What We're Doing

This is a long one, so grab a cuppa!

We're doing a lot. A lot! Not necessarily accomplishing anything productive, but we're having some fun.

I'm doing all of my normal things: reading, stitching, scrapbooking and walking.

And lots of the not so normal things: cleaning (ugh) and more cooking, talking on the phone and baking. 

We've walked several times in the Deerwood Arboretum right behind our house. You just never know what you are going to come across.

The first thing I noticed on the path was this pretty blue jay feather. I stuck it in the visor of Butch's car.

 I asked Butch what he thought could have caused this on our first walk. We still don't know. But it's like a big chunk was chomped out of it.

 Then there was this---Butch said it's some sort of centipede. It did have a lot of legs--and they seemed to be in groups of 5 with a little space between.

 There are so many wildflowers in bloom. These look to be forget-me-knots. I didn't know they were wildflowers.

 I don't know what these are. I completely forgot about my flower identifier app.

I looked these up when I got home. I thought they were miniature columbines. I'm pretty sure they are.

And then there's this. I can't remember if I've already mentioned it before.

This little cute lending library---I need to remember to drop off some books the next time we're there. It's a nice peaceful little park. Butch thinks it's because most people don't know about it.

After this walk, I decided to take a stroll through my own garden.

I tried every way I could to get that nasty basketball hoop out of the picture, but no luck. This an ornamental cherry that puts on a spectacular show every spring.

 The Virginia bluebells are in bloom. They are so cute.

 Blue and pink. They bloom for such a short period of time, That I was lucky to see them.  I don't always remember to look for them and then it's too late. Now with all this extra time...

 This is terrible. I used to know all the flowers in my garden, but I can't remember this one. It looks like lilies of the valley, but the foliage is not right. Oh well, they are so cute.

The trees all look so pretty. We've finally had several sunny, beautiful days. We've had several 80 degree days now.

And then I discovered this:

You've got to be kidding me. I guess I'll need to call the "mole-inator" to get rid of them before they destroy the place.

One day we spent a couple hours making some deliveries to family and friends. I had made banana muffins, but not everyone got them as 2 dozen didn't go so far!

 Steph needed some hand sanitizer. I also gave them some split pea soup and cornbread.

 Mindy needed some paper towels. She also got muffins and soup. She lives in a condo downtown. It was eerie for there to be no traffic or tourists! Most of the time are streets are like New York.

 I had to drop some photos off to Nancy for our round robin, so she got a couple muffins too.

 I dropped pictures to Pam (with Hugh) and picked up some.

Next was Karolyn. Her sister just recently passed, so wanted to give her my regards along with muffins.

Last was Jack and Connie. I can't believe I forgot to take their picture. Butch and I practiced "social distancing" at every stop! It was nice to get out and take a ride around town---without traffic for a change! Then we came across this:

A giant whisk! So interesting. I don't know what the significance is in this particular location. Butch says it's just urban art. There's a huge, old fashioned, microphone on Music Row near Mindy, but I didn't get a picture of that. It makes sense there because that is such an iconic area of town.

I think I mentioned, that after our Strawberry Shortcake puzzle fiasco, I ordered two from Amazon. The first one arrived on Thursday. I saw the package on the front porch and wondered what it was. It wasn't big enough to be the puzzle. Or, so I thought!

 I was very excited to find a Route 66 puzzle. But somehow, I missed the "fine print"...

 ...even though it was staring me right in the face!

 OMGosh y'all, this thing is really tiny!

 You can see the difference between this puzzle and a regular puzzle!

 It's about 12"x15"---really small! We can hardly see the pieces. We decided we need to do this one on the kitchen table because it requires very good light.

We can only work on it in the daytime because we need that natural light. Butch is complaining that his fingers are too big for it. Every time he tries to put a piece in, he knocks out 3! Still, we're having fun with it. 

We finished the last one and sent it off with Mitchell's care package last week.

A little later in the day, the mailman dropped off another package. This one from my sister, Joyce. 

This one is going to be tough---all black, white and gray. I guess everyone is feeling sorry for us. My friend, Nancy E. in Leiper's Fork said she was going to drop one off if she got out any time soon. I told her not to make a special trip. We might take a ride out to her place. Beautiful country.

Thursday was such a gorgeous day. Butch went to play golf. When he got home, he found me on the front porch reading. For once, we observed that all the mowers---which we usually find so annoying---were a comforting sound---that life is moving along normally.

Anyway, Butch made himself a cocktail and me, a glass of wine. We sat out there talking for nearly 3 hours. Considering we've been together 24/7 for the past two weeks, you might think we wouldn't have much to talk about. But we enjoyed reminiscing about our moves and people we've met along the way. 

We've been watching pretty much tv. We're on the final season of Justified. We've also been watching the Ken Burns History of Country Music. It is so good and interesting. I've learned so much. We had no idea that Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan were such good friends! Love them both. 

And then, we've started the Tiger King on Netflix because it has blown up on Facebook. It's a short series, like 5 episodes. We're only 2 episodes in to it. It's pretty hard to believe. 

As for me, I've been watching a British series---I think there's only 4 episodes---called Retribution. OMGosh! I'm loving it. In fact, I'm going to watch the last episode as soon as I finish this post. 

On Friday night, we had a family happy hour via FaceTime. That was so much fun---truly like being together.

And then yesterday, we were together. Stephanie and Nicky and Mindy and Justin came over in the afternoon. Butch had cleaned up the patio and the furniture (you wouldn't believe the pollen!). They arrive with their own drinks, the chairs were placed 6 ft. apart and no one came in to our house! This was more their insistence rather than ours. 

They think we're old. And we just might be!

So there it is---what we've been up to. What about you?