A Full-time Life

SMILES -- REARRANGED

 

Nothing much new under the sun this week.  Or actually under the rain and gray clouds.   Rain is definitely needed, so I'm not feeling sad about it at all.  And besides there are photo-worthy skies in the archives.  Here are a few I re-arranged:

 

 

These six pictures are from four of our favorite states.  Can you guess which?   There's a hint (and an answer) at the end of this post.   

 

 

 

No hint  at the end about the above plant, but information from any experts is always welcome.  It's fascinating that it has green flowers!   There's a whole bed of them in a neighborhood garden I walked past last week.  

 

Random soft color from a neighborhood walk before it started to rain. 

   

When I said nothing much new happened last week, I meant in a blog-worthy way  -- the camera didn't get much of a workout.  But things happened.  We read, we walked, we ordered groceries, we cooked, "we" worked on getting our tiny trailer ready for some future trips ... 

 And, as usual these days, we got a delivery or two. Now honestly, does every photo-blogger have a mental list of  things they wish they'd snapped a picture of?  My long list now includes the new mattress FedEx delivered last week. It arrived  vacuum packed and rolled in a box light enough for the two of us to carry from the porch.  Then we watched it magically inflate to a lovely 14"- thick queen-size as soon as the tight wrapping was removed.  I wish I'd taken a picture of that!  It's kind of amazing -- sure beats the old way when a mattress purchase took two furniture store delivery persons . (Of course this time we had to move the old one ourselves -- that was the harder part.) 

 

 

One of these "wildflowers" is not like the other.  Can you find it?   Oh wow it's another puzzle.  Every open space along the walking path is covered with these little jewels, in about the same proportion seen here.  All so spring-like and pretty.  I refuse to call them weeds.

 

 

 

This collection may help with the sky photo locations.  These animals and birds are from the same four states as in the sky photo  -- re-arranged in the same order.   (* see below link ups)

Thankful this week for the rain (but also kind of glad the sun has peeked through occasionally); for the new mattress that feels almost like it was custom-made for us; and for travel -- both memories and future trips now in the early planning stages. 

 

Linking this week to the following:  Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;    TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS     

 

Top row L-R:   Colorado, Florida, Oregon.   Bottom row:  Oregon, Colorado, Washington.

 

THE COLORS OF APRIL

 It's a  real feast for the eyes around home this month.

 

From the flamboyant ... 

 

to the delicate.

 

 

From the brightest colors, 

 

 

To the  softest pastels

 

 

 

All arrayed under clear blue April skies.   

 It's Springtime in Oregon.

 

We are grateful to have received our second dose of the Covid vaccine last week.  It feels like we are on our way to almost normal.  I am looking forward to a little travel,  but a walk along the river reminds me to be patient.   Good things come to those who wait.

 

 

 

Sometimes it is best just to relax and drift along.  

 

 

 

One more smile for the week -- this picture texted to us from our son who is in Florida right now.  That is their big beautiful dog Max (whom we haven't yet met) meeting a feral parakeet of some kind.      Geoff said the bird flew down and almost landed on the dog's nose.  I am sure the  bird is an escapee, but it  will probably do just fine in that sub-tropical climate.    (I am reminded of the movie and book "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.)  

 

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts.

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  and SATURDAY CRITTERS 

A COVID-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

The eleventh of April marks an anniversary of sorts for us.  One year ago on this date we arrived at home after an earlier-than-planned trip back to Oregon from Florida.  (Due to Covid, Oregon felt like a safer place to be.)   While Oregon is our home, both officially and in our hearts, we have been fortunate to call the Florida Canal Cottage our snowbird-season home for the past dozen years.  

 

 April 2020

So it's been a long time since we have lived in one place for an entire twelve month period.    A year ago, we arrived home to see Spring flowers we haven't seen blooming for years.     The first picture I took when we arrived  was of the tulip garden under our daughter's and son-in-law's black walnut tree.  We parked our travel trailer on their property, said a quick and masked hello (hard not to hug) and went home to our Oregon apartment to self-isolate for the prescribed two weeks.   

 

May, June, July 

 

Watching the seasons change has been one of the year's simple pleasures.   Because we wouldn't be traveling this year,  it was a good one  for a "tree watch" -- observing the same tree every month (even if the year started in April and ended in March).    It's been interesting to notice seasonal changes in many of the different trees we see on walks and drives, but I chose the Black Walnut both because it was the first picture I took on our return and because it is such a magnificent tree. 

 

August

 

It has been twenty-four years since we've spent a whole year in one place.  Before we bought the Canal Cottage in Florida, we were full-time RV travelers for almost another twelve years.      Here is a link to our page that tells a little about our full-time life.   I just now looked at that page myself for the first time in  years  -- it  needs to be updated.  Our Canal Cottage looks much better in real life now -- we have extensively remodeled and improved it.  And also, for some odd reason, Bill and I look many years younger in the picture on that page.  

 

 

September, October, and early November 

 

We have spent at least part of the Summer/Fall seasons in Oregon during all of those two dozen years.   And before that of course it  is here where we owned our home and raised our family.  (I sometimes refer to those years as our previous life.)      So the walnut tree's Fall changes are more familiar to us.   Not   as dramatic as in some other Autumn foliage here, but obvious .   

 

Late November

 

From late Spring through most of the Fall, we enjoyed socially-distanced family visits under the walnut tree. I didn't take many  pictures during those gatherings.    But our great-grandson gave us this photo op that was way too good to miss.        

 

December  and January

 

Social distancing was more difficult when the weather turned too chilly to sit outside.  And of course it was during these months when we would normally  have left for sunny climates.    Our memories (from that former life, before we retired) were of chilly, rainy, gray days every day all day for months.   But this year we had some blue sky days and most weeks we were able to get outdoors at least once.   (It is possible our memories are faulty -- maybe in our former life we were at work during the pleasant winter days -- maybe it was only on the weekends when it rained all day.) 

 

February 2021

So we made it through the winter.  Although it certainly wasn't as warm and sunny as we'd gotten used to lately,  we knew all the time that we had made the right decision for us when we hurried home in the previous March.

 

March 2021

 

It has truly been a joy to be here for the arrival of Spring  -- we had almost forgotten how lovely the season is here in Oregon.    Though we know challenges remain, we  are  grateful  to have made it through this Covid Year safely and more pleasantly than we had thought possible a year ago.      We continue try to remember to treasure every day of every month --  no matter where we call home. 

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities with thanks to the hosts:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and FRIDAY  BLISS;  

A WALK ON THE WILDER SIDE

 

Really not very wild at all, but the path where I took a long walk last week is about as wild as we get these days.  The area around this section of the river  path is a little less-developed than the part closer to our home.    

 

 

I drove about a mile and a half to a parking lot to start this walk .  So  it is really sort of within walking distance, but then I'd be too tired to actually do the nature  part by the time I got there.    Which would definitely spoil the purpose.   

 

 

 

The path goes along the Willamette River and some of the ponds created when old gravel pits were reclaimed by the City.  The river bike/walk path system and the Delta Ponds are definitely two of the best things about Eugene.

 

 

The usual ducks -- and lots of them.  But for some reason they didn't want to swim very close to the people path.

 

Great Blue Heron

 

 

Western Pond Turtles

 

So many turtles!   They were everywhere.  I counted over twenty on one log.  

 

 

American Coot

 

The weather has been lovely.  March went out just the way it came in -- like a lamb.   We are thankful for that!  In the "tamer" neighborhoods around home,  more Spring flowers bloom every day.  We continue to enjoy our first real Spring-like Spring in many years.  (Because we've been in Florida and Florida is different.) 

 

 

Tulip Magnolia

(This one is at our daughter's and son-in-law's home.) 

 

 

LINKING THIS WEEK to the following sharing opportunities:

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  SATURDAY CRITTERS;    and RATHER B' BIRDING