Grateful for 7 Things, plus 7 Thoughts 13 Apr 2014

1. LILACS...I absolutely love lilacs.  Love the smell, the colors (dark purple, light purple, even white) the "home-i-ness"of them, the bushes whether in bloom or not, but mostly the blossoms. I love love love lilacs, and I saw some blooming today! Not at my home.  Gee, I wish I knew someone with a bush because I would beg for a bouquet. The lot I bought to put my trailer on is just toxic I think.  I have planted probably a minimum of 8 lilac bushes over the 4 years I have lived here.  None have survived.  Neither have more than a dozen rose bushes, 3 trees, a dozen Crepe Myrtles, a yard full of "store bought" grass (sod), and way too many plants.  My daughter swears the moles that also live here underground have really enjoyed eating the roots of everything. 
2. RED BUD TREES... The one tree that has survived in my yard is a Red Bud.  When it blooms in the spring it is just so beautiful.  I love it.  I can see it out of my kitchen window. It is not red but pinkish/purple.  Well, here, this is it (photo below).  As you can see there is no other color in my yard other than a glimpse of a yellow plastic grocery bag blown in the yard and stuck in the fence.  Thus, I think Seattle IS the garden of Eden, and why I appreciate the tiny bit of color my red bud tree gives me for a few days. 
   
3. GREEN BUDS ON ELM TREES... It is so nice to see the Elm trees bud out.  Just happy to see another touch of color.  These elms have probably been here a hundred years and Dutch Elm disease is getting to most of them.  These trees are full of dead branches.  I don't have one on my lot but the branches get blown onto my roof every now and then. This is the view out my front door towards highway 287.  It appears that I am right on the access road but it is 160' of vacant lot from my fence to the road. The vacant lot between me and the street is brown, the access road and highway are the gray streaks, followed by more dead brown grass on the other side of the highway, gray dead branches in the trees -- and why I am excited to see some green buds.  The blah concrete stairs lead to a bridge.  Kids can walk across the bridge over the highway to get to the elementary school across the way. 
   
4. NEW MEXICO MAGAZINE...I spent my Sunday afternoon reading a New Mexico Magazine.  The March issue.  My sister sends it to me because I love New Mexico and wish I lived in Santa Fe.  I was born in Tucumcari and lived in NM (Tucumcari, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho) until my 30's. 
   
5. FINDING FREE STUFF...While in Wal-Mart the other day I saw a basket of these boxes.  A woman was stocking shelves with sidewalk chalk and had taken them out of these display boxes.  I asked if I could have one, thinking it would be perfect to store my New Mexico Magazines... and it is even turquoise!
   
6. DIGITAL CAMERAS...I also spent a good part of the afternoon cropping, deleting, saving digital photos of my new grandson.  LOL! Even after deleting some I still have 168 photos of him between a few hours old and 2 months.  He is almost 6 months old and there is no telling how many photos I have to date.  Next Sunday I will work on them again.  I love my digital camera.  I would post tons of photos of my grandkids but I worry about weird people out there and have heard there is a way to get the address of where the photo was taken.
7. ICE SKATING...Nope, I have never skated, on ice or anything else, but I have enjoyed watching it on tv this afternoon.  I am taking it easy this weekend.  I had my 3rd go-round of "the cruise line crud (without the cruise)" this past week and let me tell ya, I am sick of being sick.  It was so violent and frequent this time I threw up blood three different times.  That was scary. Now it just feels like I have pulled loose every muscle in my body or I have had a beating with a 2" x 4" or something.  Went to the Dr Fri for my yearly free Medicare wellness checkup and I am fine, but I told her it has been this bug, the flu, this bug, really bad colds, this bug.. since December and what can I do besides bleach every available surface in my house and spray Lysol until I can't breathe.  She told me it has just been a really bad year for these illnesses here this winter.  Well, I hope all the germs leave soon.