Things I missed

I realize I haven’t posted for a while. That’s ok because some of you are diligent, and your consistency makes up for the rest of us. Thanks! ❤

I was last with you in March, and I posted a single April entry about a hike to see pictographs on the Columbia River. I’ve merely had life going on since March, and I’m more motivated to be away from my desk, so if you wondered – don’t worry. Here’s a bit of a recap: Pedro’s shop is done being constructed, and is now being furnished and equipped. It’s exciting! I’ll save that post for a few of you who are interested, and dedicate a whole topic to the new workshop. The place with the best photos since then was our walk in the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, which I will also make into a separate post.

In addition to that, we’ve done some cool stuff with his kids, we’ve started to put in a garden, we stayed at a McMenamin’s hotel, we’ve resolved a chicken issue (for now), and I spent most of a week in Annapolis. During all of that, our world has been bursting with colour! I’ll throw up a couple of photo galleries of just flowers.

Our feathered ladies have responded well to longer and warmer days by laying many eggs! Pedro has shown his natural tendencies to bring anyone nearby into his protective fold, and he has bonded with the girls and worries about them even more than I do. I think that is adorable. He had a very hard time coming to the conclusion that we needed to clip the wings on Cyndi Lauper. She’s high spirited and loves to fly! Any time she spotted us in the yard, she wanted to join us, so she would fly over the fence and dig up the garden and poop all over the deck. The havoc was bad enough, but she also could not figure out how to get back inside her pen to safety. Pedro built the fence higher and higher, and she figured out how to overcome it each time, and soon spent most of her time outside the pen, tearing up my garden and getting herself lost. She was missing once for about 48 hours. I did research on wing clipping, but Pedro couldn’t bear the thought at first. Finally we were desperate. I clipped one side (it’s perfectly painless), and that wasn’t enough. I clipped the other, and she has not escaped again. Come over, and I’ll give you a dozen eggs.

Every so often, we take the time to go do something new. They are mini-dates: just choose a new restaurant, or a park, or a neighborhood, and drive over there and check it out. I can’t remember what took us to Hawthorne Street, but this was my ‘hood when I first moved to Portland. Being there always makes me nostalgic. I love this street.

I somehow got myself invited to join two separate groups of crafting women. Crafters are certainly an established culture, and I am not really one of them, but I do love being surrounded by the creativity and being encouraged to create only for the fun of it. I am a creative person and this activity is good for me. Also spending time with women is good for me. I love having girlfriends, but I do need to be pushed into interacting with them, since it’s not the instinct of an introvert.

I get comments frequently from people stating that I’m not an introvert because I get along with people so well and I have lots of friends. You can spot an introvert by how they recharge their personal energy levels. Talking with people exhausts me, 100% of the time, no matter how much I am smiling. Though it’s fun, it’s a pure drain. The only way for me to rest is to be absolutely alone and not speaking or hearing voices like on TV. I have multiple friends who seek out other friends when they are feeling tired or low. They recharge by being with people they enjoy. Can you relate to either of these kinds of recharge, or is it different for you? You might be an ambivert, who can get an energy boost from either of these, depending on the circumstances.

In the past two months our back yard has come to life and it has truly been astounding to watch. Spring is filled with gifts for us here, because we moved in during August. Almost every blossom and type of plant is a surprise, and we are delighted.

Pedro and the kids make baking requests sometimes. They love a type of Mexican bread called bolillo, and I worked hard till I can get that right most of the time. Then Pedro asked for ciabatta bread. That came out nearly perfect on the first try, but it takes two days to make, so I won’t do that one often.

Pedro and I were both reminiscing about making ice cream by hand when we were young. Before I knew it, he had bought us a new ice cream maker, and we tried it out.

I taught in Annapolis in April and had the great experiences I always have. VFW employees are an excellent group of people and they are always eager to learn about how to serve veterans better. I love the feeling that I can help them, and help vets. The most remarkable photos from that trip are the ones on approach to the Baltimore airport. We got a good look at the wrecked Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The neighbors next to us have a pink flowering dogwood and we have a maple with red leaves out front. The Spring sunset comes in through the office window now, and that view is super pretty:

One last thing; I got a haircut. I like it.

Now I have things piling up again, so you’ll see more posts as I bring you along on my various adventures. Hugs to you! Enjoy your Spring! Or Autumn! And Happy Belated Mother’s Day to the mothers, and since I gave out a lot of these greetings this past weekend: Happy Mother’s Day to People in the Role of Mothers, because there are a lot of you, and you work hard too. ❤