Happy Easter

We live in a condo in northern Virginia after living on Capitol Hill for thirteen years. As with anywhere else, you really don’t get to pick your neighbors. For the most part we have been lucky - like when we lived in the Midwest. But we have also suffered from having really awful people who lived in our building in DC. They lived above us and didn’t care how many times they flooded our house, leaving the water running in their bathtub and the kitchen sink too many times to count. Who ever heard of such a thing! But our son and his family lived right down the street from us - until they moved to central Virginia. We at least got to enjoy seeing our grandson grow to middle school age. One of our current neighbors who lives right next door always leaves chocolate and candy for the holidays. And last week we found a small bag with a bunny drawn on it - along with a cotton ball tail - on our door. Inside were several Easter eggs and a peanut butter cup shaped like an Easter egg. It’s always such a thoughtful thing to do and we appreciate the gesture. So, Happy Easter! Time to eat some chocolate and be thankful for having good neigbbors!

Identifying Bird Sounds Using the Merlin App

With the season changing from winter to spring the bird songs in the neighborhood park come alive. This time of year we start to get visitors to the balcony - trying to pull out the coco liners from the flower baskets. The crows always tear off a lot. The doves can’t seem to figure it out. After being stuck in the house for two weeks because of testing positive for Covid, we finally decided to start our morning walk schedule again in the neighborhood park. In the colder months there are some chirps, but now there are too many to keep track of - unless you have the Merlin App. The first bird we saw was a very large red headed woodpecker. As soon as I saw him I turned the app on to find out specifically what he was. It was a downy woodpecker. He had to be about a foot long. Then there as the cardinal, tufted titmouse, and northern flicker. I wish we could have seen them too! Then came the Carolina wren, robin, mockingbird, and red-bellied woodpecker. The last of the bunch were sparrows, blue jays and goldfinches! What a grand selection of feathered friends. We were able to walk a mile and a half without getting too worn out. Each day seems to be getting a little better. It’s amazing how much energy you lose when you are ill. We take a lot for granted. Being able to walk in the park feels so good. Hearing the bird songs makes it so much better. 

Crab Cakes and French Fries

We tested positive for Covid on our anniversary; felt lousy on Persian new year; and started to feel a bit better on my husband’s birthday. We were so disappointed to catch this awful virus after being so careful for four years. We just got the last booster vaccine eight days before. This has not been a good year for us, and an even worse March. My husband has been having too many doctor appointments since January and this was the icing on the cake. But for his birthday we decided it was time to make French fries. Not having any taste or smell it hardly mattered to me what we ate. Luckily I am getting some of that back but things still taste quite bland. But my husband loves French fries. So he cut the potatoes up in the French fry blade and I seasoned the potatoes in a bowl, then put them in the air fryer. Then we made frozen crab cakes and broccoli to finish up the birthday meal. It felt good to begin eating “normal” again. We were using the air fryers all of the time before Covid and I was really enjoying cooking. But I lost interest when we were down and out. After dinner I got out the usual snacks - lady fingers, cookies and candy - and added a single birthday candle. My husband was happy. In the end that’s all we can ask for. 

Library of Congress Program Tame and the Wild

We signed up for the Library of Congress program over two weeks ago. We love going in to town and popping in for an hour regardless what the subject matter is. Then we tested positive for Covid. Though we feel better, we aren’t good enough to handle the excursion now. Rather than miss it, we joined the presentation via zoom. But it’s just not the same. Since I worked at the library for ten years, my husband and I prefer visiting the Jefferson building and taking in the sights and sounds. The presentation by Marcy Norton was good and the subject matter was interesting. Anything about animals gets my attention. Why are some animals meant to be eaten while others are meant to be loved? Anyway, I set up the program on my iPad and mirrored it to Apple TV. It all went without a hitch. We also missed another program the day before. It was disappointing because we haven’t been for a while and are limited because we won’t go in to town at night. When we lived on Capitol Hill this was never an issue. That’s one reason we miss our old neighborhood. But at least we still have an option. 

Stumpy Tshirt Sale on TeePublic

We were so sad to hear that Stumpy - the little cherry tree that could - was going to be removed from the Tidal Basin because of a restoration project. He, and a lot of other trees will be taken out in May because the flooding water is destroying the area and the trees weren’t going to survive anyway. I have been a Stumpy fan long before he became famous. So I put together a collage of Stumpy in each season, then added his name and a slogan to the composite image. The image was uploaded to three of my digital art websites - TeePublic, Redbubble, and Pixels/Fine Art America. Then the links were sent to X/Twitter. The same day the images were uploaded I got a notification from TeePublic that someone bought  a Stumpy tshirt - for a male and in blue. That has never happened before! It was so cool to get that attention so quickly. In spite of the dreadful cold and rainy weather the cherry blossom festival kicked off last Saturday and continues on through April. Certainly there are a lot of local vendors capitalizing on Stumpy’s fate. We are hoping to visit the Tidal Basin again after the festival ends and before the renovation begins. I need to get one last look at the famous little tree. We will miss you Stumpy! 

52Frames Road Challenge Instagram Shoutout

Last night as I was scrolling instagram and a notification from 52Frames came across. I follow the 52frames account because I belong to the weekly photo challenge website. Every week the 52Frames instagram account posts three photos a day - for a week - on the subject for that week. Last week the subject was “road.” My photo appeared last night with a lovely shoutout. It was so nice because earlier in the week this same photo was selected as a 52pick on the website. It’s really exhilarating because the pool is over 3000 entries and my camera is my iPhone - not a fancy camera. I just love taking pictures and this is one way to channel my interest on a weekly basis. On the advice of a friend, it started participating during the pandemic and it has kept my husband and I busy trying to find the best place to take photos each week. And since both my husband and I tested positive for Covid almost two weeks ago it has lifted our spirits. We escaped Covid for four years after being extremely careful - only to catch it when no one cares any more. Being over 65 makes it a disease made just for us. We are slowly on the mend and are thankful we escaped the worst of it after just having our last booster about a month ago. So thank you 52Frames for recognizing my road photo this week.I appreciate it more than you can imagine! And congratulations to my fellow framers. It’s such a great way to meet people from all over the world. 

52Frames Chaos Weekly Photo Challenge

The subject for the 52Frames photo challenge this week was “chaos.” Both my husband and I tested positive for Covid almost two weeks ago. I didn’t think I would be in any mood to take photos, but we were well enough to take a ride in to town to see the cherry blossoms. It was sunny, and rather than walk around the tidal basin, we drove around it. That was a good thing because it gave me an opportunity to use slow shutter to catch the throngs and the blossoms in a “chaotic” state. The traffic was such that we stopped a lot and moved very slowly. I just kept clicking away with the hopes that something might turn out okay. The submission ended up being one of the first photos. It gave a swirling feeling, the colors were right, and the vibe was good. And both my husband and I agreed on this image - which is unusual. Neither one of us is yet feeling any where near close to normal. I can’t taste or smell anything and am still quite congested. We know things could be much worse but it’s an awful time of year to miss out on spring - especially over our anniversary, Persian new year, and my husband’s birthday. We can’t wait for this illness to go away and resume a normal life. 

Too Many Bananas

I am supposed to eat bananas to keep my potassium level up. Being on blood pressure pills and diuretics for most of my life contributes to the potasssium issue. So I’ve been eating bananas just about every evening for as long as I can remember. Ten days ago my husband and I both tested positive for Covid after four years of being extremely careful. It just doesn’t seem fair to get it now just as we were finally feeling normal about going out and living our lives. Last week we didn’t have the energy or inclination to go to Giant for groceries, so we decided to go back to the pick up option. It wouldn’t be a good idea to walk around the grocery store anyway. It’s so great to still have this option and used this - and the delivery option - many times during the pandemic. The problem was is that I inadvertently ordered five BUNCHES of bananas rather than one bunch that had 5-6 bananas. We didn’t realize it until we unpacked the bags. Thank goodness bananas are cheap! I asked our neighbor if she and her husband liked bananas and she masked up and I stuck my hand through the door with two banana bunches in a bag. That left us with theee bunches. So every day I’ve been having a banana with tea in the early afternoon, but there are still so many left. We are not banana bread makers and we don’t have the ingredients. That just goes to show you that you need to read the fine print. We are so fortunate to have these types of services available. Next time I will be extra careful! 

Stumpy TShirts on Redbubble, TeePublic and FAA/Pixels

It’s such a thrill to receive a notice that one of my digitalart painting items was sold on one of my websites. This morning I got an email from TeePublic saying that a greyhound Tshirt was sold. I usually do not post photos on my websites, but because Stumpy - the famous cherry tree at the Tidal Basin - will be removed due to restoration work, everyone is taking about poor little Stumpy. So I searched for my photos of Stumpy over the years and found several - before he was famous. I posted them all on instagram, then created three composites of Stumpy. Two were of Stumpy in all four seasons and another was Stumpy over time. He looks glorious in spring, summer, fall and winter with the Washington Monument in the background. We have walked by Stumpy so many times. He’s like the little tree that could. As with everyone else we were so disappointed to hear that he will be removed. And since both my husband and I tested positive for Covid ten days ago we have avoided going outside and missing what has always been a most delightful time of the year to take photos. We are finally starting to feel a little more normal but still not ourselves at all. We hope we will be able to visit Stumpy one last time after the cherry blossom festival. We will miss Stumpy. I’m so glad we got to know him.