Roses, Lunch and Ducks...February 22

It's been fifty-eight years that a dozen red roses have arrived for me on April 22.  This November, Tom and I will have been married fifty-eight years.  Tom and I had broken up in 1960 and we hadn't seen each other since that fateful day.  Tom said when he sent the roses he really didn't think I would reply but he wanted me to know that he would always remember me. I had been remembering him, too.

The flowers arrived in late morning.  At noon, we went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's.  Our daughter had given Tom a gift card for Christmas which he used.  After choosing salads from the well stocked salad bar, Tom had meaty ribs, so tender and well cooked that the meat fell off the bones.  I had grilled chicken with a honey barbecue sauce.  Dessert was apple cake with ice cream.  We were pleased.

The day was chilly but sunny.  This time of year "sunny" means the day is a good one.  Tom drove us to Englewood dam, one of the five dams built in the Dayton area after the devastating 1913 flood flooded downtown Dayton up to the second floors of many buildings

The ducks were too far off for Tom to get good photos but we got good looks at Canvasbacks, Redheads and Ringbills

The usual Canada Geese and Mallards were there also.

Tom decided to check out Eastwood Lake.  That was where we saw our first Bufflehead of the year.  The next stop was Eastwood Metro Park.  There we spotted two Hooded Merganser males and one female. 

Tom finally found a bird close enough to get a good photo...a Great Blue Heron.  He already had a nice bib of mating feathers.

Seeing the ducks means Spring is on its way and that brings smiles to our faces.

The Trip to the Swamp to Find Spring...February 4, 2019

The fox, one of Brukner Nature Center's Wildlife Ambassadors, has become accustomed to  people passing by and no longer dashes into its shelter.  Trail Guides talk about the habits of the various wild animals as part of their nature walks.  The animals are caged here because they can not be returned to the wild for one or several reasons.

Portions of the path down Shortstep Hill were icy.  The hill is called Shortstep because it is rather steep.  I was glad I was using a walking stick.

This sycamore log was even greener than it appears in the photo.

I looked down on the Stillwater River floodplain.  It was easy to see that it was a floodplain.  The snow and ice on it were covered by a shiny layer of water.

I hurried along as fast as I could using my walking stick to help me keep my footing.  Spats of rain pattered on my raincoat, then stopped for a few minutes, then pattered down again.  I knew a storm was coming and resolutely said to myself, "I can get to the swamp, see the Skunk Cabbage and get back before the storm hits."

I made it down the bank to the swamp and there at the foot of the three steps built into the bank, I found it.

Once I was down in the swamp , I had to go a little farther, see if there were more clusters of Skunk Cabbage.

The boardwalk was iffy.  I was glad I had my walking stick.

I found a few crawdad chimneys.

I followed the snowy boardwalk until I came to a large tree lying across the walk. 

I considered crawling across the log but decided I had already tempted fate enough times for the day.  I turned back.

I had found a few more skunk cabbage in bud but most were barely showing the points of their Spathes, the leaf like enclosure protecting the buds on the Spadix.

At the foot of the three steps, I found the lone plant in a perfect position for a close up photo.

Another short sprinkle of rain reminded me I should start back now.

If you click and enlarge this photo, you can see the boardwalk through the floodplain.  Closer to the swamp it is covered with several inches of snow, ice and water.

I was pleased to find a few other plants emerging.

Here and there I found a leaf of two of  Hepatica.  Its leaves are green during the winter and turn reddish when the flowers bloom in spring.

These fungi were as bright as flowers.

Near the top of Hickory Ridge trail I found the young beech that reminded me spring is still a few weeks away.

Spring Has Arrived in My Heart, 41 Days Before the Official Calendar Spring...February 4, 2019

The Skunk Cabbage is blooming.

For me, the first day of spring is the day I see the buds on the Spadix inside the Spathe.

And every year I check inside the front cover of  Newcomb's Wildflower Guide to be sure I know a spadix from a Spathe.

Got it.

Next post...more about my walk to the swamp at Brukner Nature Center.

The Day After Tom's Birthday...January 20, 2019

As I wrote in my last blog, January nineteenth was a horrible day. For most of the day we had rain, turning to ice when it hit the roads and trees and lawns.  Late in the day, the rain turned to snow.  By morning we had about five inches of powdery snow on top of ice. The temperature had fallen to 9 degree Fahrenheit. For people like us who had no reason to venture out, the world was beautiful.  The sun shone and all the trees and bushes glittered with ice.  Tom took all the photos in this blog.

This is my favorite of the ice covered branch photos..  Click on it to enlarge it.

This Carolina Wren is cozy under his puffed up layers of feathers.

Tom was focused on the cardinal.  He didn't notice that a house sparrow had done a photo bomb until he looked at the  picture on the computer.

These are the neighbor boys who made some pocket money clearing off drives for us old folks.

And Now Tom is Eighty....January 19, 2019

On September 12, I took Tom to a Reds game and then to a German restaurant to celebrate his eightieth birthday.  We were celebrating early because his birthday is January 19 which is an iffy day to plan anything in Ohio.

Now I'm patting myself on my back.  On January nineteenth we awoke to pouring rain, rain that was turning to ice and icicles .

Sonja, our daughter, called to say she, Reagan, and Samantha had planned to bring over breakfast to celebrate but when they saw the rain and ice, they decided to send greetings and visit us another day.
(Sonja stopped by on Sunday, the twentieth, after working at Kroger and brought pizza.  It was a pleasant visit.  It is not often that she has time for a relaxing visit with  us.)

Back to Saturday, Tom's birthday.

When Tom checked Facebook he saw that our oldest son, Ray, had posted a very nice tribute to him and what he had accomplished in his eighty years. Ray said, "I live in awe of what he's accomplished in those 80 years."

As the day passed, more and more people he has met and worked with over the years took a few minutes to send him happy birthday comments on Ray's Facebook post.  There were a few comments that made him ( and me) chuckle.  He heard from friends he hasn't seen or heard from in years.

In late morning, our 97 year old neighbor called, said she had something to bring Tom for his birthday. She drove over, said she had some shopping to do before the weather got any worse. We were her first stop.

She brought a practical gift for nearly anyone turning eighty.

By then, I had the cheery pie which he asked for in the oven.

I forgot to take the picture before lunch.  We also had scalloped potatoes with ham which he had also asked for.

But no company.  It was NOT a good day for visiting.  We were glad to see our neighbor returning from her trip to the grocery store because snow had now arrived to cover the layer of ice. And then the wind arrived.  By late afternoon, this is how the bird bath and back yard looked.  The bit of sunshine was nice but it was only a teaser.

It was still snowing when we went to bed.  But the weather did not stop Tom from having a great birthday.

December 31, 2018...A Strange Late Afternoon

It was wet when I went to Foodtown for a few last minute groceries...outside

and inside.

When I went back to my van there was a strange vehicle parked next to it.

An inflated alien was sitting in the front seat.  There were two more aliens in the backseat.  Guess they were going to a party in town.

Steve's Christmas, December 2018

Steve and his brothers, Picture taken by Steve's mom

Steve's mom dropped him off at our house about noon on Christmas day.  He was smiling and happy.  He had already had a good Christmas.  His mom carried a huge heavy Christmas bag of presents from her and Santa and his brothers.  She said the bag was heavy because his big gift from her was a coffee maker. He was wearing his new shoes from brother, Ted.

In the bedroom, he changed into the sweatshirt and CSX cap from MeeMaw. That was his outfit for the rest of Christmas day and the next day, too.  You can see a bit of his railroad theme socks.  He wore them two days, too.

Shortly after he arrived Sonja, Samantha, and Reagan arrived.  Tom and I were scurrying around in the kitchen and dining room, putting Christmas dinner on the table.  Neither of us thought about taking photos. We had Cadbury milk chocolates and shortbread assortment from Ray and Gretchen for our dessert (and the cherry pie that Tom had requested) Reagan, unknown to us, took a few photos and posted them on Facebook.  Thank you, Reagan.

After dinner, we moved to the living room.  That's where we were when Ray called from London, UK to tell all of us hello (especially Steve) and asked how he liked his Christmas gifts. He still hadn't opened the gifts from his dad and Gretchen.

But,after the call, he opened their Christmas gifts.  These photos are especially for them.

He opened the two DVDs...Norfolk Southern's 30th Anniversary Heritage Locomotives and

Modern Marvels, The London Underground.  (After he finished unwrapping the other gifts, he immediately disappeared down the basement to watch both DVDs).  Nothing is better than trains.)

The box with the Modern Marvels, The London Underground, included a note from Santa Claus.  Steve read it to us..."DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS, Love, Santa".

I poured the candy from Convent Gardens Candy Store into a bowl so we could all get a good look at it.  Reagan looked up the candy store on her cell phone so Steve could see the store it might have come from.  Reagan said there are a lot of the stores throughout the area.

He liked the model of the doubledecker bus. 

The tote bag from the London Transport Museum was the perfect size to hold all his gifts.

On Wednesday, Steve and I went to Menards to do a little shopping.  He spent most of the rest of the day in the basement listening to his new DVDs.  He also opened the box he received from Santa at his mom's.  Guess what!  It was a miniature train.

On Thursday, Steve and I drove to the post office so he could mail his box of gifts to his dad and Gretchen. When we came back to the house, he brought the bus, still in its box to me.  He asked me if I had a little screwdriver. Once the box was open, he sat on the couch for a long time just looking at the bus, reading the printing on it.  He said, "I'd like to ride in one of these someday."

It was on Thursday , too, that he took the shirt from the London Transport Museum out of its box and brought me his yellow-covered book, Winnie the Pooh.  I showed him the book that I read to his dad when his dad was little.  Then we sat close together on the couch and I read him the first chapter, the story of how Winnie the Pooh had tried to get honey from a bee hive by floating up to it using a balloon.

That reminded him of a Christmas gift in the big Christmas bag his mom carried in for him when he arrived on Christmas day...bee magnets from his brother, John.

The bees.