Thankful Sunday, May 31, 2020

I am thankful for Theo.

Yesterday was Theo's birthday and that always takes me down a trip to memory lane when he was growing up.  I'm going to take you on a small part of that trip with me.

Theo entered the world early and at first seemed like a calm baby--at least calmer than his brother. He only cried several hours a day instead of all day. But as he gained mobility he was not so calm-he became nearly perpetual motion. We spent a good deal of our time trying to keep him safe and from tearing down the house. Never a dull moment. For example, even when we tried to lock the door of the fridge, he managed to open it. Playing with eggs was a favorite. Do you know how hard it is to clean up a dozen broken eggs? I do. Nearly impossible. And he was a climber from early on. He was just as likely to be on top of the refrigerator as opening it. But he never fell, even when he was learning to walk. A calculated risk taker one doctor called him. At the playground the other mothers would look at me disapprovingly as my toddler was on top of the swing set instead of swinging in a swing. But I had to chose my battles. As I said, he never fell.

He was curious and all the world was an experiment like the time he burned some of his toys in the fireplace (gas logs that he turned on while we were sleeping). He was only a preschooler at the time. When we hysterically yelled questioned him, he pointed out he wanted to see how they burned and he only used toys that he had two of. We didn't sleep well for a lot of years worrying about what he and his brother were into.

Also, Theo has always been a deep thinker. Many times he would think something through, then engage us in a conversation, and carefully lead us down a path to a gotcha at the end. Ward and I used to think we were pretty intelligent people until our preschooler kept outsmarting us. Not only was he thorough, he thought about the big issues, too. When he was five, he lamented about his place on earth and whether his life mattered in the grand scheme of things.  We weren't exactly equipped to handle those kinds of thoughts from our child at such an early age. But they kept coming.

As you can imagine when Theo entered school, it was not easy.  Hyperactivity, along with an active mind, didn't always work in the classroom. Some teachers loved him with the interesting thoughts and insights he brought to class. Others got upset when he asked a question or made a comment  because it often got the lesson off track. Not because it was off topic, but because it was beyond what the other kids could understand.  His deep thinking didn't stop just because he was in school now.

I don't think I need to describe the calls I got about him because he couldn't sit still. Eventually, we understood that was because of anxiety, but the teachers didn't care what was causing it. They just needed him to be still. It was hard for everyone--Theo, the teachers, and us. I think we were on speed dial with the principal and that is not something that we wanted, but we can smile about now.

However, Theo made it through school and I wish some of his teachers could see him today. I don't think they would believe the adult he's grown into. He is calm and measured, as well as a kind and  responsible person. Kids grow up. Thank goodness.

So for Theo and the wonderful, rich, and interesting life he has given us, I am thankful.

Exploring Along a Quilt Trail

or Three Data Points Do Not Make a Trend--or do they?

Not by any grand plan, we have had outings beyond the grocery store for the last three weekends in a row. The urge to jump in the car and go somewhere has been strong and we are lucky that we have found places to explore where it has been easy to maintain the proper social distancing practices. This past weekend we went on another barn quilt tour in a part of the state we weren't familiar with. This trail was put together mainly to promote local farms, so not surprisingly, we spent the day driving through farm country with rolling hills, red barns, and green hay fields.  Here are some of the things we saw during our quilt scavenger hunt.

This was Brad's Farm Market quilt square representing their different products.
Brad started with two produce stands and now has three large farms.

This was at Boxwood Farms and hard to find. We had to go into the middle of the farm and talk to one of the owners before we found the quilt on the BACK of their dairy barn.

Brooms Bloom Dairy Farm had an ice cream store associated with it.
Unfortunately, it wasn't open.

This was on one of the FFA barns at the local high school.
Among other things, it looked like they were raising sheep and goats.

This one was on Eden Mill which has been in existence since around 1798. 
The mill and associated buildings were closed.

However, the trails in the nature center associated with the mill were open
 and we had a nice walk there.

We found this one at Fawn View Farm. Their write up mentioned five small children along with their major seed business, so I don't think they have had much time to spruce up their barn quilt.

Martha's Farm Market had their square on a small store (which was closed). This was another one where we had to go into the depths of the farm to find the quilt.

This was at Falling Branch Farm where among other things has 

expanded into farm brewing. Ward was very disappointed that it was closed.

The next one was in a wildlife center and was my favorite. It's coming up next.

Turtles seemed to be a theme here as we saw other turtles represented here and there around the grounds.

And Ward found another dam to examine along the way.

So we will see where the wanderlust takes us next week. I can't wait to find out.

Until next time...

Another Walk in the Woods

or The Next in the Series of  

Let's get out of the house.

Last weekend, the rain stayed to the south, and the frost stayed to the north, so we had great weather. We spent Saturday doing outdoor spring chores, so we relaxed on Sunday and went out for our annual (or every five years or so) visit to the Brighton Dam Azalea Gardens. The five acres of gardens feature more than 22,000 azaleas planted in a hardwood forest. Overall, the garden was past its blooming peak, but we still saw many flowers. Once again we didn't have to worry too much about avoiding other people. We only saw four other people on the trails and it was easy to avoid them during our amble through the gardens. Here are a few photos from our outing.

Maintenance dock for the dam

If you ventured from the paths, there was poison ivy waiting for you.

Where there's water, there are usually some geese nearby.

And no visit to a dam is complete without studying its construction. At least with Ward, anyway.

Until next time...

This and That

or The Post in Which I Remember the Strikethrough

Time for another check-in. In summary, the more things change, the more they remain the same. As some parts of Maryland are slowly opening up, the part I live in is in lockdown until the cows come home at least another couple of weeks. It makes sense because in some rural parts of the state there are only a few cases, while the metropolitan area where I live has the highest concentration of cases and deaths, as well as climbing numbers of new cases and hospitalizations. I'm okay with staying put and continuing to go crazy at home teleworking for a little while longer. While I really want to have more freedom, I want it without worry. And that's not going to happen for some time. 

So what have we been up to? We're adding some new shows to our usual TV watching of old reruns. Actually what I mean is that we've become obsessed interested in the show The Good Place. A friend recommended it and I was able to find the first two seasons in the library before it closed. While I wouldn't exactly call it binge watching, we went through the first two seasons rather quickly. We tried to go more slowly and savor the show, but there were just too many plot twists and turns to not keep going. And then all at once there were no more DVD's to watch and I was on a frantic methodical search to find season three. 

We finally signed up for Netflix where we watched season three and it won't cost us anything IF we remember to cancel before thirty days is up. Now we're facing the biggest problem of all inconvenience of not being able to watch season four until maybe November when the whole season will be released. We can see the last few episodes which are still available in reruns, but doing that without watching the beginning of the season would ruin everything be anticlimactic. I guess we will survive find some other fun things to watch. Any recommendations?

Until next time...

Note: A few things about The Good Place. The basic premise for the show is fairly simple in that there is either The Good Place or The Bad Place you go to when you die. There are complications to this with some mistaken identities that drive the plot for the series. However, while the premise of the show may be simple, the actual details are not. If you think you might be interested in the show, start from the beginning. If you pick it up in the middle, it will seem very stupid confusing. 

BTW, Blogger is driving me crazy bothersome. Somehow I got updated to a new version and I'm having problems inserting pictures into this post. Thus, no pictures this time.

A Birthday Outing

This spring has been unusually cold and wet, but we still have a couple of nice weather days each week. We had one of those last Sunday and we took advantage of it by celebrating Ward's birthday with a visit to a park in our area.  We went to the Monocacy National Battlefield, the site of an important Civil War battle. The Union lost this battle, but were able to hold off the Confederate Troops long enough that the Union could shore up their troops in Washington, D.C., and keep control there. 

The park has both a driving tour and walking trails among different key battle sites as well as hiking trails, just because. The park was not crowded and we were alone most of the time, so we could actually relax and not worry about proper social distancing. Here's a few photo's from our day.

Our first stop was the Gambrill Mill. It was built in 1830 and was in use for over 60 years.
 It was used as a field hospital during the war. Today it holds park offices.

Next to the mill was a pond. 

Up the hill from the mill was Edgewood built by Mr. Gambill in 1872. Because financial downturns,
he sold it 25 years later. In the meantime, many elegant parties were held here.
Today it is a historic preservation center for the National Parks.

The tree in the foreground was original to the house and helped frame the main entrance.

We drove to the Worthington Farm to find our trail head for the hike.

A major portion of the trail was along the Monocacy River. 

All of the new growth was an incredible shade of green. No photo enhancement here.

There were numerous wildflowers in bloom.

We saw evidence that the river had flooded recently.

At the end of the hike, we explored the outside of the Worthington Farm House. The house was built in 1851
and sold to Mr. Worthington in 1862. This was a key location for the battle and the Confederate officers
 used the second story to observe the action. Look closely to the left of the house at the cannon. Apparently,
every time it fired the rooster crowed. After the battle, the house and grounds were used as a hospital.

We enjoyed driving through farm country on the way home. 

At home, after taking care of our muddy shoes, Ward went to his shop to do some woodworking, while I baked him a spice cake for his birthday. I agree with Ward that it was a great way to celebrate his birthday.

Until next time...

Thankful Sunday, May 3, 2020

I am thankful for the kindness of strangers.

(Note: I have left a few details out of this story because they were just too cumbersome to write. However, rest assured all appropriate corona virus safety protocols were followed.)

Last Wednesday, Ward and I were getting tired of work and decided we needed a break.  So we loaded our old van with tarps and trash cans full the branches from our yard and started an outing to the local spot that collects yard waste.

Soon we ran into some roadwork and got stopped by a flagman. Ward put the van into park and then the fun began. First the oil light, then the battery light, then the seat belt light, and another and another light until every possible light was lit. That was the pre-show for the big event when the engine died. We were stuck. Immediately, the road workers came to help. They couldn't get the van to move, so they put cones out and directed traffic around us. While I was calling AAA, a man from the house on the other side of the road invited us to wait in his yard until the tow truck came. We accepted because the van was getting hot.

So with a warm, gentle breeze and birds singing in the background, we sat in lawn chairs in his front yard and watched the cars and roadwork in front of us.  A young girl was watering flowers and filling bird feeders, and I commented on what interesting feeders they had. She said her grandfather loved all things birds, but then added, he died a week ago from COVID-19.  Her grandmother, who was also outside, told us the story of how her husband got infected with the corona virus in the nursing home he where he lived. He was on his way to dialysis when he took a turn for the worse and they transported him to a hospice center instead. His wife was eternally grateful for that because she was allowed to see him and say her goodbyes. There was nothing much to say after that except how sorry we were. We sat quietly for a while and watched more roadwork as our hosts reflected on the family member they had lost.

When the construction workers were finishing for the day. they came and tried to move the van again. They wanted it to be out of the middle of the road before they took away their traffic cones. This time they were successful and the van was now on the side of the road. Hooray! Before long, the tow truck came, and after some coordination among the tow truck driver, Ward, Theo, and me; the van was at the garage and we were home safe and sound.

So what could have been a stressful afternoon, turned out to be calm and pleasant because every single person we met went out of their way to help us. So for the kindness of strangers during a difficult situation, I am very thankful.