June 21, 2021 Monday--10:45am

Good morning!

This is my sole contribution to photos this week...and I just took this--LOL!  Love the light behind the big clouds.

I progressed last week to a whole-hands-vacation.  Middle knuckles and thumbs--both hands.  :(  New to have left knuckle and left thumb now recently.  Therefore, wasn't commenting as much this week on blogs or writing much on letters, but I was reading both.  ;)  

Meanwhile, I watched seasons 9 and 10 of Vera on BritBox--which I just love!  Started Wire In The Blood on Acorn TV--really enjoying.  Man!  I am deeply grateful that there are so many excellent shows to watch when I am not very functional.  It's bloody marvelous! 

Tuesday Dagan stopped after work and he took my trash out for me.  We had a nice visit.

Wednesday.  They have lost so many employees over the pandemic that my second cleaning girl fell through, so Katie herself (Caroline's former boss) said she'd come to clean temporarily for me.  I told her once a month would be wonderful (instead of the every two weeks I'm allowed by the county)--till they get someone.  Had been over a year since Caroline came to clean--so no matter how clean you try to be dirt and dust builds up--and cat hair...would those be cat bunnies?  LOL!  Katie spent the two hours (alloted time) just scrubbing the pantry/kitchen/bathroom floors by hand and the shower and toilet.  Very thorough and did an excellent job.  She'll be back middle of next month.  Greatly, greatly appreciated!!!

Thursday night Leah came for a craft night, but we didn't do any crafts.  She helped me with some things and made dinner for us.  I had gotten the message from Elliot about which tinctures and supplements help with Bartonella--so we ordered those to try, too.  Nothing to lose right?

But adding the potassium citrate this past week and having the new joint problems and being extra creaky and hurting--well, yesterday I decided to drop adding that for now.  Could be a coinicidence, but who knows?  I am not in a rush to add supplements and that is why.  Gives me time to wait and see, you know?  I've been dealing with this "incurable" disease stuff for over 20 years so I don't expect things to shift overnight--LOL!

Saturday Leah and Liam dropped off a small Cashwise order.  Liam wanted to come with so he could see Gramma and gave me a big hug!  

Sunday was Gramma Day with Ian!  He worked on his mandala all afternoon.  We had to turn it into what we called a "postcard" because it ended up too large for me to make a card base.  Ian added to his design, Gramma erased the pencil lines, and Ian used Gramma's watercolor brush markers to color it.  Couldn't find his--but eventually I did when I went searching in his bookcase again--under some other supplies.  He was excellent with my WC markers though.  Can tell how much he's grown up by how careful he was with them.

After dinner he went home to bring Daddy his card (pictures to follow from Leah).

Leah sent me pictures so I could see all the pots she had planted around the house and how they finished off the deck and patio...and there was a surprise!

I'm looking through the pictures...

Of all the many trees they planted last year only this one looks like it didn't make it through the harsh winter.

The new pots in front of their garage.

I got to see where the plants she bought at Baker Nursery all ended up.

Pot by the front door.

I think she had to go to another place to get more plants she wanted.  It had been warmer earlier and a lot of people had been buying up plants early so you couldn't necessarily find everything you wanted.

I got everything I wanted...

...but then I get pretty ordinary plants--LOL!

This white one really caught our eye!

Something called Angel Wings.

It's all velvety and soft.

Those of you who have known me for quite a while would have heard about Dagan getting his "angel wings" (a patch) put inside his heart to close a hole via a catherization procedure when he was about 19.  It was something brand new at the time and we had to sign a waiver of rights to have it done at the University of Minnesota Hospital. After the surgery he was able to walk again...had more oxygen to breathe!  No more wheelchair!  (One of the times we almost lost him.)

Angel Wings.  :)

The doctor in Minnesota who invented that procedure sold the rights and they don't call it angel wings anymore.  Commonplace now to close holes with a patch via a catherization vs. open heart surgery...but Dagan was on the medical forefront back then.  

Anyways, I digress.  They sealed the patio...and were able to start bringing the patio furniture, etc, back out of the middle of the backyard.  :)

But then I noticed this picture?? 

The boys on a ladder on the deck and what was that behind them?

Patio put back together.  Can see it was after the needed rain we got...and what's that up on the deck??!!

OMG!  Look at this!

A beautiful new canopy!  

I had no idea!  Was a total surprise to me!  Leah did that on purpose--LOL!  Will be perfect for Ian's birthday party on Sunday.  

Leah also sent this pic of ripply clouds.  So cool!  I do love clouds.

Then here's Ian with his mandala Father's Day postcard...wearing GreatGrandma's red beaded necklace.

He made me close my eyes when he was here...took the necklace off and formed it into a heart on my big brown chair.  :)

  

Ian cut around the mandala and used a glue stick to put it on the front.

He's never used a highlighter to color with before.  Gramma's idea--LOL!

He was pretty tired by the time he was finishing up so he asked me to print out what he said and then he finished it.  (I think Ian is a natural for stream of consciousness writing--lol!)

So that has been my week--but while I was working on this blog post something really exciting happened!

I kept hearing clucking from a partridge or two.  Looked out the patio door and saw parents and tiny babies!!

I was so shocked that the parents had moved to the side before I got the cell phone out to take a picture.  You can click on these to enlarge them, I think, so you can see them better.  Sorry if they aren't the clearest pics, but at least I got some.

I have never seen partridge babies so very tiny!  The parents usually don't bring them around until they are half grown and good at flying away--and even that is a rarity.  This pair must have actually nested someplace closeby.  These look newly hatched.

They all went off to the left side and it got very quiet.  I haven't been putting out seed and felt terrible that they brought their babies here thinking they would find some!  (Haven't seen the ground squirrel all week, either, BTW.)  I got the little bit of seed left inside here and quietly went out and dumped some on the grass.  The babies were all right in front of that planter and hunkered down into the grass  frozen still...while the parents ran into the middle of the yard and waited till I went inside.  I noticed they didn't call to the babies, though.  Smart.  

Since they have seen me before and weren't going to fly away from their babies it didn't take long for them to scoot over to gobble down some food.  I had to try to sneak pictures from back in the kitchen as they were quite jumpy and protective.

The babies had been frightened by me pouring seed so close to them, I think, so I never saw one tiny fluffy body as the parents ate.  But then Mr. and Mrs. wanted to take them away from my patio.  They walked toward the sidewalk and called and clucked to them--but they wouldn't move, I guess.  So they both came back and forth and called to them till they started to follow.  Maybe really are newly hatched and don't know the follow mom and dad routine very well yet.

Just getting all the little ones across the sidewalk was an exercise in patience for them. 

But they are good parents and waited and clucked to them...

...until one by one...

 

...they had all made it across the sidewalk.  They would get scared and hunker down--in the middle of the cement walking path.  They seemed to know they blended in with the dead grass color on the edge of the sidewalk, though--LOL!

There are so many dogs walked here.  Most people are good about keeping them on a leash as is the law, but a few aren't.  I pray no dog notices them and those little ones learn how to race across a sidewalk or parking lot.  I'm sure they'll pick up on the partridge baby rules quickly enough.

 

Anyways--so exciting!!  I do hope I will see them again.  Dagan was coming by after work to bring out trash for me again...and I asked him if he'd go out and get the last of the bird seed from the garage, too.  Sure!  :) :)  

That really made my day!!

I am so grateful for my life--every single day!!

Till next week...

"It isn't more light we need, it's putting into practice what light we already have.  When we do that, wonderful things will happen within our lives and within our world."

Peace Pilgrim