Sunday, January 16

Early morning on the Little Darby

Downy woodpecker.

White-throated sparrow

One of my favorite birds of winter, the song sparrow.

This morning, like clockwork, my 19+ year old cat woke me at 6 a.m. demanding to be fed. I complied against my will, with eyes only partly open and then found my way back to bed. Five minutes later the meowing began, loudly as she is 19 and deaf, evidently not happy with my choice of shredded tuna and egg. I got up, but on principle, I refused to feed her again. I instead decided I would watch the day begin from the comforts of our hot tub overlooking the Little Darby. This morning was especially still outside. Cold and still. Most mornings the sounds from the interstate drift upstream, but not this morning. The first audible sound was the clear thin 2 note fee bee of a Carolina Chickadee. The sun was just peeking above the horizon and lighting the morning sky. A squirrel was chattering in a tree and the rustling beneath the tree suggested that another gray squirrel was getting a little too close to his cache of nuts. The birds, that until now had been silent and invisible, were flying in one by one, snatching a sunflower seed and retreating into the early morning opaqueness. First a tufted titmouse, then the chickadee followed by a downy woodpecker. Soon our blue spruce was edged by the outlines of house finches, brilliant cardinals and song sparrows. The feeding picked up in pace before settling into a steady fly in and fly out pattern. By now the warmth of the sun has roused the sleepiest of creatures. All are going about their day as they usually do. They fly, they sing, they scamper and scoot. They do not worry about what tomorrow will bring. Their only concern is to live today and in that reality, whether it be harsh or serene, they find happiness. (Luke 12:24-28)

This morning was brought to you by a loving God.

Tuesday, January 11

Trumpeter Swans on a wintery day.

Our new Mexican wolf sisters.

After an uneventful 8 1/2 hour drive back home Sunday, I am back to shoveling snow and today I finally took down our Christmas tree. Today was zoo day, but I didn't see any guests while I was there. I also didn't see any prairie dogs but I did ask the timber wolves if they had seen any. They weren't talking. Lost a close one last night at Grandview, 34-33, Mr. B told too many bad jokes to the officials and he got thrown out. Guess I have to take the blame for the loss. No practice tonight since school let out early. Stay warm everyone!

Friday, January 7

In the pool and ready to go.

Swimming with my teacher, and I even waited for my turn.

Using a kick board and working on my kicking skills.

Finished with my class and going up the stairs and heading to the locker room.

This morning we awoke to a nice dusting of snow. Our little Lily has been sick. The last 2 days she had been doing better but last night she was throwing up again. This morning Trish took her to her pediatrician while I took Luke to his swimming lesson. The doctor said that it doesn't appear to be a virus as she has no fever but to keep an eye on her. This afternoon she seems better and is now taking a nice long nap. Luke and I had a great day. His swimming lesson went great. He didn't seem to appear on any one's roster so they put him in a class with 3 other boys his age and he did really well. He was swimming on his back as well as the front crawl. He loved the end where they got to jump in the pool to the noodle. His teacher let them do an animal jump the second time around and he did an elephant jump. After swimming we went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and more fun. He is now sleeping and may not wake until tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, January 5

Check out the shooting form, and tonight he did much better waiting for his turn in line

Some stretching exercises before practice starts.

His dribble may be just a tad too high, but he sure looks cute!

Luke's fan club. Lily enjoyed watching all the action in the gym.

Soccer practice last night and as you can see there were kids everywhere.

I arrived in Dover, De right around 2:30 pm. on Monday. I made very good time, the weather was clear and very pretty and the traffic was very light the entire trip. Luke was waiting and watching for me from the window and as soon as I got there he was asking if I had his Christmas presents. We immediately had to unload the car and tear into all of the new toys and games. I used to worry that because I do not see him on regularly that he would forget me or treat me like a stranger when he first see me each time. God bless him, he acts like it was just yesterday and we pick up right where we left off. Yesterday we took his Gator for a spin around the block and then we had soccer practice in the evening. Both of those were adventures and quite entertaining. Luke is not really into the instructional part of team sports just yet but he did pretty good, I guess! Depends on who is looking at it. If I were the coach, I would feel a little differently than I do as a Grandmother. He did really good during the drink break and at the end when they ran from one end of the gym to the other.

This morning, around 6:30 am, I heard footsteps coming into my room and in he came, crawled into bed and slept beside me. He slept in until around 9, guess that soccer wore him out. That plus the fact that he stayed up with me to watch the OSU game. He had basketball practice tonight at the Y. He had the same coach as last night at soccer, Coach Josh, whom I am sure is not getting paid enough for coaching 3-5 year olds in soccer and basketball. But he seems pretty oblivious to the chaos and lack of listening skills as he moves around the gym to watch them as they work on dribbling, passing and shooting. It is pretty cold here, around 30, with a chance of snow Thursday and Friday. I'm having a great time with Luke and Lily and it seems very relaxing. Mr. B won his game last night and I think he enjoys the independence of staying at home.

Sunday, January 2

Bob & Addie Wilson, January 1, 1949.

Happy New Year! Our New Year's Day was rather uneventful. I spent the afternoon with my parents at the Madison House. It was their 62nd wedding anniversary. We had cake and some sparkling white grape juice to celebrate. (well Mom and I did, while Dad slept) Dad fell last week and even though the x-rays were negative, it is really swollen and Dad doesn't want to put much weight on it. Hope it gets better soon. We have noticed a significant decline in his health over the last few weeks. We did have our sauerkraut, sausage and potato pancake meal to bring in the New Year.

I thought I better write today because I am heading to Delaware in the morning and I will be quite busy over the next 5 days playing with the kids. What I really mean is that I will be exhausted at the end of each day and may not have the energy to post a blog. I will try to put up some pictures of Luke playing basketball and soccer. He is signed up at the Y. This is his first week and I am excited to see exactly what it is this 3 year old will do in a team situation. Should be fun. I think both Luke and Lily are also taking swimming lessons that start this coming Thursday and Friday. My car is packed like Santa's sleigh with all the presents that couldn't make the plane trip back to Delaware after Christmas.

I pray that everyone may have a prosperous, joyous and healthy new year sprinkled with numerous blessings. And remember, "life doesn't have to be perfect, to be wonderful" (Annette Funicello) Here's to a wonderful 2011!!