May...still a difficult month for me

Don't know if I can post tomorrow or not so I'm posting this today. Tomorrow will be the second anniversary of my mom's passing. She is greatly missed.
I find myself wondering why getting over her death has been harder than getting over the death of my father. I've come to the conclusion that when my dad passed (Feb. 8, 2004) we had mom to worry about and take care of so there was little time to think and little time to mourn. Mom had been ill with Alzhiemers for about 7 years and the last three years of her illness where intense and then suddenly she was gone and I had nothing but time to mourn and comb through her belongings and see all the things that she had enjoyed. We're still finding things that I don't know what to do with. It's crazy. Because of this I have given away things of my own that don't have particular meaning for anyone so our kids won't have to go through the same task.
The old saying that time heals all wounds are wrong. It just dulls the pain.
On a happier note we have been having some good rain and Austin is green again.

Blustery Day

Wonderful walk this morning. Around 35 and windy, almost feels like winter. Not many people out on the Hike and Bike Trail though, just a few runners and a couple of people walking their dogs.We had three days of light rain and even an early morning thunderstorm and it was all great. Wish we had more.
Did walk over to the Occupy Austin site but there are few hardy souls out there right now. One young man I talked to said they are planning in Occupy Foreclosure type protest which is to occupy empty homes that were foreclosed on. I don't know how that will go over with those who own these properties but I guess we will see if this protest takes place.
Here are a few more photos taken over Thanksgiving week.

Frankie, Pam, Lauren

Waiting on news of sisters foot surgery

Cyndi's foot a week after surgery

Evie and Frankie

Awwww

Just Posting Stuff

Now this is a beautiful morning!

We actually got a bit of rain on Thursday and it was cool for a couple of mornings which made for nice walking. The heat is back though and that stupid sun is shining brightly burning and fading everything it touches.
Started this post a few days ago waiting for something interesting to happen but no such luck.
Clouds, sunshine, warmer temperatures. Longhorns losing. Same, same.
They arrested 5 people down at the Occupy Austin site for chaining themselves to a tree because they didn't want to move so the place could be power washed. It was orderly though and no one was pepper sprayed or hurt.
My carotid test results were worrisome but could have been worse so it's something I can hopefully manage. I think that for most of my life I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop but it never does. This can be a good thing or not depending on how you view life. I just bumble through it glad to be alive.

Who knew?

While out on my walk this morning I was approached by a women who said she aways noticed my walking when she took her grandson to school in the morning. She said she would tell her grandson 'there goes the lady with the cane', and he would say 'grandma you always say that'. She said she wanted to meet me and she wished that she was as strong as I appeared to be. We chatted for a few minutes and she told me she used to walk until she fell and hurt her knee and that she will have to have surgery on it. I told her that she should be just as good as new after surgery and would most likely be able to walk like she used to. It was a pleasant surprise and it just goes to show you that you can affect peoples lives without ever being involved in their lives. I'm happy that it appears I affected her in a good way. Glad I got my walk in early this morning because now we're in the middle of some rain storms which are most welcome. I got my 3 miles in.

Rain, rain, has come again!

Oh geez, I wrote a bunch of crap and saved it each time but still I lost it all trying to post these stupid pictures. Don't know if I can even remember what I wrote. I did update that I'm still walking and keeping up with my distances on Google Pedometer which I will recommend to anyone who wants to keep track of their walking or running data. It's so easy to use even I can navigate it. It is raining this morning as the title of this entry indicates and it is most welcome. The picture looking out the window on the rainy streets in front of our home was taken with my laptop camera as were the photos of my paintings. Regarding my walking endeavors I had planned on signing up for the Texas Roundup which is next Saturday. I'm not known to be very social but if it's taking part in things like organized walks I can do it because you're not expected to interact with those around you except to stay out of the way of the fast runners and walkers. ;-)I'm not sure I can do this Roundup though because idiot Perry is going to be there and I don't think I can stomach his preening stupid face and still concentrate on the mechanics of getting through the walking course. Ugh. About the paintings. One is just of a lake front with trees and cabin in the distance. It's not yet finished but I'm happy with it so far. The other one is a cartoon like version of a Dia De Los Muertos figure. It also is not complete but I'm not sure if I like it or not. I tend to use bright colors and paint places that I would like to be even though they are just a composite of different areas of the country I have seen or thought I remember seeing. Memory is a funny thing. Some memories I'm not sure are things I actually remember or things that have been described to me by someone else and I just think they are my memories. Okay now I'm getting a little goofy here, must the the rain. ;-)