(The title of this post is a riff on a good book by one of my favorite authors: Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith.)
Our children have been having a lot of fun outside, what with the warm, sunny weather and all. Next to our driveway (and unfortunately, just over the boundary [...]

As I sit here at the computer, next to me is the screen door to the back yard. I am listening to the comforting sounds of birds twittering their evening songs. I look outside and it is a beautiful sight with the sun’s glow illuminating a patch of purple/blue irises in full bloom. [...]

Well, our family has grown by four. I discovered that a feral cat had a litter of six kittens in our garden shed. As of this afternoon she was nowhere to be seen and two of the kittens had disappeared, so we made the difficult decision to take the remaining four inside and try to [...]

Word from my mother this a.m. is good in that my sister-in-law, Linda, is doing a bit better than last night, even though she is still in tremendous pain. She has a very low blood count and has had four units of blood. I’m feeling better than yesterday, when I basically slept most of the [...]

Last night I was able to get the lawn mowed after several days’ delay, which was a good feeling. Keegan had his first try at driving the lawnmower and had fun with that. He did a good job of mowing a couple of rows! He discovered a couple of small bird’s eggs which I’m sure [...]

Yesterday I mentioned that we had put in some more bird feeders. Already I’m having to chase away a squirrel who thinks he (or she) has found the mother lode of easy pickings I’m enjoying the variety of birds I’ve seen feeding at the birdfeeders thus far, including the following: red-winged blackbird, common starling, [...]

I have been feeling unwell for a few days and woke up feeling a bit worse, so I stayed home for the day. Michele and I started, then stopped, a diet today. I think that’s the shortest time I’ve ever been on a diet! The weather here has been incredibly violent and stormy, with severe [...]

It’s a beautiful, fall day here in Indiana. Michele and I agree that this area is very pretty in the fall, with the narrow country roads, abundant trees, and the corn and soybeans waiting to be harvested. There is a lot of undeveloped land here, and that means that there is wide variety of wildlife. [...]

We’ve had some interesting wildlife sightings of late…A week or so ago, Michele and I were in the family room watching TV when we suddenly noticed that a raccoon had walked up to the screen door and was pressing its face against the screen, calmly staring at us for several seconds before disappearing. Then two [...]