Darn, He Knows I Fell Asleep...

Today I was scheduled to be on a photography trip to the Smokey Mountains, enjoying the Spring wildflowers and the view from those glorious mountain tops. Ofcourse I am not there, nor will I be on my scheduled river boat trip with Uniworld in June from Passau (Berlin) to Budapest on the Danube River. And at the top of my bucket list was a trip to Africa in August to marvel at the animal migrations, which also isn't happening. So many plans, dissolved in our new world. All these adventures, except for the Smokey Mountains involved airplane travel. I honestly don't know when I will feel comfortable on long flights that are required to tour those lovely places. Perhaps if all those brilliant scientiest that are working toward finding an effective vaccination and if they are successful, will bring comfort and confidence to once again resume a somewhat normal life . Praying. I know eventually we will recover, it's a matter of time, patience, and adhering to the safety guidelines.

On May 1 our govenor mandated that all wear masks when in a public place. I'm surprised it took this long for this to happen, altho my guess is that all will not obey. I told my girlfriends at least a month ago that the next biggest fashion craze would be designer face masks.  Not claiming bragging rights, but have you checked Etsy lately?  For literally a scrap of material, minimal elastic and voila a face mask for $20, $30 or higher. Creativity and resourcefulness at its prime. I've seen some pretty impressive fabrics made into face masks. Before this whole thing is over our mask collection may rival our jewelry collection. I just ordered the one below...

I just returned from my almost daily walk with Lily, it's beautiful, sun shining 70 degrees, and blooms bursting. I was surprised by how much the neighborhood resembled a regular Saturday, couples working in their gardens, men mowing lawns, kids fishing at the lake, bicycles racing by, flowers in pots ready to be planted. You could almost forget for a few moments about the alarming world beyond.

A neighbor that I had not talked with or seen for quite a while called me this morning. It was so good to hear her voice. We chatted for over 1/2 hour, sometimes silly chatter, sometimes more serious. She tries to reach out to those she hasn't seen or spoken to in awhile to let them know she is thinking of them. I felt blessed to be in her thoughts. I am hoping that by writing this blog that I am reaching out to you, all of you that have read my blog in the past and those of you that have returned to read my ramblings.

OK now it's Sunday, I never managed to finish this yesterday, but today on my Lily walk with camera hanging around my shoulder I snapped some beauties as we traveled. With our spring-like temps and rain earlier this week, spring blossoms are in abundance.  I noticed quite a few neighbors have purchased pots of flowers ready to plant and I also heard that the garden centers were overflowing with customers this weekend. After Mother's Day is my start date for most of my plantings plus I really don't want to be in the midst of the masses on the weekends.

Our church has on-line services on Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM, most of the service like the music, the prayers, the readings from the Bible are all pre-taped. The only segment that is live is our Pastor Pat with his sermon for the day. He began a new series today, and today our focus was on Psalm 139, Pastor Pat asked us to close our eyes and listen closely to the words...."Oh Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me."  After reading it a second time, he asked us to open our eyes, but Deanna had unfortunately slipped off to sleep and did not wake up until Lily barked and Pastor Cindy was repeating the Lord's prayer.  I guess being in my PJ's and sitting in my comfy chair is not the wisest place to focus and listen to our Sunday morning service. Fortunately the services are taped and we can re-listen, which I did. The phrase "God knows everything about me...." darn He knows that I fell asleep. Next week I'll be better.

Until next time...stay safe, stay well,