Today is my birthday...

                                                        Picture 12, two versions of 65

 

So this is 65. I have not been looking forward to this landmark birthday but I had quite a day. My hubby made breakfast and decorated my breakfast nook with roses and streamers. And yes, I live in a house that is so old that it has a nook. My gift from him was the Canon 7d Markii. Very cool. I love it! My girls sent flowers and chocolate and Face Time. Medicare is in force. Tonight we went for a Friday night Fish Fry with Joanie, Joyce, Belinda, Jack, Pat and Dani Ivan and I. Perch and sweet potato fries.

I can't keep calm and carry on, it is my birthday week...

Picture 11-Flamingo, Melbourne Zoo

Once again, I will post my 11th photo, should be my 27th photo, as soon as I can. I am so far behind on my 30 pics in 30 days. My age, maybe.

I finished watching the third season of Sherlock tonight. Season four won't be out until January 2017.
Really great show.  I listened to The Lake House for many hours today while I did some perfunctory house cleaning. The only kind of H.W. I do any more. So English. The narrator is so good. I am neglecting The Nightingale. If it expires (library) I won't be able to check it out again for a while.

This week is going by way to fast. Friday is the dark day. A great cupcake could redeem the day. Maybe. I am missing my kids and their kids so much.

Reflections of the way life used to be...

Picture #10 The envelope, please!

I have to use another device to actually post a picture (added pics on laptop this a.m.). I just can't get it to happen with my new iPhone. That is another whole post. An iPhone is not the same as a Droid. Siri is not as nice as the Google girl. A little snippy if you ask me. My photos transferred in a disorganized fashion. I am working on changing my paradigm. More challenges ahead. My 65th birthday present is a Canon 7d Mark II, I am so excited! I have made no secret of the fact that I love camera equipment. All my current lenses are compatible but I also want another lens. A 17-55 or an 18-135 or a 40mm...I want all of them. My goal for year 65 is to master this new camera. I hope my 7d operates a little like my rebel t2i. OK, a lot like my old camera. I am not as quick a study as I once was.

I just started listening to The Lake House by Kate Morton. I have not read any of her books so I am hoping it is a good read. I also just today started a Kristen Hannah book, The Nightingale. I don't read her because I don't read so called "chic lit" but this book has such good reviews. I really try not to be a book snob. Read what you like, I say. But I do not read authors that can punch out a book a month or formulaic writers whose every book is the same except for a name change. I like Pulitzer Prize lists and am partial to Man Booker long and shortlisted books, National Book Awards and Kirkus Stars. I  I like audio books but am very particular about my narrators. A poor reader can ruin a good book. On the other hand I have listened to a bad book just because of the charm of the narrator. I research every book I choose to read very carefully. So many books, so little time. Is this an age thing, I wonder? There, all my bookish secrets are out.

Outlander was good last night. Not my favorite episode, though. Jamie was a little self centered. But I know that from the books. He is a product of his time. Murtaugh's dalliance with the maid was more graphic on TV than it was on the page.

OMG!!! 65 is crowding me. It is really giving me pause. There are places I have not traveled...will I ever go? There are words I have not written. There are photos not taken. Time not spent with my favorite people...they are south and I am north.

         My great niece, Miss Teen Upper Peninsula 2015 saying goodbye to her year with a tiara!

Do I detect Spring on the porch...

Picture Day 9 I found this moth, Luna, I think, on the dew wet grass Easter Sunday morning. Sunrise service. I felt so bad that the wings were so wet the moth could not fly. I looked this beautiful creature up in a book. This moth's entire lifespan is only 24 hours from chrysalis to death...

M Train is so moving. Patti Smith is just a little older than I am. She devoted her life to her art. Music, poetry and photography. She sang with Bob Dylan. I am adding her to my list of people I would like to have lunch with...

Poor, Lonesome Me-e...

Picture Day 8 This is one of my favorite pics of the year. We waited for the kids to get off the bus after school in Florida. Papa would be outside working on his truck. Azalea sat on the tailgate to share anything she had left in her lunch bucket with Papa. When he asked her if she wanted to go inside she said, "Why don't we just sit here and enjoy the weather."

This is also why I am so lonesome on my porch. Looking back over all my pictures from the last couple of months has really made me miss being with the girls and their families.

I am on a reading drought. Not finishing M Train. It is going to expire on the library app...
I have been watching Sherlock on Netflix. So good. I don't like the narrator of The Beast so it is ruining the book for me. He is so monotone. I have only read J.R. Ward and had fun with these "guilty pleasure" reads so very disappointed with the audio book. Some readers are so amazing and then there are the readers who don't have the voice of the story.

Oh, God!!! This month is flying by. I will turn 65 soon. It feels like sliding down the park hill. No stopping on this slippery slope.

TBT on the porch...

Picture Day 8 The Baby. She turned six years old on March 10. We all still call her the baby but she is starting to look like a big girl. She loves us all so much. She calls me Granny Bo Danny. Being a
Grandmother is the best job I've ever had.

Listening to The Beast a BDB book by J.R.Ward. I don't love the narrator's voice but it is so BDB!
M Train is like being in Patti Smith's life, one moment at a time.

no book on the porch...

Picture Day 7 Texas Talent Show  My Texas grand girl sang in her school talent show this week.

I am without a book!! Started M Train but not getting into it...Watching a documentary on Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player. This is horrifying. What that man had to suffer to break into sports. The profound discrimination is heartbreaking. 

I  subbed three days last week and now two and a half days this week. This is not easy. How did I ever do this every day?

Outlander Premier night on the porch...

Picture-Day 6  I did not take these pictures of Jamie and Claire but they are two of my favorite of the characters from the show Outlander. The second season premier is tonight on Starz at nine. I read all eight books by Diana Gabalden. I am now reading her Lord John books. I really loved the books and now the show. I am not prepared for a night in France and Scotland but by next week I plan on something special to eat and drink while I watch. I do have a plaid scarf...
I think the last TV series I was so excited to watch was The Tudors back in 2007.

I finished listening to Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. I loved listening to this story of intertwined lives of people over the years in Italy, Hollywood and northern Idaho. I have M Train on my Kindle from the library.

Sunrise service...

Picture-Day 5  With our Texans ready for Easter Sunday sunrise service. It was outside, timed perfectly with the sunrise. Simply beautiful.

I only have a few minutes to post this so I don't miss a day of pics. I subbed today at the L.C. A swim day. Totally fagged. I could not move when I got home. Aerobics with under water weights. The students are better at it than I am...I will avoid Thursday from now on.

Researching new camera for my 65th birthday gift. I have been saving for it but my dear old hubby wants me to have it for the big day. He somehow always picks up on the gift I really want. Canon 70d is my choice so far.

Watched the final episode of American Idol tonight.

Snow day on the porch...

Picture-Day 4  After two months in the sun it is snowing on the porch. It started last night at 11 p.m.
and has not stopped. I was scheduled to substitute at my former school today but the snow closed all schools in the area.

I started M Train by Patti Smith. She captured my attention on on the first page. Her writing is so intimate. I feel like I am experiencing her life. I loved Just Kids so am looking forward to this book.

I am so excited about the second season of Outlander on Starz. It is all I can do to wait without freakin' out! Saturday April 9th at 9pm. Mix me up a Rusty Nail.

Melbourne Zoo...not on the porch...

        Picture-Day 3  Melbourne Zoo grands with Mothers, Granny and cousin in from Philadelphia School of the Arts.Sand sculpture of octopus in the background. A senior volunteer took the pic so I could be in the shot.
   

Journey to 65th birthday. I watched Moonstruck last night. 1987 with Cher and Nicholas Cage. I loved it. I don't watch many movies. This was so romantic. They were so young. We are all so much older now.
I am reading This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison. It is such an awful realization of a life poorly lived. Not what I was expecting at all. Harriet's life has not gone the way she wanted it to. As a result she made life miserable for her daughter and for herself. I am hoping for a redeeming anything to come in the pages ahead.

Atlantic beach birds...

Picture, Day 2-I walked on the beach every day during the month of February accompanied by these birds. The expanse of crashing blue water, white foam and blue sky drew me to the Atlantic shore. I am back on the porch freezing with at least six inches of new snow!

April back on my old front porch...

I am beginning a thirty day photo challenge. Posting a photo or two each day in April leading up to my sixty- fifth birthday. I feel like I just did  that for my sixtieth birthday. Time does not stand still. In the last five years I have noticed subtle changes in my body, my skin, my energy level. I have wrinkles...No grey yet, though.

Today's photos showcase my awe at the physical prowess of my grands. I saw the swimmers work for hours to perfect their strokes.

Still working on 2016 Reading Challenges. Currently listening to Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. Starting This is Your Life Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison. Last night I went to the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. I know critics have been hard on this movie, but I really enjoyed it. It made me feel good. I needed that this week. I miss the girls and their families. I loved spending time with those wonderful people.