Baby ducks

About five weeks ago I saw a mother duck and her babies down at the river. She had a full dozen baby ducks to look after. I haven't seen them again until this morning. It was amazing how much they had grown. By looking at them it was hard to tell which one was the mother - but by watching them you could tell who was in charge.

It's a beautiful morning. The roses and the peonies are blooming in everyone's yard and the air has a scent that is sometimes light and sometimes intoxicating.

Frivolity and seriousness

Last night I went to my brother's house where we sheared his one sheep. That poor sheep. We are truly terrible at this. This year we tried to do better. I had studied videos that I had gotten from other libraries and had watched several YouTube videos. We had also watched the sheep shearing demonstration a the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Mostly all that did was intimidate me. Nevertheless, we forged ahead and today the sheep has less wool on her than she had yesterday. She's no showpiece but she'll be more comfortable this summer. As a side benefit, my hands are silky soft because of all that lanolin.

As I was getting ready for work, I saw a hummingbird at the weigelia bush in the back yard. Just at that moment, the phone rang. It was my friend Barry who had just received some crushing medical news. I'm still in a dazed state of semi-denial after speaking with him and am trying to think of any way to be of help. The phone call made the other lighthearted features of the day seem very frivolous. Still, it reminded me that those brief wonderful or fun moments are to be remembered and cherished. We never know how many of them will be allowed to us.

The worst, most beautiful days

The past few days have been among some of the most beautiful I can ever remember. Breezy, cool, and crystal clear. At the same time they have been some of the worst days. My friend Barry has had a recurrence of melanoma and had to have some difficult surgery this week. I have known Barry for 33 years and he was very supportive and consoling to me during my health problems last year. I hate it that he has to face this and hope that I can be as supportive for him as he has been for me.

We set up a blog for Barry to keep people up to date on his progress. He has been posting on it regularly. That web address is http://barryw.blogspot.com.

About prayer

I have been praying lately for people I know who are facing serious health challenges. I do this a lot but rarely as intensely as today. It seems foolish in a way to do this. I doubt that God is sitting around waiting for me to make suggestions for how He should proceed with things. At the same time it's impossible for me not to do it. Maybe the plan is for me to pray, to meditate, to come to a deeper understanding. I can't help but think that if we all show that we're trying very hard to learn the lesson set before us, then just maybe this test will pass us by.

Saturday morning - a wood thrush

I have had a very busy run of it lately with lots of competing deadlines. I managed to jump through a lot of hoops and wrap up several of them last week. I have always gotten myself into situations like that and am going to work not to have that happen again. I have said that a lot in the past but last year's event brought this into high focus. I don't want to get into situations where I'm wishing parts of my life to be over with. This came back into my mind Saturrday morning when I as I was just waking up. I heard the song of a wood thrush and it reminded me that I hadn't taken time to savor the beauty of the days as I should. Wood thrushes are birds of the forest and aren't often heard in the suburbs where I live. I hear them often when I am out hiking or in my kayak but this was only the second time that I have heard one in my neighborhood. They have the clearest, most flute-like song. I have a sound file of a wood thrush song and added photos from a kayaking afternoon to make this movie.

Running around at a conference

I'm spending the last few days of the week in Ocean City (Maryland) at a conference. It has been successful so far. I have several assignments here and have to present at a session tomorrow. I'll be able to relax once I have pulled off that show. I'm looking forward to that.


I'm lucky enough to be in a room with a few of the ocean. This is great. I took a phone picture of the sunrise this morning. That was a good plan. It turns out that it will probably be cloudy and rainy for the rest of the week. The room is close enough to the ocean to hear the waves on the beach all night. That's wonderful. Here's that sunrise photo.

Walking in the rain

We have been having monsoon-like rains over the last several days. This morning the river was raging. The morning had "stay in bed" written all over it but I decided to head out on a walk anyway. It was very interesting. I'm glad I have that very waterproof raincoat, though.

This week will be a scramble with a million looming deadlines. Once it is over, though, I hope to make good on my resoultion to manage both my time and my workload better. We'll see how that goes.

Groundhog Day

The walks down to the river these past few days have been beautiful. I like being up and about in the half light of morning. This time of year the sun is not quite over the horizon when I'm out. The river picks up the colors of the sky and the trees. It's very serene. This is my favorite part of the day - before the day's duties begin. Yesterday a train came by just as I was crossing back over the river bridge into downtown Ellicott City and just as I was going under the railroad bridge a grain truck came through to deliver supplies to the Wilkins-Rogers plant. On the way up the hill I said hello to a woman who was leaving her house to go to work. This morning the exact same sequence of events happened. The train came just as I was on the way back over the bridge. It even had the same type of cars. The truck came under the railroad bridge just as I got there, and later the same woman was on her way out the door as I passed. It was such an old time small-town sort of scene and I'm glad to have been there for it twice. It was like the movie Groundhog Day where the same day keeps happening over and over. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I suspect it will be different.

Six months

I just realized that it has been six months since I was in for the surgery. So much seems to have happened since then. This is a landmark. It seems to long ago now.

The wrong approach

At work I have a lot of things going on all at once and I'm trying to keep up with a blast of competing deadlines. All of them are short-term events. It will be a scramble to meet them all and do a good job of it. This evening I caught myself looking forward to the end of next week when several of them will be behind me. What a bad way to look at things - wishing parts of my life away.

I will be working to get to the point where I'm looking forward to things that are coming up rather than waiting for parts of my life to be over.

A busy weekend and an unexpected designation

I had a busy weekend. I spent most of Saturday out at my brother's house helping to put up a new fence and put finishing touches on the refurbished chicken house. The new chickens arrived mid-day and seemed to like the new digs. "The girls", as they call them, moved right in. On Sunday we went to the Sheep and Wool festival to watch the sheep shearing demonstrations. We shear their sheep (That's sheep in the singular. They only have the one.) every year and it's traumatic for all concerned. I learned a lot but there's no way I'll ever be able to do it as confidently as the pros do. One sheep a year isn't a lot of practice. It's an adventure, though.

Also this weekend I got a letter from one of the hospitals I have been to, inviting me to their cancer survivors celebration. That was a surprise. It seems very strange to be included in that category.

Here's a phone picture of one of the girls. The eggs should start rolling in any day now.