Scattered Thoughts . . .

The other day, the family finally got together at our house for the first time since Christmas.  The plan was to reveal the newly renovated playhouse to the grandchildren and have a little backyard barbeque.  We hadn't been together in such a long time because the pandemic put a hold on everything and a few of us were quite sick during this time.  Everyone seems relatively healthy again so that is good too! We revealed the playhouse.  The kids were excited.  We played some outdoor games, the kids played with the walkie-talkies, Kenzie played with her dollhouse with Ellie, Lukey got to run some trains, and we had a nice dinner that was cooked in the newly finished outdoor kitchen.  There was a little bit of light rain at one point but we had a canopy already in place for such a contingency so that was no problem whatsoever.   I have a bunch of photos that I will share on another day but, for now, I put together a relatively short video that includes the playhouse reveal as wel

We had a very busy Saturday... first, we went to lunch for a little 'going-away' meal with Adam... then we headed to the airport to say goodbye to Adam (I'll write about this another time and add some photos)... then we went to a really nice Independence Day party at Tom and Karen's house. By the time we were heading to the party, I was exhausted and my health was teetering on being quite lousy. My health has been bordering on poor since a little incident at the lake that simply took far too much out of me and I'm still trying to recover. Fortunately, I was loaded up on extra medications throughout the time at the lake house and even more so once my health deteriorated so I am in much better shape than had I not pre-medicated.   When we arrived at Tom and Karen's on Saturday evening, I planted my exhausted mind and body in a chair and stayed there. Even socializing required more energy than I had that night.  Sheila and I just sat and enjoyed the company

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I believe Sheila had the nicest Mother's Day she has had since I have been in her life.  I'm very happy for her since there is no doubt that she certainly deserves it! What is very odd, and highly unusual, is that I did not shoot a single photo all day long to capture this great day in photos.  Rarely does an event occur without me shooting a few hundred photos!  Before everyone arrived I managed to find some time between preparing food and removing clutter in the house to prepare my photography gear for some photos.  I even had two cameras ready with different lenses for different purposes and a flash gun all set to go with freshly charged batteries and a diffuser.  The day went by so quickly and I stayed so busy all day with food prep that I never had time to pick up a camera. Adam (Sheila's son) did most of the house cleaning.  He vacuumed the entire house...  dusted everything...  and he even cleaned the bathroom.  His years as a c