Joy

It was a heavy-hearted weekend. The shock of losing my dad so quickly, hours on the phone making necessary calls and decisions from afar, not being able to get ahold of Rick for HOURS, going to church and facing all the condolences, family conflicts rearing ugly faces; I tell you, the business of death is HARD!

But by yesterday afternoon, we finally learned it is all out of our hands. What my dad and his financial guardian intended as a will isn't, and wouldn't hold up in a court of law. Others are taking control of memorial service details that I figured would be my domain; so be it. To me, nothing in this is worth fighting for, if it would damage relationships; I've held that position all along. Thankfully, a key other seems to be there now, too. What a relief!

My old iPhone has been glitching lately, and the problems reached a peak on Friday when having a functioning phone was critical (of course). Rick decided we needed to remedy that, so on Sunday we did some research and then went to Costco. Having a phone is a necessity; having a new "camera" to play with is dessert! (I've almost abandoned my digital cameras because all they all have dust inside the lenses that create spots in my photos.)

Monday I took some flower pictures before leaving for work; the new phone captured some nice detail (I encourage you to click to biggify):

On the way home from work, I had time to stop here and there to shoot what caught my eye – a luxury I rarely have. I kept my four favorite photos and played with various filters, choosing a different one for each photo. Fun!

This morning while we were eating breakfast, a bluebird landed on the bracket for the hummingbird feeder. We watched a pair flit between bird box and house, the female seeming to favor our house over the little wooden box. I waited for a chance to document her interest, figuring I would get a silhouette, and was surprised the camera actually captured some detail. I posted this photo on Instagram with the caption, "I kid you not; the bluebird of happiness is knocking on our window this morning – repeatedly!"

Later in the morning, from a different position and with better light, I captured these:

Thank-you, Lord; I haven't felt this light-hearted in weeks! "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 30:5 I'm sure the tears aren't over, but joy is here, too.

P.S. Thank-you for all YOUR condolences!

That's it for today from . . .

Radio silence

My dad is gone; the hospice nurse found him this morning. No clue how the next days/weeks/months will go, so that's it for now from . . .

Toe-tapping Tuesday

Here are two sets of fiddle tunes from Brian's violin lesson on Monday.


That's all I have time and energy for at . . .

Spring, Easter, & April Fools' Day

No need to wait for May flowers around here; anyone who's followed me for awhile knows the Willamette Valley has flowers almost year-round. But the colors really start popping now through early fall, as evidenced by a little walk around our place,

and a longer walk around the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge.

(Okay, so those last two photos aren't of flowers, but I thought they were pretty just the same.)

It's a cool Easter here (started a fire in the wood-burner to warm up the house), but nothing like the 6-8" of snow that's fallen in some parts of Nebraska. 😱

No April foolin'; from the looks of Blake's neck, I'd better start rooing! (Right after I collect mid-side samples from everyone for micron testing....)

I am so behind at . . .