age 5

My hair naturally parted on the right side. Hitler was in power when I was young, and he parted his hair on the right, so my father insisted that my hair be parted on the left. It was that way until i decided to change it.

candles

Today is my birthday.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You can sit down now, please. Thank you.

Today marks the 71st anniversary of my mom’s giving birth. I was her first child, the experimental one, but she did her best, and who am I to complain. She was a good little mother.

I have outlived both of my parents as well as my step father. My grandfather had a heart attack when he was younger than I am, then went on to live another 30 years. On my fathers side, my aunt Ruby is 93 this year. She is not going strong, but she is still going.

I have always been a bit introspective, and as I get older I am more. My head spins with ideas and wonderents and joys on a good day. On a bad, that same brain is full of dread and sadness.

We will travel to see family today. Tomorrow, grandson #3 graduates from high school. He is a real good kid. I am very proud of him. And it is always good to visit family.

We each have a lot of control over our lives, but not ultimate control. Still, we have more than we use. That is true for me at least. I often wonder about the ways I migt have made life better.
Anyway, I am glad to be here. Last year my oldest daughter sent me a box of 70 of her home made chocolate chip cookies for my birthday, this year my sister gave me 72, then ate one herself, so it would come out even!

Thank you each for making my life more enjoyable. Maybe 71 isn’t so bad after all.

I love you.

promise

We had a late, cold spring, with temps in the low to mid 20's after apricot bloom, but amazing, we have a bumper crop.
Go figure.

knees

I spent much of my life on my knees

It is the life of someone whose life seems to be on the floor. Tile, linoleum (remember the good old stuff?), carpet.

I even garden on my knees, it seems comfortable some how. There is a tool that is illegal to ask anyone to use now, it is a hoe about 24” long and to use it you have to bend over in a back breaking position.

People used to spend all day in that position using that little instrument of torture. Well, I use one (it is a good old forged iron model that has long gone off the market) and use it while I am on my knees. It works.

The other tool I seem to use a great deal is small stainless steel trowel. Made by a maker of razor blades, it is a superb tool. It is not made any longer either. I am afraid this says something about the quality of hand tools we buy nowadays, but that is a different subject.

Anyway, as I garden on knees, I get a better look at the plants. From that perspective weeds and vegetables have a different appearance. A bit of bug damage, or an individual insect is easy to see as well.

The down side at this age is that the getting up and going down is a bit more awkward than it used to be. I do fine on my knees, but it takes a bit to get reoriented when I get up again.

But, for now, at least, the old knees are doing pretty well.