Trying To Find The Words

I first started to write this post Thursday morning. It has a few more words with updates.

The most recent shooting in my country has pushed me over the edge. I am so full of despair that I can't find words to adequately express it. 

My sister has Covid. She's very sick and lives too far for me to go check on her. She's not answering her phone. (Update: She spent all day Wednesday in ER. She's home now and feeling sicker than she's ever felt in her life, and that's saying something because she has suffered from debilitating migraines since she's 10 years old. Her daughter (my lovely niece) has Covid as well. The virus is a very serious butt-kicking illness.)

Roger and I have second booster shots scheduled for Friday morning at 10:00. I'm already feeling queasy just thinking about it.  I may have to cancel it. (Update: I cancelled my second booster shot. I plan to reschedule it next week. I spoke with the staff at the clinic and they agreed it was a good idea for us not to get the boosters on the same day. Yay!)

Children are dying in classrooms in America. So many loved ones are suffering. We are living during a global pandemic. (These things have not changed.)

I'm still trying to find the words.

Family Love, Family Art

Elena brought the grandkids over for a visit to say hello to their great-uncle Gary. It was such a sweet gathering. 

Of course it was goofy and fun in every way. Gary is heading north today (Wednesday) to Portland.  He'a going to spend a few days camping up the coast, then in the city, and then flying back home to Kauai. It's been a delight having this time with him. 

When Elena and grandkids showed up, Delilah who is ten-years old handed this to me, a painting that she had painted for me.

Three egrets and a black duck. On the back was this haiku she had written.

Even as I type this my eyes fill with tears of joy. So much love and beauty in one day. Our hearts were full.

Minus Tide On A Sunny Day

The skies finally cleared up. So we took Roger's brother Gary who is visiting from Hawaii (where it's nice and warm all the time) to Trinidad Beach to take a minus tide walk with us. We knew it was going to be windy and chilly out there, but thought we should give it a try. It was even windier and colder than we thought it would be, so we didn't stay very long. Our Hawaii visitor couldn't believe how crazy cold it was. Even we were chilled to our bones. 

But we got to take such a nice quick short walk and see such lovely sights.

The rocks are always teaming with life

A slightly closer view

This is called an Echinaster Sea Star, an orange beauty

Lovely green anemones

The waves of waves on the beach

Here is Gary, freezing on the walk

I checked the temps in Hawaii when we got home. It was 81 degrees there. It was 56 degrees here with 20 mile an hour winds. 

I'm trying to stand steady in the winds

We walked back to the car as fast as we could and turned the heat on. It was that wind-chilled out there. We were warm again and really glad we braved the elements for such a view.

This...

  ... is what it has looked like here for quite a while. I have shared with you the few times the sun has been out, showing rainbows and iridescent clouds, halos and crepuscular rays. But for the most part this is what it has looked like for weeks. So, I thought I'd show you the view from our Sunday morning walk.

The flowers, egret, and heron were a wonderful balance to the gray gray grayness of these times. This last photo shows how it lightened up a bit while we were out there, but it was still a gray sky. This persistent gray is why my twin brother decided to head back south and not buy a home here. 

Hope it's sunny and beautiful where you are and that you're out enjoying every moment of it.

And Now The Twins Are 70!

I first published this post on the blog in 2017, when my twin brother and I were celebrating our 65th birthday. Today we are celebrating our 70th. So here is a short look back at our 70 revolutions around the sun.

We went from this:

1953

1956 or 1957

 To this:

2008

2016

In the blink of an eye! I'm pretty sure we are senior citizens, although we're still total goofball kids at heart.

2022

And now we are 70 years old. Roger took this photo last month when Michael was visiting and we were out working in the front yard. Speaking of goofballs, I think this photo captures our utterly goofy selves.