Busy

I'm working on some extra projects right now, so my posting here may be sparse for a few weeks. Although, I'm not sure how you will tell the difference from my regular, irregular schedule. :)

Every couple of days, we are having
snow and ice to contend with. 

First, some of my computer writing time is being taken up each week with a gift I received for Christmas. My sister-in-law got me a subscription to StoryWorth, a service that sends you a question each week to answer, and after a year, your responses are published into a book. It's a means of saving family history and telling a personal story. The questions are open-ended and require effort. For example, the question I'm working on now is, "What were your grandparents like?" I'm finding it challenging to discuss four different grandparents (and a bonus one we discovered a few years ago) in only a few paragraphs. Actually, this answer is more than a few paragraphs, and I'm only discussed 2/5 so far. I have told some of my family stories here on my blog, but with Storyworth, I can add specific names, places, and times that I don't share here. We'll see how it goes. I may get tired of this before the year is done, but I would like to do this for my kids and others.

Also, we have a date for construction to begin on our kitchen. In just two weeks, we have to have several rooms emptied. The kitchen is the main focus, but the domino effect of closing doorways and opening others have spread the job. And then there are things like if the new floor is going to extend into the connecting laundry room and bathroom, do we want to take this opportunity to put in a new toilet and vanity to replace the worn 33-year-old ones? We need to shop for those things if we do. And we're trying to figure out how we will function the 2-3 months the project is supposed to last. We have a small canning kitchen in the basement, so we have options there. However, we are moving cabinets from upstairs to downstairs to replace the small, crude ones there now, so we have to have that area empty, too. However, that's the first thing they will do, so hopefully, we will have a usable space down there before too long. But even before a functioning "kitchen," we have to figure out our workspaces since the office is one of the areas we have to cleanout. Ward works from home every day, so he will need a good space to relocate into. There are options for everything; we just have to figure them out.

So I'll see you when I see you. Actually, that might be more often than I plan because I am talking with you now because it's easier than working on either of the projects I mentioned above. 

Fleeting

The first news came when my niece, Lianne, told her grandfather and the rest of us that she might be late with his Christmas present. If he could wait until April, she and her husband Ben were going to have twins. These would be their first, and we were all excited about the news.

Lianne and Ben lived away, and we visited with them at Thanksgiving. Lianne was out of the morning sickness phase and starting to show. They were both so happy and excited. Lianne and Ben's next visit was going to be in January when there would be a baby shower for them in the area. A registry was formed, and gifts arrived, awaiting the shower.

However, the shower was canceled. The twins arrived unexpectantly on Dec. 30, just one day before Lianne's birthday. Little Sawyer and Allison (named after Ward's sister, who passed away a few years ago) were tiny, each weighing just over 1 pound. But they were alive and surrounded by excellent medical care. The parents held vigil round the clock with the babies. The hospital gave them a room to shower and sleep in, although I don't know how much sleep they got. There were ups and downs every day. Allison held onto Lianne's finger, then Sawyer's oxygen level dropped, and so it would go. Lianne pumped breast milk and gave it to Allison on a Q-tip. Ben read to them, The Hobbit and All Creatures Great and Small. However, little Sawyer passed away after being on this earth for just a week. He died in his mother's arms after she baptized him. The parents were consumed with grief, but they had a daughter who needed them, and the vigil continued.

Allison's medical problems persisted, but we heard reports about how she had the family eyebrows and was a feisty little thing. Every day forward brought a new day of hope. We all celebrated her two-week birthday by sending pictures of us embracing life. But this morning, Allison went to join her brother. She was just too little. When it looked like the end was near, Allison and Ben got to hold Allison, and miraculously, all of her vitals improved to perfect. Babies know their parents. Lianne and Ben spent many hours holding her before she passed. A family portrait shows how much the parents were in awe and loved those babies.

Now the long process of grieving and recovery begins. I wish Lianne and Ben strength and pray they can find comfort and peace in the days ahead.

My Neck of the Woods

 or to paraphrase weatherman Al Roker, "Here's what's happening in my neck of the woods."

The most recent snowfall. We are forecast to get three times this much tomorrow.

Today is a welcome day off from a busy week at work before I return tomorrow. Our library has begun handing out COVID test kits for county residents, and there's been somewhat of a frenzy. While there is separate staff handing out the kits, we are fielding continuous phone calls asking about the status of the distribution. These constant interruptions make it hard to assist people who want help with actual library services. But it's all good. People are happy to get the kits, and we are happy to be providing the service. BTW, I don't know the current COVID-related numbers anymore because I've stopped listening to the details. I just know that they are high, and more and more people I know are getting sick. But this too shall pass, she says wearily.

Well, I didn't get this posted yesterday, so let's see what I can do before I'm off to work. And speaking of work, I just found out one of my coworkers now has COVID, which he contracted from his wife. It's been five days since I've seen him, and that was from a distance, both masked. So I think I'm okay. 

And speaking of COVID-related matters, we are experiencing empty grocery store shelves here like most of the rest of the country. I think we are seeing the perfect storm of residual supply chain issues, worker shortages because of COVID, and a big snowstorm last week with a promise of another tomorrow. And to top it all off, these have led to panic buying. Panic buying is the only thing we can really control, but human nature gets in the way, and panic buying results. While we don't exactly have an overly full pantry or freezer here, we won't go hungry for a long time if we get no more supplies.

Until next time...

Tuesday 4, True Crime and Mystery

This week Tuesday 4 asks questions about true crime and mystery. Join me if you'd like.

1. Was there a notorious crime in the news that caught your attention or interest? Did you follow that case to it's conclusion?  If there was no solution, do you pay attention to news about the case long after? (for instance the Lindbergh kidnapping case... Patty Hearst, etc., ) I have followed various crime cases in the news, but never to the extent of every detail. However, one in particular that I followed closely was the Jon Benet Ramsey murder. Her mother was from WV and I had met her a few times at school functions. Also, her kids were the same age as mine. I still glance at any headlines I see about the case all these years later since it has not been solved.

2.Does the mystery genre of literature and movies interest you?  Does any one book ,series or movie stand out for you? In general, I'm not a mystery reader or movie watcher. I don't like the intensity of them. I'm more of a half-hour comedy type of person. However, the mention of Lindbergh's in the first question reminded me of a fiction book I enjoyed about the Lindberghs, The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin. I also have liked these mystery series: Alan Bradley's Flavia Deluce, Jaquiline Winspear's Maisy Dobbs, and Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache.

3.  Ever play Clue or any one of the new mystery games available?  Do you enjoy solving mysteries or puzzles? I enjoyed playing Clue as a kid and I played it with my kids, too. While I like a good mystery or puzzle, I don't try to solve them often. However, my husband and kids are excellent at them and they enjoy the challenge.

4. Some towns are known for mysteries that took place there.  Do you have something like that in your town or state?  If not.. how about telling us about something that has always puzzled you! It seems that every place has its share of mystery and ghost stories, but I don't know many of them. However, not far from where I live, they filmed the Blair Witch Project, a supernatural horror film. And in WV, there is the legend of the Mothman. In the mid-1960s, people claimed they saw a 10' creature with wings and red eyes. 

Mothman

2021, The Year in Review - Part 2

 According to my blog

I will pick up from where I left off last time and finish the second half of the year.

July - 9 posts

This month saw me celebrating two birthdays. First was my father's when I posted about things I had learned from him. Next was my birthday when I paid tribute to my mother because I was not an easy baby. We were still looking for outdoor things to do and went to a bluegrass concert on a local farm where there was plenty of room to spread out. Despite the weather being very hot, I posted pictures of several flowers that were thriving. Also, I took a break from my attempts at being positive and did a post about things that were annoying me, primarily changes in our bank's software. And this was the month that I started answering prompts from Tuesday 4 and discussed blogging, movies, and a visit from the future.

Besides flowers, I shared a picture of one of the baby bunnies around our yard.

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August - 13 posts

During August, we took two trips - one to research Ward's genealogy in Pennsylvania and one to West Virginia for a family reunion. The hot weather continued with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. In the garden, tomatoes and basil were producing, and I made several batches of tomato sauce and pesto. For my Tuesday 4 posts, I discussed my personal characteristics, books and movies, cooking, and my wedding.

We found the church where Ward's grandfather was baptized during our genealogy trip.

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September - 7 posts

The garden was winding down in September, but I still harvested basil, tomatoes, beets, and carrots. I shared the story of how we got our current two cats to celebrate their birthday, and I posted about the ribbons we won at the local fair. During my Tuesday 4 posts, I talked about my home and the Wild West. This month, my blog also documented wooly worm activity, but the real wildlife story was about a snake that got taped to a wall in our house.

The Wild West post featured a picture of Theo getting ready
for Rodeo Days when we lived in Texas.

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October - 11 posts

This month found us on another short getaway to Pennsylvania but in a different area than in August. Like most of our getaways, we enjoyed visiting historical sites along with parks. We also spent a day in Annapolis, getting an overview of the city for a return visit. Again, I was in a complaining mood and mentioned a few of my pet peeves, including too many moving graphics on the TV news. I answered Tuesday 4 questions about October as well as remembered Halloween traditions from my childhood. With fall in full swing, there was not much talk of harvest except for a few apples I made into an apple crisp.

One of the pictures from our Annapolis trip.

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November  - 6 posts

In November, Ward and I took an anniversary trip to WV where we hiked in the ice and snow. I answered Tuesday 4 questions about my hometown and the month of November, and Theo gave me his own version of Tuesday 4 that resulted in two posts about seeing situations from two sides. Also, I talked about our Thanksgiving preparations and a busy grocery store trip.

We were surprised with our first camellia blooms this month.

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December - -9 posts

I began the month with more details about the anniversary trip we took at the end of November, but most of the month discussed holiday preparations and plans. These were mostly positive, but I did do one post about the melancholy feeling that I was having. I did a post on my mother's birthday about how she changed the date she celebrated it so it wouldn't always be lumped in with Christmas. In the Tuesday 4 posts, I discussed my name and books and movies.

We had a very warm December and there were still a few flowers in the yard.

So there you have it. My year in review or at least a review of what I had time (or the inclination) to post about. I was more active in 2021 than I was the year before. In 2021, I averaged 2.5 posts/week and in 2020, I averaged 1.5 posts/week. The increased numbers were in part because of participation in the Tuesday 4 questions. 

Who knows what 2022 will bring? And who knows what I will choose to post about? I have great ideas, and you may see some of them when blogging moves further up on my priority list. Those darn things like work and chores keep getting in the way. :)

Until next time...