THIS GLORIOUS, BEAUTIIFUL DAY...

Yard work through this glorious day. Little by little. 

When tired, I had my places to rest... Front porch, "tree-house" porch, upper deck, ground-level back patio... with soft, fragrant breezes everywhere... 

What I do miss is that big dog Mick, who would follow and adoringly watch as I worked. Bob always said, "He thinks you're the star of a movie."... 

What he was, was a wonderful gift from my Bob, that big guy I miss just as much.

It seems they are with me as I work. Still lucky; never really alone...

AT LAST THE THE LOOK AND FEEL OF JUNE ARRIVES...

AND FRESH MORNING SUNSHINE FINDS IT WAY INTO MY HOUSE...

BUT IT'S STARTLING TO THINK... THE MONTH OF JUNE IS NEARLY OVER!

THINGS OF THE MORNINGS...

The outdoors is filled with interest in spring and summer mornings: 

ON THE GROUND, I see emerging wildflowers; a strutting wild turkey; the hyperactive movement of a pair of little wrens gathering nest materials; the busy foraging of chipmunks, squirrels and mama robins; a family of deer quietly following Mama deer across the creek... 

IN THE SKY, buzzards drawing lazy circles in blue skies; the gleam of jet trails criss-crossing above the morning sun; a breakfast-hungry hawk at watch atop an old dead hickory...

AND AN EAGLE!!



AND IN EVERY SEASON,  WHETHER FROM MY INDOOR BEDROOM WINDOW, OR WHEN I HAVE WALKED A PATH TO STAND BESIDE IT AND ADMIRE IT... 
THIS MAJESTIC WALNUT TREE!

A SUNDAY WITH TWO FACES...

Yesterday was draped with thick, dark clouds for the entire morning, until just after lunch, when the sun found a way to suddenly disperse all that gloom.
This is how it started, like flicking a light switch:

Soon the the sky was deep crystal blue; there was not a wisp of a cloud; not a breeze or a sprinkle; for the rest of the day.

And then the day was over, ending with a long, slow sunset that started like this:

Now it is Monday, spectacular all through the day. I have taken no photos; just enjoyed this great day for looking, working, playing, experiencing...  

FRIDAY MORNING COMING IN ON QUIET FEET...

Last night's sunset, as I settled down to sleep! ... I still see it in my mind's eye!
Layers of antique gold, building up and gleaming from behind the openings of greenery in trees outside my window! I kept my eyes awake to it until the darkness came.
And now this morning is the opposite, with sunrise draped invisible behind a gloomy sky. 
Apparently a storm came in the night, but I slept soundly through it; and it left.
Warmth is rising up to us from southerly directions, promising a summer-style weekend, and it's welcome!
Good morning, Friday. And good morning to you all!

WORDS FOR THOSE WHO GUARD OUR SAFETY...

Column by Rose Moore, Gazette Newspapers, 1-16-2015

    Years ago, as I sifted through some photographs and souvenirs, I came across a yellowed newspaper article. Smiling back at me was a picture of a special person I remembered from my childhood.

    It was Edward "Eddie" Waldman, Painesville City patrolman and popular "Cop on the Corner"... though we children in those days would not have called him by that "slangy" term. At the State and Erie Street intersection, near several elementary schools, the news photographer had caught a moment when a child had impulsively thrown her arms around the sturdy officer.

    I was not that little girl, but I might as well have been. Waldman was a hero to us all.

    Though Waldman stood that post so long ago, he remains in the collective memory of many grammar schoolers of the 1940s and '50s who, on every school day, traveled through that busy crossing with his watchful help.

    There was more than crossing duty to this policeman's work, but to us he seemed exclusive to our own small world; a reassuring guardian in blue who steered us safely through the maze of traffic at that intersection. He held a special status in our lives and somehow made us feel as if we were a special part of his.

    Our safety people in those simpler times were closely knit into the fabric of our days..

En route to school, many of us passed them in our shortcuts through "Police Alley," behind the firehouse on St. Clair Street. Police and firemen alike would acknowledge us by name as we walked through.

    With our families at night, we were sometimes greeted by the foot-patrolmen who walked their beats through downtown streets, checking doors and windows after dark.

    In winter, as we headed down to skate on frozen ponds at Recreation Park, the police department in the police and fire complex was the designated place for pick-up and return of skates. As we arrived, officers would sometimes help to fit our skates. When we returned, they let us thaw a bit before we headed home. And we got from them the same cautionary lectures our parents would have given to us as we left home for the park.

    We knew these officers by name and treated them with scrupulous respect, an ethic instilled in us by societal expectations and strict family rules.

    Today, things aren't as safe or simple, for them or us, and our police cannot be as personally close to us in their everyday routines. But in our own Lake County, even in the pressures of these times, the "human factor" is intact among our police and others of our safety forces.

    Contact with the public is sustained in different ways---through drug awareness meetings, Block Watch, Safety Town, facility open-houses, helmet safety programs, involvement in our community events... or simply with a deputy waving to us from his (or her) passing patrol car.

    At some times in our lives, our personal paths cross the professional paths of safety forces in unhappy circumstances, be it accident, illness, fire, vandalism, theft... We find these safety people doing what they need to do to handle such events, yet keeping a humane awareness of their potential for adding to or easing our distress.

    Times may have changed, and our populations may have grown, yet within our own communities there remains a certain small-town feeling and affection for the members of our safety forces. An interactive spirit of cooperation and shared goals continues to exist, and  that's a vital key in how things work; or should.

     There is no better time than now, considering the news of recent months, to offer tribute to the safety people of our communities today.

    Their ways are modern--as they should be. But they haven't lost the human touch or diminished the influence of such "Good Guys" as Patrolman "Eddie" Waldman, of the past.

Motorcycle patrolman Ed Waldman. (Photo courtesy retired Painesville Police Chief David Luhta)

SPRING GREEN AT THE CREEK, IN COLD RAIN ...

On a beautiful morning, afternoon or evening in all seasons except winter, this is the place to sit; to think and meditate...

The creek provides the music, and the lyrics can come from my own personal thoughts.

Today, in 37 degrees and cold rain, relaxation could not be a factor.  

The best I could do was to visit there briefly; very briefly! then head back indoors into dry comfort and  warmth. 

Minus the cold, but also minus the lovely Sonata of Waters.

There are two words that don't mix well for me: COLD RAIN!