Puzzle Madness

 One of the things I do to save what is left of my sanity is sing.

The other thing that I do is jigsaw puzzles.

I have posted some before.

But I don't think I have done a thousand piece puzzle that has taken me two months to complete.

I even had to walk away from it for a couple of weeks because I was getting so frustrated. 

But it is a beautiful puzzle and I really wanted to get it done.

Last night I finished it.

It is a cat.  Oh, and there is a nice little border to it. The border was a no-brainer.

The latest puzzle

 

 

 

But the middle? Well, that was a bit tricky. It has another 11 cats, drawers, yarn, baskets and flowers in various colors of similar hue and density.

Take a look.

 This one, I think I shall save. It really is pretty.

Who knows, it may turn into something woven in the future.......

It All Matters

Sometimes people are more than nice.

They may not even be friends of yours. You may know them but not well. They may have met you only in a professional capacity.

And disappear from your life.

And then reappear.

Several years ago two parents came to me to see if I could help their child in a professional capacity. They retained me and the saga began. 

They requested my services several times. And I always did my best.

They made monthly payments to me. They never forgot. But sometimes my services would be needed again before they had finished paying for the previous engagements.

Last month, the last payment came in. I was so happy because it meant that the child had not been in need of my services for a long time.

And then....

The child violated the terms of his probation.

I called the parents to see if the child was alright.

The mother and I talked for a long time. They did not need my services right now but she needed a sounding board.

During the conversation I told her of my impending retirement and she asked me what I intended to do with my time.

I told her about my (up to now, unfruitful and frustrating) search for a weaving loom that I could afford. She asked me what kind of weaving I intended to do and I told her.

And she says:
"I have a weaving loom. Would you like it?"

If I hadn't been sitting down, I would have fallen down.

How much? I asked.


"no, do you want it? I want it to go to a good home."

Ok, now I AM on the floor.

Today we drove to her home and picked up a 36" Harrisville, four shaft, six treadle loom.

Now that may not mean anything to you but to me it is a dream come true.

Her child has return to old ways and there is nothing I can do for him but she is kind enough and gentle enough to give me a dream. 

There are amazing people out there. In places that you would not expect.

And I learned something. (or was reminded of what I had already learned)

It all matters.

What you do. What you say. What you think. 

It will re-enter your life.

And sometime bring you presents.

Nature's symphony

There is something hypnotic about hummingbirds.

The sound of their wings.

The flashes of their colors.

The speed of their flight.

It all adds up to something much greater than its parts.

They don't just hover. They dance.

They don't just fly. They dart.

They are here and then they are not.

Yesterday we moved one of the feeders into the sun.

(I took these with just my phone. Sometimes I wish I had a real camera...but then again, I am not allowed around office equipment so I doubt that the outcome would have been as good.)

They darted and danced and screamed at each other. It was an aerial ballet with nature's symphony. 

Pretty as a Picture

This morning seemed like a good time to check on the water tank. 

It hadn't gotten hot yet and Zelda wanted to walk.

So, up we went.

Today, unlike most days climbing our little mountain, the landscape was awash in color. Lots of color. 

Which, of course, meant I had to take pictures.

Wild flowers at the bottom of the hill

 Going up doesn't look as steep as it feels! (And those are poppies and little white snow flowers!)

Young California Poppies

 And we tread lightly to avoid the poppies.

Zelda sniffing snow flowers

I have to walk behind Zelda to keep her going. Otherwise, her nose will lead her to lots of strange places.

View to the  East from the top of the "mountain"

 This is my favorite view. The antenna for our internet and phone is up here. Best place for the solar power and the microwave connections! And the wind doth blow up here!

The water tank and the house from the top of the "mountain"

I like this one, too. It's a long way down!

On the way back

 Going down is very slow. The ground is very sandy and loose. The rivulets are from the last rain storm.

"fish rock" at the side of the trail

 We have several granite out-croppings. This one just looks like a giant fish head to me.

Thistle?

Close up of the thistle

We do not know the name of this plant. It is gorgeous! If anyone knows what it is, let me know. 

And that is your tour for today.

Please enjoy the rough, dusty dirt road on your way out!

What a beautiful day.  

Spring in the Middle of Nowhere

I have been making a big deal about the fact that we live in the middle of nowhere. Thirty to forty minutes from the nearest small city. In high desert country that ranges in temperature from 11 degrees on the coldest winter day to one hundred eleven degrees on the hottest summer day.

It clearly is not for most people. But for us...it is paradise.

We get all four seasons without the mind bending snow and ice of the northern states. We get sun nearly every day. And even when it is scorching during the day, we sit out on our porch in summer evenings and enjoy a cool evening with a marine breeze.

The only problem is growing the things that I like to have in my yard with such extreme temperatures.

The blue spruce pine couldn't handle it. The lavender didn't like it. We lost quite a few cactus in the cold of winter. 

But once we realized that everything has a season and you don't force the issue, we began growing some amazing things.

So this spring the spouse (better known as "The Alleged Mel") 

The Alleged Mel

began planting things for spring and into summer. So here is what our place looks like right now.

Some of the plants were here when we got here. Some we planted last year and thought they hadn't made it through the winter. Some are new from the nursery at Miner's. 

Everyone of them is a joy to see.

The iris were there when we moved in but had never bloomed. The California poppies started as two or three wild plants. They are now taking over the front yard. 

First bract on our two year old lilac

Ice plant guarded by Sparky

Native California Rose 

Lilac that came with the house

Iris

Sexy Rexy Rose getting ready to burst into bloom

Getting things to grow in the desert takes patience and time. We have to watch our water use very closely (there is a drought and we are on a private well...) But we are doing it.

But the best part of being where we are?

The oaks.

Huge and old they are home to the squirrels and the birds that are the real inhabitants of this corner of the world. 

I think I like the middle of nowhere. Especially in spring.

What A DAY!!!

Normally Monday is a workday.

Monday is one of two days a week that I am suppose to be available to the SLO courts to accept appointments for the Conflict-Conflict Public Defender.

I am a private contractor with the organization.

And usually on Mondays I spend most, if not all, of my mornings in court. Lately, it has been late afternoon before I get out of court.

Then I answer phone messages, clear up paperwork, review files, write motions....all that other stuff that I should have gotten done last week.

But today I played hooky. I left The Kid to cover for me and I, well, I drove for 2 hours or so to have lunch.

Kind of a really special lunch.

I got up at 6, left at 8:30 and arrived at 10:50. I sat in the car until 11:15. Then I went into a restaurant in Visalia to meet some really incredible people.

From the Class of '69 I would like you to meet:

The Girls

From left to right (by maiden name): Janice Staton, Patty Imoto, Gael Gisvold, Vicki Boyd and Patty Valenzuela.

I have known these women all of my life. Some of them went to a different grade school from me but I knew who they were even then. In junior high we all came together. We graduated from junior high and high school together.

And some of us hadn't been in contact for over 30 years.

But today all that time didn't matter.

We talked and laughed and shared our stories.

For FOUR HOURS!

It is a darn good thing that the restaurant wasn't crowded!

We all were blessed to be raised in a small town. In a time warp. It was a place where we all felt safe. We all got a fabulous education from very dedicated teachers. Those teachers shaped our lives.

And today we talked about them. We talked about Mr. Feitsma and Mr. Ippolito, Mrs. Woods, Mrs. Staton (no relation to Janice!). We talked about the Hanigans and my attempts to play the piano!

We talked about our lives and the changes that 60 years of living have wrought. 

And we laughed.

Somewhere in there we did eat.

But we just kept talking.

The best lunch. EVER.

Thank you, my friends. 

Thank you.

Because We MUST THINK

I normally do not write about articles in the news. I figure they are incorrect most of the time or slanted one way or another by the writer/announcer/news affiliate. But I just read a blog by a person that I have not met. I follow his blog because the person is thoughtful, a Public Defender, and (mostly) a good writer.

SO...when I read the following blog post I sent it to some of my fellow defense attorneys. I didn't send it to my Facebook account. I thought about it and decided that there would be a lot of negative, vitriolic, irrational, and emotional feedback.

Then I thought again.

Just because many of the people I know will automatically react negatively to the subject matter does not mean that I can't ask them to think about it.

If, twenty years ago, I was to write about gay marriage or any other highly controversial subject, the same response would have occurred.

But people did write about controversial subjects then. And they did controversial things.

They sat at all white lunch counters. They represented hated groups (Burton Allen Joseph, represented The National Socialist Party (off-shoot of the Nazi party) in its effort to march in mostly Jewish Skoki, Illinois). They demonstrated at the 1968 Democratic Convention.

They did things that most people didn't like. That many people believed to be immoral or "unAmerican".

And each of those things changed us. Changed our culture. I think they changed us for the better. Others might disagree. But I have based my life's work on changing our culture of exclusivity, distrust and hate one person at a time.

So, I think I can take it. Because this is important.

We need to remember that we cannot judge something until we have ALL the facts. We cannot hate or despise a person, a decision, an effort until we have looked at it thoroughly and thoughtfully. Until we have looked at it from the "there but for the Grace of God..." standpoint.

So here is the link to the blog. Just think about it.

http://apublicdefender.com/2014/04/01/some-more-thoughts-dupont-heir/