Friday 5: Only 2 at a time allowed

I’ve discovered something about myself: I can only handle 2 crises at once (and of course I’d prefer only one crisis — or none at all — but life doesn’t seem to work that way).

Here, in current order, are the 5 crises I am juggling for those top 2 spots:

1. My mother’s cancer and continual decline despite her denial (definitely the top stressor this week)

2. Selling our house (trying to be top stressor but being trumped by Mom’s cancer)

3.   The logistics of moving (When? Where? How?)

4. The arrival of 4 more adults next weekend– bringing our household up to a count of NINE — for 2 weeks of graduation festivities and moving mayhem.

5.  The graduating senior who must be prepared for college (he will probably be fine, but his mother isn’t prepared to send him off)

The view from here

After many, many days of rain and thunderstorms, our weather is finally clearing.

I think the bluebirds are happy about it, too!

Friday 5: Hope

For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere who have yet to see Spring, I offer you hope:

Wishing for you a weekend of warmth. ♥

Today

After a week of ups and downs, where joyous shouts are followed by thoughtful ceremony, where meaning is found in simple, everyday items — parsley, salt water, wine, and egg…

A week that takes us through our own understanding of things like freedom and faith and sacrifice…

A week that culminates (for me) in a glorious morning that cannot be hidden by rain and clouds, as sadness and darkness turns to joy and light:

A morning like any other and yet like no other morning before or since…

New Life springs forth and glory is revealed!

HAPPY EASTER!

Sharing 42 out of 276 (pictures, that is)

My BFF came for a visit over the weekend.

We had a lovely lunch at the Red Fox Inn: peanut soup and crab cake sandwiches. Yum!

This historic inn located in the town of Middleburg has been in business since 1728.

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We spent the better part of one day exploring Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Across the Potomac River from Harpers Ferry is the C&O Canal and Towpath. The Railroad and the C&O Canal were in competition with one another. In the end, the trains were faster and cheaper. The C&O Canal Towpath is now a lovely trail for hiking and biking.

Harpers Ferry is nearly the half-way point on the Appalachian Trail.  It is also the site of John Brown’s fort.

This town changed hands 8 times during the Civil War.

It’s a long way up these steps to the place where Thomas Jefferson wrote eloquently about the view… but it’s worth it.  Along the way you will pass a church that escaped shelling during the Civil War by flying the British “Union Jack” flag, proclaiming that it took no sides — neither North nor South. You will also pass a church that did not have the same luck.

[click to embiggen]

Above is the spectacular view (from Jefferson Rock) that so moved Thomas Jefferson:  the meeting of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers amongst mountains and rocky valley.

Here is where we could travel southward on the Appalachian Trail, if only we had time…

But it is time to leave Harpers Ferry.

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We had a busy weekend…

Not only did we visit Middleburg and Harpers Ferry, we managed to visit two wineries and attended a Guinness St. Patrick’s Day party.
Thank you, SuperDad, for being our designated driver! 😀

KCINNOTX actually liked Jake & the Burtones (above) better than The Acoustic Burgoo (below), but being up near the front and actually being able to hear them clearly might have influenced her impressions.

On Sunday, we traveled into The City for a museum and a foot-killing, pain-filled tour of the monuments.

World War II Memorial

[click to embiggen]

Vietnam War Memorial,
a.k.a., “The Wall”

[As with all pictures, click to embiggen]

The Lincoln Memorial
Gratuitous heads of school children being photographed by their leader, left in photograph for perspective.

(Below) View from the Lincoln Memorial toward Washington Memorial. The Reflecting Pool has been drained for maintenance since October 2010.

I very much would like to see this Korean War Memorial at night,  on a dark, rainy day or a foggy, misty morning. The statues portray soldiers sweeping through field and brush in miserable weather. Our beautiful, sunny Spring day did not do this memorial justice.

Not that I’m complaining about the weather!

In another week or two, the Tidal Basin will be filled with the reflection of Cherry Blossoms. For now, there is the promise of blooms in bud and a haze of pink on the distant trees.

Speaking of promise… here are a few photos from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. His message is appropriate for today’s world:

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

It was a wonderful weekend.

I treasure our friendship and I especially appreciated the good times together (and the good weather!) while taking my mind off other things.

Tomorrow I’ll be “flying the friendly skies.”
I’ll be silent from blogging for a few weeks while I am visiting my mother. She had cancer surgery last week and I am going to be her post-surgery caregiver.

Hope

Hope springs forth again —
in form of opening buds,
green pokes through soil

No longer an ostrich

Edited to add: I’m sure you’ve heard or read the news today about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  It makes my own worries pale in comparison.
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Google Images is my friend :D|
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This weekend begins the long process of selling our house. We’ve set up a couple of interviews with Realtors and will hopefully be able to quickly choose which one to work with over the next few months. In preparation, I’ve been doing a lot of decluttering (I’ve written before about being overwhelmed by stuff) and sadly packing away some of my craft supplies in advance.

We haven’t done it yet, but since it is nearly mid-March, I think we can safely pack away and store all of the winter supplies in a rental unit somewhere  to  make the  house look bigger show off the amazing storage space we have in our house. (Really, we do have amazing amounts of storage space. We just have too much STUFF!)

I’m steeling myself for the changes the Realtors will suggest to make the house “show” better.  Criticism, even constructive criticism, isn’t easy to take, but I think I’m ready.

Not quite biblical in proportion

With early Spring comes abundant rainfall, and we are certainly getting our share of it this week: a couple of inches of rain fell on Sunday and we are expecting 2 more inches of rain tomorrow.  We’re under an area flood watch (thankfully not a problem at my house).

“Pssst! Phil, it’s not worth it!”

They closed school this morning for freezing drizzle, so I put myself in a 3 hour time-out until I could safely be around children. They had school last Monday, then no school the rest of the week. They had school yesterday (Monday) and right not it isn’t looking promising for tomorrow. We live in the path of the ice storm.  (I just got back from this week’s emergency milk run.)

If the groundhog sees his shadow tomorrow, it will be due to camera lights and flash bulbs.

More than a dusting

It’s a good thing I love snow, because this is what we received in less than 8 hours yesterday. While many folks were trying to drive home from work. And the highways were closed because of accidents.

My cat hadn’t been outside for DAYS and she got all excited when I opened the back door for a photograph. It didn’t take long for her to change her mind. It turns out that sitting on the heat vent is the best way to spend her winter.

On Monday it was so cold that the rhododendron leaves were curled up as tightly as possible (apparently they don’t like 15F). Wednesday morning they were dripping with freezing drizzle. When that stopped, I rushed out to Costco for another 5 gallons of milk (we were down to our last half-gallon) and eggs (down to the last 3) and bread (we went through an entire loaf at lunch yesterday).

For some idiotic reason, businesses that employ thousands of people did not allow them to go home at lunchtime yesterday. At 3pm or so, when the THUNDERSNOW hit (real word, people), everyone thought, Oh, I’d better head home before it gets bad. Unfortunately, it was already bad. And then it got worse. Many people were stuck in traffic for 7 or 8 hours. Roads closed. Cars died. Traffic did not move.  I was so very grateful that my husband had previously scheduled to take the day off. That way he was here to fill the bird feeder…

… and shovel snow.  😛
Waiting now for the snowplow to dig out our neighborhood. It might be a while.

School has been out for a couple of days now (one of those days was the semester break). With everyone at home –and it being newsletter week as well– I am terribly behind on writing and reading blogs. I hope return to normal by next week.