautiful Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.
Back in the day, circa late 60s perhaps …
… I’d whine about chores like dusting or pulling weeds that I’d have to do while on Summer vacation from school. My parents said “one day you’ll wish life was so simple” and, of course, I thought they didn’t know diddly-squat. Besides, that was eons before computers were ever invented. My latest conundrum is my work computer which had repeated fails yesterday … the fact that I was trying to churn out our invoices made no never-mind to that equipment. It rebelled, just like I did (mostly inwardly) about those silly Summer chores.
With all the mishaps and calamities here at the house and the workplace, at least I’ve gotten out to smell the roses.
Thank goodness for that.
I’ve tread those walking trails, feeling a trifle wilted, while wondering how those tropical flowers stay so perky?
But, I kept on walking, because I’d much rather bee among the flowers and out in nature, than at the end of the keyboard. I always made the time to walk, despite being as busy as a bee.
That’s because out in nature is where you’ll find peace and you will feel peace from within.
But, right now I am at home …
… hunkered down, writing this post, while I await someone to reboot my computer at work. I can’t reach that far away because my arms are not 13 miles/20 kilometers long.
Truthfully I’d rather be rebooting my brain, albeit in this soggy sauna bath outside.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Lovely pictures. Hope your computer issues get resolved. Our weekend is predicted to be the best of the summer. Can’t wait!
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Thank you Kate – glad you liked them. They were from my walk last Sunday at the Taylor Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. I intended to go see a chalk artist that was there last night. He does 3-D chalk drawings and decorates the pavilion area. I didn’t get out of here timely but wanted to go this morning to see the chalk art, but it rained last night – second year I’ve tried to see him. Our weekend is also supposed to be cool and sunny with no humidity. I am giddy as well. I was going to walk tonight but the winds are 25 mph – 35 mph and that’s too windy and it was 84, so I said “maybe not.”
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I probably should spend more time in nature. It’s hard when I don’t drive and I have social anxiety so taking the bus scares me a little. Sigh.
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I’m sorry those things hamper your getting out to parks and nature Sarah. I did take the bus for years when I worked downtown so that left me with no experience in driving in bad weather. I caught it at the end of my street. Not only that, but I have to tell you that I don’t like to drive on the expressway, so that limits just how far I’d go and some of the bigger parks with more critters, especially owls or more varieties of birds which I’ve never seen, are at least an hour’s drive away and on the expressway. Someone cut my friend and I off when we were merging onto a busy expressway – we were not injured, but very shaken. It has left me reluctant to do expressways after that time.
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I don’t blame you Linda….expressway driving is not my thing either….too scary here as they go way too fast past the posted speed limit and it is already too high and now they are raising it to 110km/hr near Toronto…..but it does limit traveling somewhat not being brave enough to drive on them.
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Since I never drove even to the bus stop, I never had to drive in bad weather – bus stop was a stone’s throw away. They raised the speed limit at the main thoroughfare in our City when they diverted the expressway traffic onto that street while the bridge was being repaired (two years) … the semi-trucks still roll on through, not going back to the expressway and sometimes I’m sandwiched in between two of them going way over the speed limit and in the morning, just taking the car for a run to keep it running smoothly, people are hurrying to work and cutting in and out – it is daunting, so expressway driving would not be for me. I Googled to see 110 kmh – we have an expressway that is 75 and they go over that … went once and came off it and took a surface street home. When we visited my grandmother in Toronto, it was the 401 most of the way (240 miles door to door), but the last 20 miles or so, switching expressways three times I think and always construction and always big trucks – I’d get to my grandmother’s house (near Lansdowne and Dundas Avenues) and felt like I’d been through the mill. Going home was not so bad … we often took Highway 402 to get home, more scenic.
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I’m glad you were able to get outside and bring home lovely photos for us. Thank you.
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Glad you liked the photos Ann – they were from last Sunday at the botanical gardens. I spent a few hours there and also behind the conservatory where they have community gardens where produce is grown for the local food banks and also people have their own plots they rent to grow flowers and produce. I was chitchatting with someone tending their garden and took some pics so that will be a later post. I’m lucky I got this one posted given my schedule.
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absolutely stunning photos as always.
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Thanks Mackenzie – you had a lot of posts to catch up on now that you’ve got a little break from school. Thanks for your nice comments on each of them.
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Of course!! I always love reading your posts 🙂
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They are not as newsy as yours though – you have topped me there!!
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When I saw your title, I just couldn’t imagine what “tiger” you were talking about. What beautiful photos of the swallowtail! Thanks for the reminder to stop and smell the roses. I tend to flit about like the butterfly too!
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Thanks Laurie – this butterfly was so cooperative. It stayed on this one large flowering plant for about 15 minutes, flitting from one bloom to another. Yes, it’s the best thing we can do is taking the time to smell the roses in our busy lives. It keeps us grounded.
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I would like to get out to my son’s garden to photograph some butterflies. He has a lot. Unfortunately, there is also a bald-faced hornet nest out there too. Ugh!
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Ugh is right. Among my other house mishaps this Summer was a black hornet’s nest above my screen door. Those hornets were huge! We sealed up the access point, a skinny hole, but the relatives came a’callin’ and that was not so good for about a week, but they’ve left now.
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I hate hornets! My Oregon son has a hornet’s nest in one of his bushes. I give it a very wide berth.
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Oh, I don’t blame you – I’d never seen one of these black wasps before – in fact, never had heard of one and at first I thought it was an over-sized flying ant. Then there were several and the day the handyman came to do the gutters and then power wash the house with the mildew deterrent, he said he saw them, then I saw them and we realized there must be a nest. I was worried one day when I went grocery shopping and carrying in bags and one got in the door. I thought it went into the bags, shut up the bags and looked everywhere and didn’t find it – it was annoying as it was a morning before work, so if I do a quick grocery shopping, I go there and get in, out and just put away refrigerated stuff and deal with the other groceries later so I’m timely for work. I had to call my boss and say a black wasp was loose in the house and I had no idea where it was. I never did find it and that gives me no great comfort.
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Yikes! I am sure that wasp is a goner by now. I doubt if he could survive very long without foor or water.
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That’s good – I worried because many years ago I saw a flying ant buzzing around the fluorescent light fixture downstairs. Because my mom suffered from cellulitis for many years, and any insect bite, or even accidentally scratching her leg, could trigger an infection, I put a rug up at the cellar way door. As our luck would have it, either that flying ant or a friend of its was pregnant and pretty soon we had an infestation of carpenter ants in the house – we had a pest service in for years to get them under control. One flying ant – so much misery.
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Ugh! I hate ants. I had a dream about them last night – they were crawling all over me!
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We sought out well-known pest service (Orkin) who recommended we get rid of our locust tree, and also all the Redwood bark I had just put in a few years before. Luckily the wooden ties I had lugged home and put on the perimeter of the backyard were okay as they were wolmanized. It still didn’t get rid of those ants. One morning my mom woke up to see a parade of carpenter ants on her blanket – she let out a scream and luckily she was not bitten. We found a new pest control service the same day. They came in, found the nest near the fluorescent light (I did tell Orkin that was the original site of flying ant) and used marigold dust and got rid of them the same day, despite years of a monthly treatment (spray one month, puffing a dry chemical into holes Orkin drilled every 18 inches in the baseboard). We were impressed and it was not a franchise like Orkin.
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Great photos, but sorry about your computer woes. I need to get out in nature more and your posts remind me to do so. Thanks.
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Glad you liked the photos Ally – they were from my walk in the botanical gardens last Sunday. They also had a large community garden there in back of the conservatory and I’ll be doing a separate post on that later. The computer woes have about undone me with three problems at work in one week, two back-to-back problems leaving me totally out of commission and then my own computer that did a critical Windows Update and wigged out and messed up my C-drive causing a disk failure three weeks ago. Summer is fading fast – for us it will be a glorious weekend so I’m giddy for that. Hopefully you’ll get some glorious weather this coming weekend as well.
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I want to know your secret for these amazing photos!!??!
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Thank you AJ! I went to the Taylor Conservatory and Botanical Gardens last Sunday. There are so many flowers there (120 pots alone plus many perennials in the gardens) so it is fairly easy to get at least a few up close pics of the butterflies and blooms. I have been so busy at work the past month, that this was a perfect place to stroll around and just relax a bit.
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Oh that sounds like it was definitely worth the trip! My friends have been trying to get pics of hummingbirds, but it’s almost impossible!
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They fly at the speed of sound – I am still hopeful, but once Fall arrives, they zoom right on out of here. 🙂
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We seem to have some that stick around
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Hi Linda this is Brian from around the corner with the chalk art. I like your blog and love the commitment to the phototaking. Keep it up and thank you 🙂
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Thanks Brian – I had checked out your blog when I saw you followed me – since you are new to WordPress, a word to the wise … always be diligent about checking your SPAM filter – WordPress deems ordinary comments as SPAM sometimes. Neither of your comments are SPAMMY, yet both ended up in my SPAM filter. So yes, WP ended up eating both your comments. 🙂 Some days I’ll get 10-15 comments in there, 99% are not legitimate and it is often on your About page. I’ll tell you that the blog does take a lot of commitment and I am not usually this busy at work, so it’s been tough to maintain my regular posting schedule and keep up with interacting with others – I’ve been behind in both, so cut back my posting to try to keep up … I used to post 4X a week, if not more in the Summer. This is the first year that I’v not posted on the same day I walked/took the photos – unprecedented for me that I have some photos from last month, and maybe even late June … and more to sort. I think you’ll have fun with your blog and it’s a great place to showcase your artwork.
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Hi Brian – I e-mailed you to give you some information and to tell you I’m going to do the post this weekend, finally, hopefully, unless it is stormy as I don’t like to be on the computer in a storm. So, I used the e-mail that shows up when you comment and I got a failed mail. I wanted you to know – the message I got was below – I will try again, but you didn’t have a “contact me” on your site, but neither do I (been meaning to do it the last six years) … anyway, the message said:
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
Delivery to the following recipients was aborted after 9.7 hour(s):
**your e-mail address”
Reason: Temporary Failure
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Thank you. And odd about the email.
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Nope, that is not what showed up when you commented on my posts. I won’t put it here but it was a G-mail address. I’ll try the address you gave me and forward it to you.
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Brian – Just forwarded the e-mail … it was about writing at Patch.com (Wyandotte Patch) so I’ll remove your e-mail address from this comment so it’s not displayed.
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Wonderful photos Linda! This is Brian Spicer btw. WordPress ate my longer reply hah. Hope your well!
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Especially like the Black Swallowtail shots! 🙂
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Thanks Tom, I knew you would appreciate this fine butterfly specimen, and talk about cooperative, well that butterfly stayed and stayed, happily enjoying nectar while I was happily clicking away. 🙂
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I know where a lot of Black Swallowtails hang out but there are a lot of ticks there too… and i am elderly and don’t want to risk getting Lyme disease. There’s a lot of LD here (and all over the country).
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I know that all this rain has made horrid conditions in all our major parks – once again I won’t fulfill my list of parks where I wanted to visit this Summer due to LD and mosquitoes – we have West Nile here in Michigan and in Oakland County one person either died or was very sick from it this year. When I took the fawn pictures last Saturday, I really should have left right away as mosquitoes and flies were all over the place – I came home bitten all over my legs.
It was too hot to be encased in long sleeves and pants … this weekend will be better. The Black Swallowtails are just as pretty as the Monarchs, but the Monarchs get all the glory – maybe their regal name? We have a lot of Viceroys here – I looked at the chart to make the distinction and can’t always do it, even with the wings outstretched. Suffice it to say they are just plain beautiful creatures and I hope we never lose them. 🙂
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I just have to very very cautious about Lyme disease. I already have arthritis. My cousin got bit by a tick in her yard (that has no trees) and it did a number on her. She had a lot of aches and pains and became very lethargic.
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We had a weatherman (Rob Kress) in the 90s who got LD … he had to resign when his lethargy was so bad that it was a struggle to just swing his legs over the side of the bed and put his feet on the floor. The newspaper articles gradually dwindled – people wanted to know what happened and it was before social media … he had been a real down-to-earth personality. He had been up in northern Michigan where he believe he got the tick bite. The weather has not only hampered nature treks by rain and sogginess but a barrage of mosquitoes and ticks, I had intended to try a few more parks this weekend due to the cooler temps, but they are all near lagoons and marshes, etc. so I decided not to.
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Beautiful butterfly and flower photos! Looks like a fun place to walk.
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Thanks Rebecca – it is a beautiful place and I waited until I knew it was at its Summertime peak, bloom wise. They have 120 pots of flowers there and many acres of perennials, plus a community garden (plots) in the back of it – people raise produce and flowers and also the people who must serve community time through the court system, do so by tending to the fruit/veggie gardens, then the produce is donated to the local food banks. I’ll write on that later when I can catch my breath – been very busy at work.
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I look forward to hearing about it.
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Hopefully it can be soon Rebecca.
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Those butterfly pics are stunning! As I have been dwelling in the 60’s lately too, a reminder to everyone to “give peace a chance” by walking in nature like Linda does!
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Thanks Joni – I should have said in that post, that those were pics from the botanical gardens last Sunday. I was trying to get the post out before I dealt with the computer issues at work. I took a picture of that “groovy” poster and was still thinking I could use it somehow in connection with Woodstock, but since I likely won’t do a Woodstock anniversary post, I decided to just use it yesterday. The house at the bottom was one of a few miniature gardens they have in the gardens – that was the biggest. Probably I should have squatted down to get the house, etc. with a straight-on view at eye level. I might not have gotten back up though. 🙂 It was so hot that day … I am grateful for three days, beginning today, of cool and refreshing air.
How is your Woodstock outfit coming along? Could you make a peace symbol by fashioning it out of thin strips of aluminum foil which you would twist around the strips to make it look three dimensional like thin metal (and just fold the inner symbol part into the outer circle)? I’ll bet you could and hang it onto the beads … also we used to have a band of velvet that looked like a dog collar and it had a little peace sign hanging there. That I remember wearing and my parents would not permit me to wear alot of the fad clothes/accessories of the day, did allow that. I can hear my mom saying “really Linda – you look like a poodle with its collar on with that velvet choker!” Ah, the good old days. Thanks for your comment on nature photos – I have to say that the butterfly posed there for the longest time – I just stood there clicking pictures of him/her as it settled and drank the nectar. We were both having a good time on a Sunday afternoon.
I did make a sizable dent in Reader last night … about 2 1/2 days from being caught up. No posts for me this weekend … must do things on the home front, walk, catch up in Reader and sort and organize some of my pictures as I’ll be getting more pictures this weekend – at the rate I’m going it will be Labor Day before I sort everything out.
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I haven’t thought any more about the Woodstock outfit, but that peace sign is a good idea, as not likely I would be able to find one anywhere. I did look through the 17 magazines and took a few pictures to insert into the post. Today we went to view the Tall Ships Parade of Sails, but it was a bit disappointing, as it was more like a Parade of Masts, as not one of the six had their sails up, and there were half hour gaps between their appearance. I think it was too windy to have the sails up with all those tourists on board, probably a liability issue?
My pictures are not great, as when I uploaded them tonight, they are all too dark, as it was cloudy, and I realized the camera setting had spun over to Portrait setting instead of Auto, but not sure it would have made any difference. Oh well, I only need 3 or 4 for my Thurs post, and I can always see if someone on Facebook has some better ones with sails over the weekend. Not going near the place again, parking was bad enough today. PS. I remember those velvet chokers – my sister had a black velvet one with some kind of pearl pin on it – and yea, they looked like dog collars! I hope you get caught up with everything over the weekend, but don’t forget to walk, as it is supposed to be nice and fresh out!
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They were mentioning the tall ships at Sarnia yesterday on the news and they come to Bay City … a former coworker and her husband are both retired and often go up there to see them. I saw the “Christian Radich” back in 1976 as it was in the 200th anniversary of USA on the 4th of July. I saw it in Detroit and took a tour and then saw it when my friend (same girl as mentioned above) spent a week visiting my grandmother in Toronto and we went to the Exhibition where it was docked. I think we went on board again … it was fun and we did not leave shore though. I didn’t know they took you on trips – that would be fun and I’ll bet you’re right about the liability.
I will get out and walk and take some pics – was thinking of going to the Fairline Henry Ford House – maybe tomorrow … I mapped myself some places to go … have to work around weather and places that flood, the weather itself, festivals that close down some parks – all a pain. I have to do housework much as I hate it so no post this weekend – that kills me quite honestly as I have a lot of pictures and it will be Fall if I don’t hurry up and get it done. I am looking forward to Labor Day. I don’t like housework and don’t like it hanging over my head like this but due to my work schedule I got behind – outside … well it looks bad out there too but I have to deal with inside first. I caught up more in Reader but still about 1 1/2 days behind as of last night.
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They will leaving to go down river to Kingsville on Monday, or perhaps Sunday night when the festival is over, so maybe you can catch them then? There are six, the Santa Maria/Christopher Columbus replica was the best, and the Empire Sandy was huge. I didn’t think the masks were going to clear the bridge. Just disappointed no sails up. Laundry for me today to, and house stuff, and I need to prepare a submission for an art show in 2021. I have been negligent in my “agenting” duties, and forgot most of these gallerys book up so quickly. It does look like a beautiful day, so I will take the laptop outside, and the laundry can dry on the line. Hope you got your walk in.
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That’s a real shame … I could not cross the border into Canada even if I wanted to because I don’t have a valid passport and after 911, you must have a passport to cross, a green card will not do. You best not forget your “agenting” duties and leave your mom in the dark and no space to hang her work. 🙂 I thought of you today as this is what I did – I went back to Grosse Ile and had made myself a better map this time and found the nature preserve so spent about 90 minutes there, then went to Elizabeth Park (which is still flooded in spots) and walked about 4 miles there and then I came home. It was already after 1:00 p.m. and I was parked in the driveway and decided I wanted to stay out – it wasn’t hot or humid, so I went to my Sunday destination today. That Sunday destination was Fairlane, the Henry Ford and Clare Ford estate. Remember when I passed by it on the Mutt Strut in May? They are still renovating the inside (a work in progress since 2014). I went on the entire grounds of the estate – there were so many flower gardens to see and a pond – just gorgeous. Took tons of pics and I just nodded off typing this (walked 8 miles)
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Yes, I remember your post – as I would like to see inside and outside the Ford estate. I didn’t get any writing done today at all, just laundry, errands and stuff – feel like I never sat down all day, and now I’m too sleepy to read! I would be exhausted if I walked 8 miles…..I’m still tired from yesterday spending the whole afternoon in the sun and wind.
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I was exhausted and I kept nodding off and I’d see a line of letters in the comment – finally was in bed I think at 9:00 p.m. I will just do a quick trip to Council Point Park and then come home and work in the house – if I had not left it so long it would not be bad. I’m not even going to look at yesterday’s pictures – I took tons of pictures and I’ll get bogged down looking at them and not get anything else done. I’d love to do a short post, but am back to 3 days behind in Reader. We have some bad weather coming up this week, lots of torrential rain/possible flooding and also some storms and my boss will be leaving on a longer vacation end of the week so there will be a push to get some stuff done. The end of the week is better weather but it’s going to heat up again. It is exhausting to go at a pace like this and try to keep with everything, not just here on WP – remember when you did all your yard work in the Spring, then getting ready for the renovation – you’ve had a busy Summer too – and now we will try to just recoup some lost time and slow down (hopefully).
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It is exhausting trying to do anything. I sometimes wonder how I fit it all in when I was working….maybe I read less and didn’t blog then, but those are the things I enjoy the most. I am trying to do all the summer things now this month, before the weather turns. I just checked the forecast and we were supposed to have a sunny week with moderate temps and only one day of rain (Tues) when I am at hair appt. and now it’s chance of rain every day. I hope you at least got some rest for the week ahead, and sometimes having a clean tidy house can be a satisfying feeling….AFTER it’s done!
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I know it is exhausting Joni and I also wonder how I got it done, and my mom really was persnickety about how the house looked inside and outside – that post I wrote about housecleaning back in the day was not an exaggeration. She did a lot of the inside housework except vacuuming until the last few years. I did walk this morning and decided to just come inside and tackle the inside. Lots to do and should have done some laundry too, but just wanted to finish up – yes, I feel better now that I spent all day on it – will give myself a few week’s rest now. Hard to believe it is already Labor Day weekend in three weeks. I drove past a store yesterday that was featuring Halloween stuff. We have stores that open up for three months and you can buy anything for Halloween. So I saw one of those stores already open. We were just going to have the one day of rain originally (same day – Tuesday), but suddenly it has morphed into Monday night, Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon and off/on Wednesday. And, it has grown into a torrential rain with thunderstorms -they’ve spoken each time about the torrential rain and flash flooding, so that’s not a good thing – some people in this city had basement flooding and the garbage trucks were making pickups on Saturdays for almost a month just for water-saturated items. That’ll mess up the already-soggy parks. Elizabeth Park was still soggy in places yesterday. Last year I had to take the hose in and shut off the water right after Fall arrived as we were getting a hard freeze. So I think I’ll do that by mid-September this year and wrap up the outside faucet, etc. It was a fitful Summer.
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That’s a great description – “a fitful summer’! I love that, so true. Went to an outdoor art fair today, and bought a peace sign to go with my gauzy top for Woodstock. You know how they have tons of jewelry at those things, most of those booths I skip, but I asked if they had any peace signs, so she pulled one out, which is pinkish/burgandy like my top, so for $10 it was a bargain, and now I am at peace!
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How fun that you found a peace sign! Do you think they made them specially for the Woodstock anniversary? That is great and yes you are at peace, after a fitful Summer not only weatherwise but with the renovation – I’d like a redo of Summer myself! You must post a photo in your outfit and/or lay it all out on a bed and say here’s my 1960s garb and each piece I put on I reflected on what I was doing 50 years ago today – you therefore get around taking the photo, but maybe you can take some pics at the gathering, not necessary the residents … what say you?
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You are psychic sister! I was just working on the draft of my Woodstock post, and just wrote that paragraph where I am going to lay it out on the bed! I’m trying to figure out how to get some pics at the do, without faces, but if I can’t, I have plenty of other 17 mag pics and song links to break up the text. I’m having fun with it. I won’t post it until next week though, as it’s this weekend. I’m just trying to get a bit ahead, so I can start working on my mom’s gallery proposal – all four pages of it. I’m not up on the art world lingo so that is not my favorite part of art submissions.
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That’s funny – we do think so much alike Joni. I think it will be a fun post. A friend of mine from high school has a band which he has had for years. His band was geared to 50s and early 60s music and his brother’s band was more like orchestra music. My friend’s band “Little Davy and the Diplomats” are playing this week at a nearby park – they advertised that it is not Woodstock but showed a picture of them in their heyday. We used to go see them at their local gigs back in the 70s. Dave is a judge in Lincoln Park now and his brother is the City attorney – every year I say I’ll go to see them and it either rains or something comes up. I am wondering if they’ll dress like the Woodstock era. I wish I had enough to do a Woodstock-era post but I don’t. I think you’ll have fun … and I liked your mom’s painting on the roses post and meant to mention it.
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Thanks Linda re rose painting……I wish she would do oil painting again, but now she just does acrylics as they dry faster and have less smell. You should go see your friends band and take some pics, then you could work it into a Woodstock post! It would be fun. It’s funny to think of a judge and an attorney as being rock and rollers! I guess they could say, “I’m with the band”.
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Your mom could not paint outside right now either, not with our humid Summer we’ve had and dirt flying around in the air. I’m going to plan to pop over there if we don’t get any rain – they have rain forecast on/off for Thursday – thy are wrong half the timer though.
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Yes go and then do a Woodstock post on it!
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Not again!
Well, you can still bee punny… That’s a good sign. 😛 Keep smelling the roses! 🙂
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I love being punny. 🙂 I will try to keep smelling them and they have been more fragrant with this horrible humidity – today and all weekend will be cool … a breath of fresh air!
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That’s good to hear! As I’m sure I’ve said before, I despise the heat. Hopefully you’ll get to enjoy the pleasant weather without anything else going wrong. 😶
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Me too Rachel – When I came home and decided to go back out on another trek yesterday, it was because there was no humidity, and it was warmish, not sickening hot as it has been for weeks. I hate the heat and humidity too … you feel dragged out before the day begins. Just a short walk for me today at my regular stomping grounds then will come home and do some much needed yardwork and housework. I hope nothing else goes wrong for a while, at work or here … the weather, my work schedule (which is not the norm … it often slows down at work in the Summer) and the miscellaneous issues have made this season seem to go on forever.
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I love how you found delight in the day! This post is so fun. I love the photos too. Hang in there, Linda. I hope the computer got fixed!
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Glad you liked it Shelley. It was a nice trip around the botanical gardens and I didn’t share it in my usual “take a walk with me” way.
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You’re so creative, despite all the obstacles you’ve had this summer!
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Thank you Shelley – I want you to know I walked 8 miles today (and actually a little more as I walk in the house getting ready and after I take the pedometer off). I am worn out but it was so beautiful out – no humidity and not hot, so that I came home from the two parks I visited this morning and it was 1:15 … I didn’t feel like doing housework, nor starting that late,so I backed up and went to where I was going to go tomorrow. I did not even look at my pictures yet – I took a lot of them. I’ll go somewhere shorter tomorrow, like my regular park. I figured it was time to savor the sunshine and step away from the house.
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Excellent plan!
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crazy pretty garden!
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Yes isn’t it? They have 120 potted plants and flowers and 7 acres of perennials in back of the conservatory area plus a community garden – I took some photos of the community garden, but I’ve been swamped at work so not had a chance to post the pics and a narrative about them,.
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Another cute post.You should have been a comedian…lol Those pictures are so good!!! Still don’t have that darn computer?
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Thanks Diane – so you think I missed my calling? 🙂 The computers came back (both of them) … IT guy said there was a power glitch of some type … why do power glitches happen at inopportune times? My home computer got messed up from a routine Windows update.
As to Thursday morning, it was frustrating to be honest and I missed my walk – grrrr. I should have added that grrrr to my post. I think I mis-named my butterfly and it is a “Black Swallowtail” – they look similar, but for now it can have a second identity as a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly for this post- they are similar but one has spots and one has stripes. I’ll blame my boo boo on the heat.
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careful about rebooting…..you remember what happened at Jurassic Park!
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Too many reboots and I might blast off … or have an epic fail.
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Gorgeous photos, Linda! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a black swallowtail! I’m glad you had a chance to venture outside and reboot your brain! I do that too.
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I am glad you liked it Sabine – you have identified it correctly; I called it a Tiger Swallowtail and it is a Black Swallowtail. It was a gorgeous walk last Sunday and I walked 8 miles today at three different parks. For sure I’ll sleep good tonight!
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Wow! That’s quite a walk! I thought of you earlier! I was sitting outside and suddenly the hawk appeared out of nowhere! I’ll post about it soon. 🙋
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I feel it this morning Sabine – but at least I don’t have shin splints as I’ve been walking 5 miles during the workweek and 6 miles on all good-weather weekends. I’ve overdone it before and then paid the price with shin splints. I was in bed early though – all the fresh air and all those miles. The Fairlane estate alone was 1,300 acres and I explored every part I could that was not closed off due to renovation – it is a historical site as Henry Ford and wife Clara lived there many years and they have preserved everything as is, but the renovation is five years already and they hope to finish in 2020. I’ll look forward to seeing your pictures. I took a ton of pictures yesterday but not going to look at them as I have to get a few things outside and inside done today – I’ve put yardwork/housework on the back burner due to being so busy at work and trying to take advantage of the sunny days before we get a slew of bad weekend weather again.
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The weather has been funky here! We’ve had rain several times and it’s starting to feel a bit like fall! 😬 I hope I’m wrong! I have a bunch of yard work waiting for me too. Have a good week, Linda!
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Thanks Sabine – same to you. We have some torrential rain tomorrow night – they are already warning about that so I’ll take next weekend’s trek in a venue that’s more cement walkways since we still have flooding issues in most of the parks from back in April and May.
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Lovely!
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Thank you – so many blooms and the butterflies were just going crazy with them all, sipping the nectar.
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You’re welcome 😇
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ahhhh – how sweet to read that you were able to smell the roses.
and thjose butterfly photos are truly magnificent, Linda
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Thanks Yvette – it was really a beautiful day at the botanical gardens last Sunday. I have more pictures to share when I get a chance to organize them. And yesterday I went on the Henry and Clara Ford Estate and walked around, some 1,300 acres including many gardens – the birds, butterflies, bees in this natural setting – very beautiful. I figured I should do these things before Summer slips away and it was a nice change of pace from all those hours spent in front of the computer screen lately.
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Glad you are able to do your walls among such beauty!
And you must be super fit from all that walking – the hubs and I did a later afternoon walk today – (dinner guests canceled and so a social night turned out to be quiet and the weather was not the “oven heat” of last month so that was nice – and they are putting in new homes down the road so it has been fun walking gravel streets in development – was a little sad to lose the natural habitat but this home development was agilely
Supposed to happen in 2009 but things crashed with the 08 recession
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Anyhow –
Cheers to a good rest of your night
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I did another five miles Sunday morning and I’m sure 1 1/2 miles to 2 miles afterwarddoing the housework, even though it’s a small house. I am fit from the walking Yvette, but I am not limber – I really have to start doing exercises because I can’t haunch down if I want to take a picture close to the ground, or even squat down. I can’t climb down on my hands and knees to put stuff in the back of cupboards – I noticed that was difficult in 2011 so that is why I started the walking regimen, but I’ve got to do some limbering-up exercises – it is worrisome to not be able to do this despite all the walking. But I feel good and want to keep doing this regimen and have an exercise bike in the basement for Winter for as long as possible. Heart disease runs in my family – my grandmother and her 8 siblings all died from heart disease and my monm had an irregular heart beat. I was fine when I was given a heart monitor test and stress test on the treadmill, but that was when I turned 40. I don’t eat red meat and try to follow the Mediterranean diet as much as possible. I’d walk in the evening when cooler, like Fall but then dusk comes so early and the critter interaction at the Park doesn’t happen in the evening – they are in bed for the night. 🙂
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thanks for sharing – and I hope to start a podcast with some gentle yoga instruction (I teach Sunday nights and have folks who can’t come and I have been trying to get to making it for a while) and maybe it could help you limber up – I will keep you posted (been a little in the weeds lately with projects)
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That would be great Yvette – I’ve been the same way, behind in everything, including e-mails with friends and a few of my friends only send messages via Facebook. Lately, I’ll take a glance at my inbox, Facebook messages and Reader and feel overwhelmed, especially after staying late for work so many nights.
I know a woman from the park and she is now 64, but used to rollerblade every day on the perimeter path up until last year. I don’t know where she’s been this year. She is very agile though and she also teaches “chair yoga” to seniors at the Community Center. She also used to teach swimming at the “Y”.
The senior yoga is a popular program and they don’t move from their chair, yet go through all the moves. But I need more than that – I put my lack of flexibility to sitting so many hours which is not good for you in the least.
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Well not all chair yoga is the same – And most classes I have done have still given me a great workout – especially with this one teacher – but maybe give chair yoga another chance and try a few teachers –
Seriously – gentle twists can be done as well as core stretches that allow your energy to flow!!
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Thank you for the info Yvette. I can’t see getting a true yoga experience and workout by using a chair, even though it is popular with the folks at the senior center here in the City.
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well it just depends on how you define yoga…
The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word Yoga is ‘Yoke’
and my take on yoga is yoking the mind, body, and spirit.
Or simply put –
it is moving the body in a way that allows breathing and stretching to allow energy flow and health to flow through the body.
and any place can be done for this.
I know a seasoned yogi who suggests doing some mild stretches if in traffic.
So sitting there – at a stop of course and if one is waiting – they can do shoulder lifts – stretch wrists – deeply breath and do “box breathing to use deeper part of lungs”
–
and so trust me on this – I have had some darn good classes with a chair class – and I can do power yoga – I can do one arm balance poses like crow and I am still progressing –
but I was shocked when I had a great chair class.
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I know on the surface it seems for the elderly who are not nearly as fit as you – and that is a nice thing that it can help all levels of fitness – but anything
that allows to work on breathing
aligning (thoughts and body) and stretching so the blood and energy can flow through fascia
well this has much value
and again
it REALLY depends on the teacher and coaching
not all are the same and many yoga teachers (IMHO) keep folks away from yoga because they cannot teach effectively or they cannot customize to the needs of a class – etc.
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I took a yoga and pilates class once and the I was the only one who had not had this young woman instructor. Yoga was Mondays; pilates on Wednesdays. People took the beginner class so they could do the poses along with the teacher. They went so fast I could not keep up so I dropped the two classes and bought some CDs and never looked at them. I wanted the structure of the class, had she taken a slower approach. I think yoga would be the way to go to get limber – I really need to get limber.
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We really could share stories in many areas – we have much in common and maybe in this area too.
The wrong classes kept me away from yoga for 15 years!
my mom and I snuck out of a class because we re getting dizzy and sick. We had so much fun going to lunch and laughing at how horrid it was.
side note – I hate pilates –
but do try at least ten teachers for gentle yoga before you give up.
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I would like to try it again Yvette and will – probably when I am done working for good. I also read about how it is important when you get older to do exercises that help you to keep your balance because losing one’s balance is something that often causes sure-footed seniors to fall and break something. I’m always thinking about the future, not just for reasons like yesterday’s stock market crash and its implications, but healthwise.
I watched my mom’s constant battles with her health and she already had health issues before she got to her 70s and early 80s. I’ve seen others reach a rapid decline healthwise in their 70s … I have a while yet though. I try to get out for my walking regimen and in the Winter, I have an exercise bike downstairs so do that to keep my legs fit so I don’t have to start from scratch with small treks come Springtime. One Winter I was able to walk almost daily as it was a mild Winter, not much snow or ice at all –
this last Winter and before that (62 inches of snow) … it hampered the walking and kept me housebound. Snow and walking are fine but ice is a no-no. I’m not going to fall and break something.
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the balance is crucial – but also staying limber is injury prevention –
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and yeah – ice is bad – and I drove in some back in 2017 and was a fool – it was black ice and now I wait a couple hours – even if it means delayed
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I have to work on it this Winter – my bike can’t be any handier. Upstairs would be nicer for the bike, especially in the Winter as it’s cold downstairs, even though it is a finished basement, but there is absolutely no room up here for it.
That is smart Yvette – that glaze ice is so dangerous – one fall, one break can be so hard to recover from when you’re older.
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🙂
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Just the kind of beauty I needed to start my day. Thank you, Linda. :0)
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Thank you Pam – I was dying to write a post and use some of my photos I’ve been amassing, but haven’t had time to compile any posts due to a big project at work. Those butterflies were beautiful and so delicate; glad you enjoyed this post.
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A picture’s worth a thousand words, Linda. ❤️
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Funny you say that Pam because I am about to prepare my first “Wordless Wednesday” … I have a series of pictures of two birds, starlings I believe, in silhouette, and they are just like humans who have had a spat … they keep turning around to look at one another, yet they remain apart and one finally flies away. I’m going to have it publish tomorrow with one word: “Aloof” and hashtag “Wordless Wednesday” … hopefully people don’t think I’ve lost my mind. But, as you say, a picture’s worth a thousand words. 🙂
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That’s hilarious, Linda. I bet they were having a spat. We have a visiting cat this month (my daughter’s) and the two cats we have had made it clear they are not interested in being friends. 😂
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Yes, it was all in their body language Pam – I don’t believe I am saying that, but it was true. I just laughed at how they turned around and the other one was looking the other way – just like a couple of people where they raise their voices and then decide to make amends, but the other person is still holding out. Each one did this.
Maybe I read too much into it, or I was in the sun too long?! That’s funny with your cats too – when animals make up their mind about something, there is no convincing them otherwise. I have a warm woolen hat that I’ve had for decades – it came in handy while taking the bus downtown and it comes in handy in the cold for walking. My neighbor’s little dog does not “get” that I am the same person who will visit him at the fence and he’d wag his tail, then I’d be wearing that woolen hat and he’d snarl and bark, bare his teeth and back up (he’s very tiny, so no, I wasn’t scared of him on the other side of the fence). I’d go in for a quick visit with my neighbor in the Winter and have on the hat and he’d raise such a ruckus, I either had to remove the hat or he had to be put into the other room (and of course being banished for barking made him like me even less). 🙂
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Or maybe he just doesn’t like hats. Our sin came home the other day on his motorcycle while we were walking Apollo 🐕 and Apollo acted like he didn’t even know who was on the bike and we thought it was because of the helmet. 🤷♀️
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This is true, but it makes you scratch your head when a beloved pet, or a pet that is usually familiar with you, doesn’t recognize you in the least – no face recognition or scent recognition? My photos in today’s post look the same in several places, however, they are actually a series of photos … I wanted to put that in the post, but since it was a “#Wordless Wednesday# prompt, I wrote nothing.
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I am glad that you were able to put your frustrations aside and enjoy a walk in nature. Isn’t it amazing how calming and centering just being out in the fresh air can be? I’m impressed with how perky that pink hibiscus looks! We have a lot of hibiscus bushes around here, but I didn’t know they thrived towards the Midwest and east coast. Good luck in getting your computer up and running again, I know that they can be crazy-making!
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It has been a crazy Summer for things breaking Janis – I’ve had problems with my work computer and home computer, plus the garage door breaking and water tank breaking, among the bigger items this Summer that were frustrating, and my finger that I smashed in the new garage door. Thankfully I didn’t do more damage to my finger so I’m grateful for that. I do feel peace walking in nature and since we’ve had some erratic weather this Spring and Summer, I’ve tried to make the most of every weekend. That’s why I ended up walking 8 miles and visiting 3 venues this past Saturday.
Right now I’m weighing whether to go out this morning – it is a real feel of 85 and extremely humid and very gray out … I want those walking miles, but don’t want to get caught in a thunderstorm.
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Yikes! 85 and humid so early in the day! And thunderstorms! We’ve had a very mild summer so far… but late August and September are usually our hotter months. We are actually talking about installing AC for the first time ever.
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Yes – ugh, it was like walking into a sauna with the humidity so high and I stuck close to home as it looked like it would pour any minute. That’s amazing you needed no AC, but if you have ceiling fans, that will help. I wish I had them. I only set my AC to 76 unless it is very hot outside because I work from home and don’t move around a lot in the house and it gets uncomfortably chilly otherwise.
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Beautiful flower photos, I dont like the heat at all. I dont like 80’s and 90’s. I dont know how the flowers do it.
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This is the botanical gardens where I tried to get the hummingbird pictures. I have some pictures of some other butterflies that I’ve not used yet – it was in September and uncharacteristically hot that day. I had figured it was my last chance to get any hummer shots, but I got none, just butterflies.
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The butterfly is beautiful, I dont have one photo of a butterfly. We are coming up with all sorts of things to add to our photography bucket list.
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I really would like to learn more about the butterflies. One of the macro photographers/fellow bloggers (Tom Peace) often would chime in to identify wildflowers or butterflies (like this one was not a Tiger Swallowtail, but a Black Swallowtail and I never changed the title or the text), but he had a heart attack in December and has stepped away from blogging for awhile. He lives near a woods and takes many pictures of bugs, butterflies and wildflowers in his daily walks. We have 4 degrees this morning. I hope to get out for a walk, or at least take the car for a spin. Running late today as I decided to change the bed and do some laundry to keep the pipes warm and less to do this weekend … have to hunker down and get some work in the house done and step away from the computer.
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Good thing you get to work from home. To cold out today. I am doing the same, staying in and cleaning. Putting this house up for sale. So I am busy getting it ready. Have a good day Linda.
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Yes, I am grateful for working from home Sandra. I’ll see how it looks for a little drive this morning to give the car a run. I’m not sure if yesterday’s minimal snowfall (predicted 3-6 inches; got about an inch) made things slippery or not. I may get to the Park, but not sure. I need to catch up and guess that will be tonight and apologize for that. I had to work on this post which I only had the pictures read. You have your work cut out for you. I did the laundry this morning but have lots to do in the house so will be trying to get that done this weekend. Don’t work too hard; will catch up later.
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