Rambling, Rambling, Rambling

I haven't blogged for a few days, and usually when that happens I come back with a long rambling post to make up for lost time.  I'm going to try not to do that this time around to spare you all the details.  Instead I thought I'd just list a few things to catch you up to speed with what's been happening of late. I know you all are busy and have better things to do with your time than to spend it reading my blog posts.


It's been a long week and it is only Wednesday!  Several things are causing me concern right now.


My neighbor, the wife of the thoughtful man who recently cleared our driveway of the snow, had surgery this week to remove a large brain tumor.  It's too early to tell yet how things are going to be with her.


The daughter of my coworker, I first mentioned quite a while ago, that a few of you may remember continues to struggle with inoperable brain cancer.  After going through numerous treatments and a short time of the tumor shrinking slightly, she is unfortunately now, once again, experiencing troubles with her vision and balance and other problems.  A recent MRI shows the tumor is getting bigger again.  They first discovered that she had this tumor when she was 12 years old.  She just recently had her 14th birthday.  Cancer is a ferocious beast that shows no mercy.


I took my older son to have his wisdom teeth extracted yesterday morning.  Although the surgery went well, he was sick most of the day after I brought him home.  Last night he seemed to be getting steadily worse so my husband took him to the emergency room. They gave him something to stop the nausea and ran an IV to get him re-hydrated. He is still sleeping this morning as I write this, but I hope that he will be doing better today. This week is his spring break--not a very happy one for him, I'm afraid.


The melting snow, warmer temperatures, and some rain has caused several places in our area to have significant flooding.  We are safe here, but there are so many in neighboring towns who are not.  The news has been filled with flood reports, people battling the rising water with sandbags, and evacuations.


I am feeling a little overwhelmed with filling out forms and trying to wade through red tape lately.   Income tax forms, FAFSA forms to fill out to get financial aid for college for my son, and the red tape I'm dealing with in trying to settle my mother's estate have all been dragging me down, and I am struggling under the weight of it all.  I'll be glad to have that all behind me soon.


The news isn't all bad, however.  I also have had several things to smile about recently.


My husband and I went to a community concert on Saturday night.  The director of my library had given us the tickets because he and his wife were unable to go.  We enjoyed listening to Trio Con Brio Copenhagen, a pianist, a violinist, and a cellist.  They gave an outstanding performance as part of a concert series in my own little town.


The icicles in front of my windows have all melted!!  We still have quite a bit of snow to get rid of, but we're making progress!

My husband was gone most of last week to a conference for work in San Francisco.  Although the crazy weather we had wreaked havoc on his travel plans, he did arrive back home safely on Saturday afternoon.  It's good to have him home again.


My younger son played in both the chamber orchestra and the larger high school orchestra in a concert on Sunday.  Although I didn't take my camera to the concert, his picture was in the paper from the chamber performance.  You can see him all decked out in his tux standing there in the back with his double bass.

March is here.  You all KNOW I am smiling about that.  It was a relief to see the sun set on the last day of February.  This photo is blurry.  I apologize for that, but the colors of the fading sun were pretty to see.

Oh, and one more thing I just realized this week.  I started this blog in February 2008, so I have been blogging for three years now.  A blogging anniversary ought to be something to dance about, don't you think?

Well, looking back on this post, it appears I have rambled on again, in spite of my best intentions.  Thanks for reading all the way to the end!    I really treasure you, my friends.