Sunny Stella

Testing 123

This is a test and I will leave it if it works. I have used a PC for years and wanted to try a Mac, so I ordered one from Apple. It is so different. Since I will be taking this little Macbook that I am typing on now with me to France, I must be able to post pictures to my suseinfrance blog! So far I haven't figured out where my pictures go or how to get to them.

Tonight I worked in the Children's Program, a strict behavioral model, at our hospital and took a few pictures there for my "blogging with Apple" test. I will now try to post some of the bulletin board and the therapy dog - that is if I can. Here goes.

Travel Break

Thursday of next week, I will be off on my dream trip. France here I come! For now, I am going to put this blog to rest so I can focus on getting ready. Until then . . .

Flowering Tea

What an adorable Mother's Day gift I received! The package came with the glass teapot and five dried bouquets of tea leaves tightly sewn together with a flower in the center. To prepare, drop one bunch into the little pitcher, pour boiling water over it, and watch the flower unfold. It is not only beautiful and entertaining, but the tea is delicious as well.

...and the thing called love.

it's not the fleas I remember but the cat
it's not the bother I remember but the love

...and the moon up above

Here is this evening's crescent moon before dark, seen through the leaves of the old tree, just like the lyricist wrote years ago. At 8:30 this evening, it was beginning to reflect a little of the sun's brilliance. I was just lucky I suppose. I didn't know it was Astronomy Day. The lovely moon, the lesser light to rule the night.

...and the trees

One of my favorite trees is this one in the courtyard where I work.
Trees...man's best friend.

...and the flowers

Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees.....

These days in the spring when there is no need for heat or air conditioning (as well as similar fall days) are so enjoyable. Being outside or even inside with the windows open, the clean air and the warmth and light of the sun are soothing to the soul. Early in spring when I first delight to the songs of birds awakening me, I'm in heaven. Now I say...those darned birds. So noisy in the morning! The blue jays and robins, little wrens and crows all seem to have some issues living harmoniously together. And summer gardens can be a challenge. Birds pluck up newly planted seeds almost as soon as they go in the ground. I assume the pecking they do when looking for earthworms is one of nature's ways of tilling? And those cute bunnies? I once had a few strawberries but no more. The quick and competitive rabbits got to them first. Silly me, I almost feel an obligation to take care of the rascals and hope they will enjoy the plentiful wild strawberries scattered around my back yard jungle. I think the carpenter bees have been diverted from my cedar house by the honeysuckle growing on the fence in the back. Thank goodness. And it is always fun to see what perennials have made it through to spring. Because we had enough rain, my heliopsis and obedient plants seem to be having a robust start to the season. I look forward to the pretty flowers and veggies to come, but for now I will just breathe deeply and enjoy my time in this season of light.

Sligh is in Town

The mail brought Chris Sligh's new CD that I had ordered, right in time for me to listen and get familiar with the songs before the concert tonight. I am a fan. I think he is a really good singer. Empty Me is his first released single and is in the top twenty on the contemporary Christian charts. This evening I signed up to help with the concert in some way. Maybe I will take tickets or sell drinks. Whatever. I am looking forward to it.

Best Local Store

Today my little tomato plants were ready for planting but I still needed to buy some stakes. I figured Wilson's would have them. Wilson's has everything! The store is one of the things I like about Greenville. It is much like a dime store of old but messier and packed floor to ceiling with stuff. What doesn't it have! It is where I go to buy my reading glasses, grandchildren treats, and any little seasonal stuff I need. Of course they had tomato stakes: wooden ones and bamboo and plastic poles of varying heights as well as heavy wire cages. Now it's off to the garden I go.

Calla Lily and Friend

Sticking My Head Out

I was just reading about the Emirates Airline, the seventh largest airline in the world that I had no idea existed. (After all, I must think outside the backyard and the hospital from time to time.) Coming from the wealthy UAE, the planes must be new and beautiful, i.e. safe, and provide excellent food and service. Photographs of the massively opulent buildings in Dubai have landed in my email inbox, and at first thought I thought they were a hoax. Not the case. The towering structures for business and the grandiose entertainment complexes are mind boggling! This relatively new country/government sure has a lot of money to spend, gazillions apparently. Then a Bible verse came to mind: "The foolish man built his house upon the sand....And great was the fall of it." I had always taken this in a figurative sense, but there is nothing on which to build in this part of the world but sand. Maybe it is prophetic and not just figurative. Time will tell . . .

Variations on the Spring Theme

Another iris picture. I had wanted irises for so long and am now pleased to have a few.

Another caterpillar picture, but I couldn't resist. He was so cute munching on the leaf.

What won't they think of next!

May I introduce SimMan, a computer operated body simulator. Mannequins such as these have been used for training in nursing and medical schools for several years now, and in action, they are fascinating. They can be programmed to have many physical things go wrong with them such as respiratory failure or DTs. They can be used for practice in feeling pulses, checking blood pressure, and giving injections. They can be ventilated and intubated. SimBoy (though I think he has another name from the company) keeps SimMan company in this lab and helps students learn to work on an adolescent body. But I think the coolest sim must be the one I have not seen, a female model that simulates giving birth. Students can learn to tend to the mother in labor and then the infant. I have been wanting to get into the lab and take a picture for my blog. I finally got to do it today.