The company of birds

I got the finch feeder just for finches but they prefer the main feeder. They will go to it when the big bossy cowbirds show up. This guy is just getting his summer colors. All that gray on the top of his head will be yellow



These were just a few feet away from us in the setting sun last night

purple finch pair

 

large snow drops. Back at the old place the whole yard is covered with the tiny blue ones

The vultures fly overhead quite often. From a distance, they are graceful. Up close, disgusting

This is a chipping sparrow, not a wren as I said earlier. The house sparrows are bigger and more numerous.. Unfortunately, they have found the feeder too

It was warm enough to eat dinner outside just a few feet from the feeders. Will this drive the birds away? Not the chickadees and finches who continues to flit back and forth but we kept the cowbirds and sparrows away. Latest new bird? A hairy woodpecker. I expected to see downy woodpeckers as they like to hang out with nuthatches (a kind of woodpecker too). Hairys and downys look identical but one is sparrow sized and the other robin sized. We got the rarer big one yesterday.

While I was bald from chemo, I would sit on my patio wearing a pink, fuzzy ski cap. This fascinated my resident hummingbird who would hover around my head often to investigate it. Hummingbirds will approach you but do not like to be approached. Also they leave as soon as they hear a camera shutter.

Vultures seem the most wary of humans. They will fly away if I am within 50 feet.

I've been running and biking a lot. Today is a good day for it too before the rain starts tomorrow. Then time to make a dessert for the Mom's group tonight out on the farm.

My imaginary birds

My first daffodil in bloom. Will have lots of them in the next few days

I go out into the bright light and see a sky full of hundreds of blackbirds. I close my right eye and they are gone. I've been seeing black snakes writhing across my field of vision; imaginary hair blocking my view; flashes of light. It makes my head hurt though I notice, in the middle of the night (assuming I don't look at a computer screen), the headache is gone.

Over the past week, the images are not as intense as my brain is slowly learning to ignore them and restrict my vision to my left eye. Bright lights set the whole mess off again especially yesterday as my doctor stared into the bad eye to see what he could see.

This has been worrisome to say the least. It seemed to start more than a week ago as I was driving to my cooking class. I was having trouble seeing. In the past, if I am very dehydrated like running ten miles in temps above 80, I will feel faint and see flashes of lights. All goes away once I drink. Could I have become dehydrated on a cool, misty day? I stop at a store where I know there is a drinking fountain and drink up. At the class I drink 2 full glasses of water chased down by herbal tea. I am fully hydrated yet the visions slow down as I am in poorer light and return when I am outside.

I consult the internet. Possible causes:

1. Mild case of flu in which the only symptom is a headache that somehow affects my optic nerve. This year's vaccine did not protect fully against the most common strain and people are getting very mild cases of it. In some cases, they have no symptoms but can spread it around.
2. Detached retina though things would get worse before they got better
3. Brain tumor; maybe I didn't escape TNBC afterall. But things would get worse, not better and would not be light dependent. And my headache is about .5 on a scale of one to ten, not the worst pain ever associated with a brain tumor.
4. Carotid artery disease. My doctor added that one to the list and did some tests to rule that out.
5. Cataracts.

The probable winner is: cataracts!!!! My doctor could barely see through my clouded lens (does not look cloudy to me). I was told more than 2 years ago I had the beginnings of them. The abrupt onset of symptoms does not fit nor does the weird things I see. Cataract victims see halos and weird colors. Their night vision is reduced whereas I don't think mine is. I will consult an eye doctor soon and get this straightened out And I could possibly receive a lens much better than the distorted one I've had since I was 7. I could lose the glasses.

Today will be the warmest day yet. Will bike and run and see what blooms. Back at the MoneyPit, I noted that the rabbits have attacked my tulips. I should dig them up and put them in my raised beds well away from them.

Driving confused

the deserted road I found the lost lady on today

 

 

Maya on the balance bike the other evening. I think her helmet may be on backwards

Eating farfalle and spinach

While on my run on the country road today, a very distraught older lady pulled her car up beside me.

I need help.

She was very confused. She could not tell me where she wanted to go nor was she familiar with any of the roads around where we were including the two big state trunk lines that were each about a mile away. After much questioning, she decided it would be best to go back to her home, which was a senior citizen's place. She could not tell me the street it was on or any street it was near. She did know it was in Plymouth. As she was pointed in the opposite direction, I told her the first thing she needed to do was turn around and then I told her how to get to downtown Plymouth. Hopefully something there would jar her memory. Neither of us had a phone nor did she have a map. She did NOT turn around making me very nervous as she would only get more lost. I should have known she was not capable of following directions if she could not tell me what street she lived on. What should I have done? I guess drive her to my house, call the facility, drive her there and have Steve pick me up. I was a half hour from home (running).I did call the place when I got back and described her as best as I could (she was so tiny and cute; I didn't think she looked much older than me). I could not describe her car. I urged the manager to call her relatives to convince her to give up driving.

I know it is easy for anyone to get lost on all these deserted country roads near us but the scary thing was she couldn't remember what street she lived on.

What's on my agenda today? A visit with my primary as apparently this is necessary to get my drugs. I do have a medical mystery to discuss with him but am hesitant because the coding for a well visit (free) turns quickly into a diagnostic visit (not free). I do love medical mysteries but not when they happen to me.

Jeepers Peepers

Blue angel: found on my bike ride

Maya peddling her police car ala Fred Flintstone on our brick paths

Another mailbox for my files

hyacinth with early morning light shining through it

Took a long walk to the local wildlife sanctuary

Decided to make a collage of last week's bird visitors

We had Maya shortly after we awoke as it was a busy day for her mama. Fortunately it was beautiful out; much easier to entertain her outside than inside. After riding around our paths and driveways in her Little Tykes vehicle, we went for a long walk (2.5 miles) down the woodsy, deserted roads near here. In the wetlands, the peepers are still trilling. I wanted her to hear them. She wanted to see these frogs but that is close to impossible. When the bigger frogs begin their spring songs, we will have a better chance, Being very still, we could hear various birds too: the wood peckers, chickadees, and the red winged blackbirds. She wanted to see deer (though there are 3 carcasses in various states of
decay) but I only see them about 30% of the time.

Her bus picks her up for her afternoon school session near the old house. I spent an unhappy hour gathering things and throwing things away before returning for my bike ride. The wind has picked up quite a bit. I started into the wind but it was very fun coming back.

Shop 'til I drop

This hand hammered aluminum dish I bought at a consignment shop

lunch: chicken and waffles

Love these Edison lights at our lunch restaurant

Yesterday, my glass cutting board made from one of our Italian trip photos came. I am very happy with it. This matches my kitchen. I have a similar photo in green I will use to make another one

I had several decorative switchplates back at the old house. This one now is in our master bedroom

Another consignment shop special: German cut glass. It is so pretty

Todays mission: buy a suitable dress for the Hollywood wedding next month. Number of dresses tried on: Miracle of Miracles!!!! just one. And I had tried it on last summer when we were shopping for the mother-of -the groom dress. I had selected it for her but it wasn't her style so I tried it on instead and loved it. It was still there and now it is  mine. Photos after the wedding.

We ended up being there most of the day jewelry shopping, consignment store shopping, lunch eating. It was a very pretty day. In one store, they had taken old Scrabble sets, stained the wood racks various colors and then glued tiles to spell names or sayings. I have a few old scrabble sets, another project for me.

On the way home, we stopped by a park that Josh and Allie were at. Again he had no sun screen.

I got out extra early to run before my friend showed up. I love spring.
 

Running while large

some hyacinths are in bloom now

The other day, the Dalmatian lady (I know people only by their dogs as names escape me so quickly) stopped me to say how much faster I am now than when I begun running a few months ago. I guess I could have sighed and said I wish I were as fast as when I began running almost 33 years ago but yeah, I know she meant well. Maybe she saw me tiptoeing on the ice 2 months ago when I first  moved in. I am definitely faster when I don't worry about breaking my neck.

But actually I am faster after a long decline starting when I was 40 and getting much worse after my stay in Cancerland. Since Josh was 5 months old, I have been running  almost continuously covering (since I am a record keeper) more than 40,000 miles. I had to take 4 breaks: 3 months when I was pregnant with Naomi (switched to swimming a mile a day), a month or so when I had Thyroid storm due to Graves' Disease and risked getting a heart attack; two months when I broke my arm but they couldn't set it because the break was right underneath my shoulder bone and any little movement caused exquisite pain; and finally during chemo. I gamely tried to run just a little bit when I first was treated with the Red Devil but my red blood cell count kept falling with each new chemo session. After 8 of them, I was very weak. though I did try to walk every day carefully covering up my bald head. Any little draft would be so painful.

But today, I was especially speedy covering much greater distance than usual. Maybe because I had a break yesterday (riding 20 miles on tires needing air but that uses different muscles) or maybe because it was just so pretty out (now it is raining). Later I  took the bike in, I am supposed to get free maintenance for the life of the bike, and got a few things adjusted so I will hopefully find biking even easier..

Last night was our TV night, fun. Tomorrow, I go dress shopping.

More pretties

We took Allie to a nearby park. It was in the 60s. We couldn't stay there long as someone forgot to bring sun screen

In the morning, there was frost. 33 when I started my bike ride but the temp quickly rose

I liked this eagle carving I found on my bike ride this morning. Went by a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired mailbox but I didn't stop as I was going down a steep hill 

Easter bush I found on my bike ride yesterday. Today Is Orthodox Easter (Shanna's family's Easter)

Firepit, present from Shanna, assembled yesterday

irises

Allie and Josh

more pretties

A perfect day for a longish bike ride, though a bit chilly at the start. 20 miles! Would have been easier had I sufficient air in my tires (will fix that tomorrow). Not long after I returned, Josh and Allie paid a visit. It was sunny and calm. Off we went to a nearby park. Lots of families enjoying the warmth. And tonight, more binge watching of House of Cards. A good day.