Hanging in There

Isn’t this goldfinch adorable? I captured its picture several weeks ago while it was hanging on the thistle seed sock outside our kitchen windows. This tweeter was still in the process of molting and acquiring its bright yellow color for the summer season. The scruffy appearance is part of its charm!

Since our return from vacation, we’ve been hanging in there as well. Hubby has been busy taking care of the household chores, and I jumped right back into the consulting workload waiting for me. We got all the herb plants potted up before we left town. Today we got some beautiful geraniums (with velvety rose-burgundy blooms!) tucked into clay pots for our outdoor metal plant stands. The flowerbeds in front of the house are looking pretty good right now. Hubby has taken care of the weeds and given everything a dose of Miracle Grow fertilizer. We still don’t know when the yard service will deliver and spread mulch because the management company is not answering our e-mails.

The landscaping project is still a work in progress. We had to do some serious talking with the owner this week. We signed the contract almost 3 months ago, and this little job has been dragging on with little communication from the company. Except for applying some Roundup to enlarge the mailbox’s flowerbed, nothing got done while we were gone or the week before that. So we were happy to finally see the little stone walkway/pad installed this past Thursday. It looks lovely - yeah! And we are now scheduled to have sod delivery and placement  in the backyard early next week. The expanded flowerbed should also be done at the same time. We are anxious to get it all behind us and be done with the frustration!

I plan to make one of the items for my grand 500th post giveaway. That task is on my to-do list for tomorrow. So there is a bit of a delay in getting the celebration post and picture prepared. Your continued patience will be rewarded! I promise!

I finally got all of my New Mexico photos transferred this afternoon from the digital cards to my computer, including the external hard drive backup. You would think that it would be an easy thing to do. Right? Wrong! The installation of the new Lightroom program slowed me down to a crawl. I don’t know how to use it and I’ve had no spare time to learn! The process has been trial and error so far. Mostly error, ha-ha! I’ve been itching to get a HDR photo editing program too, but now I’m wondering if one more thing will add to my current frustrations. I’m already at the tipping point! Ah, maybe things will settle down enough for me to begin to carve out some time to learn some new photo programs and tricks.

After going through the files, I can tell you that my New Mexico images look very promising, with great architecture and dramatic scenery! How’s that for a teaser?