Vacations always end. Today Chuck and I will go on that fishing trip we talked about for, at least, a year. Unless, it is cancelled, again. We were supposed to go fishing on Lake Pontchartrain on Wednesday but the waves were too choppy and the bottom of the lake was stirred up.
The fishing would have been lousy that day. This is my last chance this visit to go fishing. I have never caught a fish that weighed several pounds. I might catch a speckled trout or if I am lucky a redfish that weighs even more. Chuck has never fished in this area.
Maybe, next year we will go camping again. We will see. In any case it was fun and I am looking forward now to flying home and sleeping in the same bed with my wife and seeing all my critters (I especially miss Tilla, my favorite dog) and being in familiar surrounding. It was nice to go away but thank God I have a place to go home to. And a wife to return to. This is the longest we been apart–one week.
Tags: a place to go home to, camping, childhood friend, Chuck, dogs, fishing trip, God, Lake Pontchartrain, my wife, New Orleans, pets, redfish, speckled trout, thank God, Tilla, vacation
Posted in God, knowledge&learning, life, love, marriage, nature, pets, time, wisdom |
Absence makes your heart fonder. I know that is a cliche but it is true. I have been kept a little too busy on my vacation 
to miss my wife and menagerie particularly my dogs too much. I have called my wife every day and made several quick calls. My vacation to New Orleans has two days to go and then I fly back. I see my lifelong friend once a year. Once a year we reconnect. After fifty years Chuck still makes me laugh and that is an accomplishment. I had fun. Saturday we go out on a charter as long as the weather behaves and I will probably catch the biggest fish of my life. Chuck said some speckled trout weigh several pounds. So I am excited about that. My vacation here will end in a bang.
Tags: absence makes your heart fonder, charter boat, cliche, dogs, fishing, lifelong friend, my wife, New Orleans, pets, speckled trout, vacation
Posted in God, life, love, nature, pets, relationships, time |
There were recent notable discoveries in our house. My wife has had a Christmas cactus over her back kitchen window for years. It had never bloomed but it did in the last week for the first time. She also placed some broken tentacles from a “monster” cactus I am now keeping in my office and today it bloomed. It has a pink flower almost five inches wide and five inches around. We have had the “monster” cactus bloom before but this is the first time it budded in our house.
Tags: "monster" cactus, Christmas cactus, Christmas cactus bloom, my wife, pink flower on tentacled cactus, plants
Posted in beauty, flowers, God, knowledge&learning, local, nature, time |
Maybe, the bluebirds will come back. My wife saw a pair of bluebirds check out a bird box placed on a tree on the perimeter of our backyard from her kitchen window two springs ago. I had never seen a bluebird in my backyard. The box fell off the tree the next day. The birds never came back. This time I made sure the bluebird house would not fall down. Let us see if any bluebirds use it this year.
Tags: bird house, bird-watching, birds, bluebirds in our backyard, my wife, pair of bluebirds, the bluebird house, tree
Posted in animals, birds, local, nature |
My birthday is coming up (and I am just depressed). I can not tell you exactly why although I can guess. Part of that is grief. Most of my life is over. I can’t go back. Wishing is futile. Somehow I need to settle things. My relationship with my daughter is fractured. I don’t know how to repair it. Lectures and judgements don’t do it. I am aware of the ticking time. I am running out of time. I guess, everyone wants to leave a legacy. I am working at getting my first book of poetry out but it is a long and uncertain process. My wife is the only one who really cares about that. She is my editor and a good one. Things really don’t matter. I really don’t know how much time I have left. For that matter, no one knows for sure. I know that somehow I need to make peace with the people who matter to me. I don’t know how. I am just depressed. That is all I know.
Tags: birthdays, depression, editor, grief, make peace with people, my birthday is coming up and I don't care, my daughter, my fractured relationships, my legacy, my wife, peace, poetry, publishing a book, running out of time, time, writing
Posted in balance, children, death, God, life, love, mental health, relationships, time, wisdom, writing, your job/mission/profession |
Tilla jumped into our bed after were were both in it. We changed our routine last night: we both retired at the same time. Usually I go to bed first and read an half an hour and Tilla jumps on the bed then and leaves after my wife gets in bed. This time Tilla jumped on the bed and snuggled between the two of us. His head was right next to mine. I fell asleep and he must have jumped off at some point and went to his usual spot on the Lazy Boy in my den. Coco, my other black dog–his sister–was in her usual spot where she disturbs no one: asleep on the left side of the bed.
Tags: bedtime, Coco, Coco asleep in usual spot next to bed, dogs, my wife, pets, Tilla, Tilla jumped on bed after we were in it, Tilla snuggled between the two of us
Posted in animals, local, pets, relationships |
I play “DJ” all day for my wife. Sometimes she gets tired of the music and ask me to “pipe” it in my den or lower it or turn it off if the music is getting on her nerves. That is a gift to me that her taste in my music is eclectic so I can play almost anything any time. I was not as free to play my music with my first wife. I often had to wait until she was out of the house to play some of my music. Her tastes in music were not as varied as my current wife.
Tags: music, my first wife's taste in music, my wife, my wife's taste in music is eclectic, play "DJ", playing music all day
Posted in local, marriage, music, relationships |
Tilla, one of my dogs–my favorite, has a new routine (as well as Coco). At bedtime, Tilla jumps on my bed and waits for me to get there. He does not like to share his private time with my wife. I go to bed first and read awhile. He has learned to give me space on our king-sized bed so I can get under the sheets completely. When my wife makes it to bed, he simply jumps off. Often when I awake his sister Coco is lying right next to me. By that time my wife is no longer sleeping in the bed. And Tilla is still lying on the Lazy Boy in my den where he usually spends the night.
Tags: bedtime, Coco, dogs, my pets' nightly routine, my wife, pets, Tilla
Posted in local, marriage, pets, relationships |
The birds are finally coming to my suet cage. I did move it further from the trunk of the white pine. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. Maybe. I briefly had two Carolina wrens and a downy woodpecker on it. I, also, saw my first red bellied woodpecker feed on the suet. It came twice. I just got tired of sharing my suet with the squirrels. I would go through one suet cake a day sometimes. The suet cage was an unexpected Christmas gift from my wife. And she gave it early to me. I am delighted the birds are coming inside it to feed.
Tags: bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, birds inside suet cage regularly, Carolina wren, Christmas gift, downy woodpeckers, my wife, red bellied woodpeckers, squirrels, suet, suet cage
Posted in animals, birds, local, marriage, nature |
I spotted the pileated woodpecker, again, (this time from my window in my den) climbing up the tree across the street. I shouted to my wife to glimpse it it but it was too late: it had flown away. She had never seen one. Its red crest and large size were unmistakable. I assured her she would get another chance to see it: the bird would be back.
Tags: bird-watching, birds, dead tree and a pileated woodpecker, my wife, Pileated Woodpecker, red crest, sighting of pileated woodpecker, tree
Posted in birds, local, marriage, nature |
Coco, one of our dogs, has to greet my wife first before going out. When we return after being out for awhile, we let all the dogs out immediately into our fenced yard. Coco will not dash out before she gives my wife a big hello. She is the only dog of our three that does that. She enthusiastically greets my wife and then she runs out in the yard.
Tags: Coco, coco and her greetings, Coco has to say "hello" first to my wife, dogs, going out in the yard, my wife, pets, three dogs
Posted in animals, local, marriage, pets, relationships |
I am waiting to see how long it takes for the birds to find the suet, again. For years I put some up right next to the trunk of the large white pine outside our window. I got tired of sharing the suet with the squirrels. Sometimes I would have to put up new suet once a day. My wife surprised me with not one but two cages to enclose suet cakes. It was a Christmas present she gave me before the holidays. The cages are supposed to be squirrel proof. I put up the one that had largest holes. I wanted bigger woodpeckers to be able to reach the suet. The suet I put near the trunk of the tree was finally gone. I want to see how long it would take the birds to find the suet in the cages. Today I saw a chickadee alight on the outside of the cage briefly. That is the closest I got to seeing a bird go in the cage. It might take weeks before a woodpecker goes into the cage. And they seemed to like that the suet near the trunk of the tree. Let us see how many weeks go by. Birds are creatures of habit.
Tags: a cage enclosing suet cakes, bird feeding, birds, birds are creatures of habit, chickadee, Christmas present, my wife, squirrel proof, suet cage, the birds are competing with the squirrels for suet, the suet placed near the trunk of the tree, woodpeckers
Posted in animals, birds, local, marriage, nature, time |
