The first Spring flowers

As promised, here are some pictures of our first Spring flowers. As more start to bloom, I'll post additional pictures.

Can Spring be too far away?

My Alpha Phi Omega (Upsilon Chapter) fraternity brothers have set a date for all of us to gather and remember those who have passed, and to celebrate those of us who remain. The Saturday after Easter we'll gather at Saz's in Milwaukee, starting at about 5:00 PM or so. I seem to remember our evenings started a bit later than that, but that's okay. It will be good to see them.

Last week, I drove to Milwaukee and picked up my mother-in-law, and brought her back here to Tennessee. Its been quite cold and snowy in Milwaukee this winter, and the wife and I were getting a bit concerned that she couldn't get out and may be needed to see the sun. Okay, its not Florida, but it does stay pretty much above freezing, and she can get out for a walk if she's so inclined. Yesterday, she and my wife spent the day making home-made ravioli, stuffed with chicken, pork, beef tenderloin, mortadella, three different kinds of cheeses, Parmesan, Romano and Fontina, and also some chopped spinach and parsley, and seasoned with nutmeg, and salt & pepper. Yum!! We'll take her back to Milwaukee in another couple weeks, in time for all of us to celebrate Easter with her other daughter and son-in-law.

The daffodils and tulip bulbs I planted have poked their little green shoots through the ground, and each day I check to see if a blossom might be forming. I have seen a lot of daffodils in bloom on south-facing hills lately. Hopefully our will bloom in the next few days. When that happens, I'll post a couple pictures.

Thoughts of a rainy, grey morning

My thoughts lately have been more preoccupied with sad news. Within the past couple weeks, a fraternity brother has passed away, another friend-coworker-fellow retiree died, and yet another friend who had successfully battled cancer for the last several years now has a more grave prognosis facing him. I suppose its only natural that these kinds of events become more common as one gets older, but they are distressing nonetheless, as they concern people who I care for, and are my peers in age. At 60 or so, it seems too young to die.

The father of a good friend died a couple months ago, and a favorite aunt recently passed away. While these events were sad also, they were not unexpected as the people in question were in their late 80's and 90's. It was comforting to know they enjoyed their lives, and got joy from their families and loved ones.

I intend to appreciate what each day brings, and share my joy with the ones I love....

Mid February thoughts

It has been cool to cold here in eastern Tennessee. We had snow flurries yesterday which stuck to the grass and trees, but melted on the road surfaces. Thank goodness for small favors. While we were in Florida a few weeks ago, there was one morning here with black ice everyewhere, and as a result, quite a few accidents on the roadway, including a multi-car that made the news.



The birds have been working the feeders hard the past few days, and we enjoy watching them. Red cardinals and their brown mates, finches, flickers, chickadees, and some grackles all working around the back yard. I took a shot of a half dozen of the birds that are more scavengers, perched at the top of our neighbor's dead tree.

I didn't have any editorial comments about them, but I'm sure you might think of a good caption for the shot.

I worked most of last week in Houston, building a proposal for the firm I help on a regular basis. The proposal should get submitted tomorrow or so, and if it gets to contract, will result in me spending a fair amount of time in the Atlanta area. I'm hoping it works out, as the work should be pretty exciting, as well as personally satisfying.

I hope it warms up again soon, I am looking forward to playing golf again in reasonable temperatures.

Pictures from Florida

As previously promised, here are a few shots from our recent trip to Florida. There is a view out the window of our room at the resort, the resort as seen from the beach, and a short video of the waves washing across some coral rock that has been exposed due to severe beach erosion this year. I also added a couple shots taken at a fly-in community where we stayed with friends for a couple days. One shows a Piper Cub fitted with pontoons and a cool old hot rod, and a front shot of an old Piper Cub J model.

Snowbirds in Florida

We just returned from a couple very pleasant weeks in Florida. It started with a visit to my brother Mic and his wife. We enjoyed a great dinner which was also attended by their son Andrew and wife and two children. It was a fun, family evening. Next on the agenda was a golf weekend for me with some of my old buddies from work, playing four different courses in Orlando.

Sunday afternoon, we drove to Jupiter and checked in to the Jupiter Beach Resort on the ocean. This was an exchange for our time share week at Tahoe that we had banked a couple years ago. We had fun all week, dining out and meeting old friends in the West Palm Beach area. Saturday morning, we checked out and drove south to Boynton Beach and stayed a couple days with friends Jon, Sandi, and Leslie. Again, great times good food, and a chance to see old friends.

Monday, we drove north to the panhandle of Florida, just west of Ft. Walton Beach to visit Mike & Joanne, friends we met in Germany. And finally we drove back home on Wednesday, after just over two weeks away. We are thankful for the warm weather we experienced, and the chance to see friends and family.

I'll publish a couple pictures within a day or so.

A cold morning in TN

It dropped to less than 10 degrees Fahrenheit last night. The heat pump worked hard to keep the house warm, and kicked in the secondary heat several times. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, a heat pump is simply a reverse cycle air conditioner. In the summer, it cools the air in the house by "pumping" heat outside, and in the winter it pumps heat from outside into the house. As it gets colder, it gets harder to pump heat, so the secondary kicks in. That is a series of heat strips in the plenum that produce heat while air is blowing across them. Just like having a toaster oven with a fan blowing across it as your house heat source. And of course this morning, everyone's power consumption was up, so the power failed a couple times. Fortunately, it seems to be fine now.

Here's a picture of our water fountain, taken at just before noon. Lots of ice formed last evening and this morning, but it is still running.