Skidding into the Year's Second Half

Fallen Rock Park, Brazil, Indiana

Yes, I’m still puttering around. I’m just not spending much time puttering around on blogs. Building a new life continues to take priority.

I went to Indiana for a few days and got back last Sunday. I stayed with my sweet sister-in-law (separated from my oldest brother), and we had a wonderful time. We talked a lot. We laughed a lot. And once we laughed so hard that we were in tears. We had fun! She has been very supportive during my troubling times. I just wished she lived closer. We could get into so much trouble together! I briefly met up with three of my brothers during the visit too. They were reserved but cordial. My family never has gotten the knack about how to be affectionate and compassionate, but that is a whole other story.

I’ve been helping my SIL get set up with a Fuji mirrorless camera system over the past few months. In-between rain showers, we went out for photo shoots with our Fuji equipment, cruising the backcountry roads and searching for covered bridges. I gave her a crash workshop course on the fly! (Do you wish you could have tagged along?) I even went through several digital editing jobs with Photoshop, explaining as I went and showing before/after differences. She has a keen eye and will do very well in her newfound hobby. As a retired teacher, she knows how to be great student!

My birthday was Tuesday last week. I turned 63. It was my first one without Jim. And Jim would have turned 71 this past Friday. I visited his gravesite on the way home last week, and I saw his marker had finally been installed. I was going to get a bouquet of artificial flowers for the marker, but the cemetery already put a pretty one out.

Needless to say, I miss Jim terribly. The six-month anniversary of his death occurred while I was traveling. Milestones like birthdays can go by now, but they just don’t mean the same when you are a widow. I got together with some local friends this past week for various meals, and that helped. And my SIL checked with me regularly too.

I spent a quiet day at home on the fourth. Well, it was quiet until dark. Then some neighborhood yahoos decided to shoot off HUGE fireworks down the hill from the back of my home. It sounded like a war zone, and Angel was scared to death, shaking and whimpering for hours. She still wasn’t doing well by bedtime, and crawled underneath my bed for a while before deciding it was safe enough to sleep in her own little bed. I’ve registered a complaint with the HOA, but I’m not holding my breath that anything will be done about it.

I broke down and got a new coffeepot. Yep, I caved and got one of those single-serve ones, and it has a handy water reservoir. I know the coffee is more expensive per cup than drip coffeemakers, but I was getting very tired of making up pots of coffee every day and then throwing most of it out. The single-serve unit is just a whole lot more practical and convenient for me.

I also treated myself to a new iPod nano for my birthday. I used Jim’s ancient iPod (8 years old) for the Indiana road trip. It skipped and acted up something awful. I will keep the new one in my car and use it for future road trips.

All of the estate settlement work has been completed, including a notice filed with the county for my house deed. The legal bills are all paid. I’m glad that whole ugly chore is over. Next, I will need to amend all of my legal documents and get them up to date. But I will take a breather before tackling that trouble and expense.

I am attending another photo workshop this month. It will encompass Americana photography in the Nashville area. The workshop leader has told me that Ricky Skaggs will be one of the participants. Is that cool or what? I’m looking forward to the trip and fellowship.

That’s enough jabbering for now. You can look forward to more “photo of the week” postings that feature Wyoming scenes. I really appreciate those of you who still visit and take the time to leave sweet comments. I’m sorry that I’m still not in the groove with blogging, my friends. My head will either get in the game someday down the road or else it won’t. Your guess is as good as mine.