Similar Work?

As I was passing through Hendersonville today, the message center on my dash flashed an exclamation point and the warning to "check tire pressure." Fortunately I was right in front of an old garage when I saw it, so I pulled in and told the attendant my plight. He was wonderfully helpful and checked all the tires finding the back passenger tire to be at twenty, possible from a slow leak, and pumped some air into it. Asking if he could do anything else and then almost refusing to be paid (though I did) I thought how I can't remember having a bad experience with a mechanic when I really needed one. Maybe they are like nurses, I thought, except they help cars instead of people, or in my case both cars and people such as this damsel (dame) in distress.

Father Knows Best

For the second time in the past three years, our plans to move have not materialized. Honestly...I thought the house would sell right after I retired, that we would settle in to our new home and, by now, be kicking the sand at Wrightsville Beach every sunset. But here we are, same as before. That's OK. I trust the one who knows the plans for me. And besides, after the almost four month sabbatical, I am happy to be back at work in many ways, and none more than the connections with the people. Today the lyrics from "We are Family" popped in my head as I had "all my sisters with me." With the house off the market again, and a commitment to show up at work when needed, it will probably be a while before we attempt to reach the Promised Land of Wilmington again.

Beautiful Blue Butterfly

I was thrilled to get a picture of this lovely little blue butterfly as it lit on blade of grass. It looked almost unreal as if it were a picture cut from a book. The outside of the wing is whitish and the inside is a periwinkle. I looked on line for some ID and the only one I came up with is a Karner Blue. If that is correct, they are endangered and have a life span of only three and a half days.

Katydid

I haven't had much success finding photographic bugs this year. I wondered if the cold winter really did kill a lot of them. Since it's overcast and not hot today, I decided to go out early and look for some willing subjects. My best find was in a large sage plant. I saw two stealth like, fascinating creatures, a large grasshopper sitting on a leaf surveying his domain and a camouflaged, leaf looking katydid. I thought the large katydid was cool enough to have a post of its own.

Lazy Day

The granchildren have gone back to Tennessee and the house is quiet. the weather has been overcast and still, and now a soft rain is falling. My fluffy black cat is sitting on the back of the couch looking out the window. It is a perfect day for reading. I am finally getting into Pillars of the Earth, which along with World Without End, were recommended when I was in France two years ago because of the historical aspect. I hope it will capture me. When I was eighteen and a freshman in college, I took a speed reading class that to this day interferes with my enjoyment of a book. (On the positive side however, I can zip through a medical record faster than anyone.) I remember a sleepy Sunday when I was a teen, before the year of the speed reading infirmity, when I read My Cousin Rachel, the first of the Daphne du Maurier's novels that I loved. On to the couch!