Six Minutes

In the span of about six minutes I took a morning walk through the garden.

Marveling at what lay before my eyes, I couldn't help but wonder...

have the blades of grass always been this sharp?

The river rock so subtly shaded?

And those coneflowers...

Just how long have they been such a bright vibrant shade of purplish pink?

Closing my right eye while looking at the butterfly I can appreciate it's beauty and it's gracefulness as it floats from flower to flower.

I take note of it's pretty colors while straining and squinting as I try to bring them into focus.  Very much like when I try to read a book or work on the computer.  For far too long no amount of squinting and no pair of glasses could bring things into focus.

On this morning's walk  I played my favorite new game.

Right Eye - Left Eye

After seeing what I described above through my left eye, I closed it and viewed the butterfly through my right eye.

I wasn't sure if I should start singing I  Can See Clearly Now... or

Everything is Beautiful.

The bright colors and the sharp, crisp, clear details are simply amazing to me.

Through my left eye things have a blurry yellow filter.

Through the right things are bright and white and clear as a bell.

If you haven't guessed by now, I had cataract surgery this week.

There I am sans make-up post surgery.

Pirate for a day :).

Thirteen years ago I was told I had cataracts.

I went for a second opinion as I thought I was too young for that.

Nope, apparently not.

Through the years they have gotten progressively worse.

As the doctor said, "you have some pretty significant cataracts there".  Oh joy!

When we began discussing what to do about it, he told me it is a six minute surgery.  

Having now been through the first surgery I can see that he was right.  A quick and painless solution to a problem that was affecting daily life in a big way.  Even though I knew I was struggling to bring things into focus, I am amazed by how much I've been missing.

The left eye will be done in two weeks.  I'm kind of glad they weren't both done at the same time.  It gives me more time to play Right Eye - Left Eye which in turn gives me more time to appreciate my renewed sense of sight.  Something I hope to never take for granted.

Six minutes seems so little in the scope of a day, yet this experience has me rethinking the accomplishments that can me made in such a short timespan.

Sending Out an S.O.S. to My Fellow Bloggers

Hello there.

I'm popping in with a plea to my fellow bloggers.

There is one aspect of blogging that I struggle with, yet many of you seem to have mastered with ease.

Headers!!

There was a time when I would assemble a collage into a header on PicMonkey and then make that my header.

There was a time when I could figure out where to find the size of the header and even alter it.

Now when I go to PicMonkey I am told I need to do a free trial to be able to save my creations.  Used to be I could just log in, make my collage and then save it.  I just used the basic (free) plan at that time.  For those of you who use it, is there no such thing as free use anymore?

After spending some time on it today, I got fed up and decided to just edit my header by putting a simple picture up there with a very basic title.  You can see the GIGANTIC result above.

Thinking I would go in and change the header dimensions, it seems the only ways I have found to do it require playing with HTML.  

As you might have guessed I am not the person to be doing that!

If anybody can tell me an easy way without involving HTML to shrink it, I would be very grateful.

Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.

Until then, don't be frightened by my gargantuan pond :/.

Around the House on a Summer's Day

~ in the garden ~

The black-eyed-Susans that I brought from our last house are now blooming.  It's nice to have a little reminder of my old garden here in my new one. 

Just above them hangs the hummingbird feeder.  Prior to hanging it 

we wondered if there were any hummers around as we hadn't seen any.  Only took a few days until they showed up and they are constant visitors ever since.

We enjoy sitting on the patio in the evening watching them stop by to dine.  

~ out the office window ~

When it's too hot to be outside I can still enjoy birdwatching.

My son gave me this window feeder for my birthday in April.

It took awhile for them to find it, but now the finches are my daily companions while I am working at the computer.

I love being able to spy on them from this close vantage point.

~ in the kitchen ~

Sometimes I am amazed at how I procrastinate about the simplest things.

Making hummus from scratch seems to be one of those things.

I have had the chickpeas and tahini on hand for months and months thinking I would make it.  It's not like it's difficult or anything :/.

Geez!

Getting bored with lunches around here lately, I tossed the ingredients in the food processor, cut up a few veggies and called it a meal.  A light, healthy lunch.  Perfect for summertime.

~ on the nightstand ~

I think memoirs are one of my favorite genres to read.

Providing the person or subject matter interests me, they are the type of book I find hard to put down.

When I started seeing this one mentioned around blogland and Instagram I went out and bought it.

I'm one third of the way through and can hardly wait til bedtime to read a few more chapters.

Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom.  Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head for the hills" bag.

Just a little hint if you might be interested.

🐦🍃🌞

Are you reading anything noteworthy

or

having any interesting lunches?

Kitchen Fun and Porch Sprucing

While strolling through the local thrift shop I paused to take a closer look at this print.  It was sporting a brown wood frame which didn't suit it.  However, looking past that it offered a lot of interesting elements.  Hello aqua Mason jar, little wren in the chef's hat, vintage recipe card and dragonfly perched on the aqua eggs.

The $3.00 price tag kind of sealed the deal.

Once home the first order of business was releasing it from that horrid frame.

I propped it up on my kitchen counter and rather liked the way the subway tile in the print and in my kitchen blended together so well.

Thinking it needed something more to fill the space on the counter, I went searching in cupboards and drawers.

An aqua Mason jar and this bee skep candle looked like promising subjects.

A few more treasured pieces and a hydrangea from the garden were all that was needed.

Now when washing dishes and peeling carrots my eyes will rest on this happy vignette.  

Not bad for 3 bucks and a scavenger hunt through the house.

The sweet whimsical details on this print made me curious to know a bit more about the artist.  After taking a picture of her signature and enlarging it I was able to make out the name.  Katie Crawford.  Thanks to the wonder of the internet I was led 

here.  A delightful spot to peek around in.

In other news, we got the flag hung.

The porch furniture has been scrubbed (finally).  Lots of dirt in the air with all of these new houses going up.

The bunting is hung and we are ready for another Independence Day in the USA.

If you will be celebrating, enjoy!

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