Prayer Request

The uncle of my son's girlfriend was severely injured in a construction accident today.  He has a broken hip, broken pelvis, several facial fractures, a broken jaw, and a skull fracture.  His name is Aaron.  I would appreciate it if you all could keep him in your prayers.  Thank you.

Oh no! Don't Let the Rain Come Down...

I went for an early morning walk today before time for church.  It was warm and humid, but at least it wasn't raining.  I saw several bunnies.  Must be a good year for them because I have been seeing them everywhere lately.

There is a lot of mud everywhere and standing water in a lot of places still.  I saw some irises in the park.  These yellow ones weren't doing too badly, but the purple ones all had their heads beaten down by the rain.  The colors were pretty, at least.

This brick pathway had standing water over the whole length of it.

No kids were playing on the playground.  A moat of water was around the equipment, and no drawbridges were lowered where a crossing could be made.

The weeds have taken over the ground under the big trees in the park.  It has just been too wet for the parks department workers to get the mowers in there to mow.  Quite a few spots have big puddles of standing water.

They did mow this one section of the park, but you can see the ruts left behind by the mower tires.  They must have given up after this.

I walked past quite a large area of honeysuckle growing along the road.  The blossoms looked delicate and lacy and smelled heavenly.

I walked by the buzzard tree and, out of habit, looked up to see if they were there.  Not only were they there, but they were doing something I've never seen them do before.  They were perched in the top branches of the tree as usual, but they had their wings spread out as if they were sunning themselves--either trying to warm or perhaps dry out their wings.  It seemed quite odd to see them doing that.

On the way home, I saw these beautiful irises growing next to someone's house.

At another house, I saw these decorations in the flower beds.  They looked like stacked up dishes, plates, bowls, cake holders, vases, and such.  I'm not sure if that is what they were, or if they were just yard ornaments made to look like stacked dishes.  The bright colors and sparkling glass did make for pretty garden decorations.

The rains returned this afternoon.  We had high winds and storms with lightning and thunder and a tornado warning for our county.  We hid out in the basement and waited for the storm to pass us.  There was quite a bit of wind damage in other parts, but not much in our town except for one very large tree that was knocked down and damaged in the park.  I went for a second walk through the park tonight and saw the damaged tree then.  I didn't have the camera with me, that trip, though, so I didn't get a picture of the downed tree.


We've had enough rain for a while now.  I'm ready for a few sunny days to take their place.  Oh no!  Don't let the Rain Come Down...

Floods, Family, and Flowers (of course!)

FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING
"How high's the water, mama?  Five feet high and rising."  Those are some of the lyrics from an old Johnny Cash song I can remember hearing when I was a little girl, probably on the country music radio station my mom and grandma used to listen to back then.  Does anyone else remember that one?  This is the song if you'd like to hear it.

This song has been playing in my head this week because of the weather we've been having.  Although we finally had a dry day today, most of the rest of the week was filled with one torrential rainstorm after another.

Yesterday, it came down so hard and so fast that there was much flooding in our corner of the state. Many streets and basements were flooded here in town.  There was even some flooding in the library.  Luckily it was confined to non-public areas, but it was still significant.  

Work had to come to a standstill for some of the staff so that they could deal with the rising water.  The water came into our cargo room, which is the room where books and other items are shipped from our library to others for interlibrary loans and where items shipped to us are unwrapped, sorted, checked in, and distributed.  The rainwater also covered the floor in the janitor's room and in three large storage rooms.  Some of the staff kept busy with mops and a wet/dry shop vac while others were busy moving as much stuff as possible out of the way of the rising water.  I helped move some boxes of books, and then the director asked me to get the camera to take pictures in case there was enough water damage that insurance claims had to be filed.

Here are some pictures of the water coming in at the library.

Today things were looking much better there, but the director has determined that at least some, if not all, of the carpet that got wet is going to have to be removed and replaced.  We were all glad to have the sun return today even though the temperatures were quite cool most of the day.

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BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

With school coming to a close soon, my younger son has been busy with end-of-the-year activities.  In my last post, I blogged about him performing with the Toledo Youth Orchestra in their final concert of the year, which was also their pops concert.  This week he performed with his high school chamber group and with the full orchestra in their final concert of the year, which was also a pops concert.  I made some videos from this concert, but haven't had time to put them on Youtube yet. Perhaps I will share one or two of those with you at a future time. 

Here are some pictures of him on stage practicing with his friend and fellow bass player.  For the chamber part of the concert, my son played his electric bass.  With the full orchestra he played his double bass.  Here's one with a smile for Mom.

These next two pictures show the boys working together and discussing the chords for one of the songs they were going to play.

After the concert there was a reception with refreshments for the orchestra members and their families and friends.  This is a picture of my son with his girlfriend, who is also in the orchestra.  

Here they are with their orchestra director in between them.

Also this week, we celebrated my son's 17th birthday.  Here he is opening a gift from his girlfriend.  I love the expression on her face in this one.

Our dog Max was on standby ready to help with opening presents if need be.  He loves ripping the paper off of gifts with his teeth if we give him the chance.

The high school Academic Booster Club held their annual awards ceremony last night.  Both my son and his girlfriend were honored there.  My son received the Achievement Award in Mathematics, the Student of the Month Award, and and Academic All Star award.  His girlfriend received an award for Achievement in the Business Department in Accounting, the Academic All Star Award, the President's Award for Educational Excellence, and the Award of Merit.  I was very proud of both of them for all of their hard work.  Here are some photos from the awards ceremony.

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AND THE FLOWERS, OF COURSE!

Here are the latest flowers in bloom here.  I had to take these pictures in between the rains this week.  The buckeye trees are blooming.

Here are some close-up views of the buckeye blooms in the sunlight, and...

in the shade.

My daises have just begun to bloom too.  They have a lot of buds on them if I can just keep the bunnies from chewing them off.  I noticed two of them out in the daisy patch this morning making some breakfast out of my flowers.  Those little rascals!

I hope you all have a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend.  I am looking forward to having three days off in a row. 

Another Week Goes By and All That Jazz!

It's been a busy week.  At the library I've been up to my eyeballs in promoting and publicizing the summer reading programs which will be beginning in June at all six of our locations.  We've got a wide variety of programs planned.  There will be a local author book signing, a science program, a magician, a representative from the zoo with animals in tow for a nature program, and a visit from the mascot of an Indiana baseball team. 


Also, the theme for summer reading this year is "One World, Many Stories," with an emphasis being on learning about the traditions, customs, and culture of other lands.  So the branch managers have special programs and activities planned about numerous countries around the world.  It's my job to take all these dates and times and details and add clip art and photos and such and design flyers and handouts and posters to promote these programs.  I also write press releases for the local newspapers, put notices about them on the local community channels on TV, and post updates to the library's Facebook page, among other things.


I did take a short forced break from work yesterday.  I say "forced" because I really had no choice but to do so.  I went home to eat lunch and on the way back, I was stopped at the last traffic light before getting to the library. The power to the traffic light suddenly went out and the light stopped working.  It was at a busy intersection of the  two main streets in our town with four lanes on both streets.  


It was a bit of a free-for-all, then, trying to get through that intersection and make it to the library.  When the power goes out to a traffic light, the intersection is supposed to be treated as a four way stop.  Obviously, quite a few of the drivers around me were not aware of that.  I watched as some of the others made false starts and had close calls with other cars around them. My turn came, and I made it safely back to the library.


My coworkers were sitting outside of the library on top of a short concrete wall along the front of the building and called me over to join them.  The power was out inside the library too, of course. Although most of the library  gets natural light from outside through the windows, my office is on the second floor of our annex building, and it happens to be windowless.   So when the power goes off in there, it is dark as the inside of a cat (a phrase my mother used to say).  Also, almost all of the work that I do is done on a computer, so even if I could see, I wouldn't be able to get any work done without electricity.  The cargo, processing, and circulation departments of the library all rely heavily on computers too, so things were pretty much at a standstill inside.  


We sat and watched the traffic try to get through the two intersections at either end of our building. There were several near misses and almost accidents, but luckily the police arrived in a short while to start directing traffic until they could get the lights fixed.  I haven't heard yet why the power went out.  It was only out in that one block of the city as far as we could tell.

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We went to hear my younger son play his upright bass with the Toledo Youth Orchestra on Monday night. His girl friend, playing the violin, is in this group too. It was their pops concert and the last one of the season.  They take the summer off and begin again with the next school year.  

He will keep busy with his music during the summer anyway, though, because in June the City Orchestra here begins performing again.  He also stays busy with his quintet which has several weddings booked in the weeks ahead.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and  recorded several of the songs.  Here is one that I recorded if you have the time and want to hear them play.  I will probably put the others I recorded on Youtube but won't put them all here on my blog.  

I don't know how I always manage to sit behind somebody with a gigantic head when I go to these concerts, but somehow it just happens.  This video is a fun medley of tunes from the musical Chicago.  

Dance of the Trees

We've had rain, and then some rain, followed by more rain the last two days which made for a very soggy Saturday and Sunday.  We should have expected that, I suppose, because we had plans and hoped for sunny weather (you know, Murphy's Law and all that).  


On Saturday, my husband drove his van, and I drove my car to my son's apartment at his university.  In drenching, relentless downpours of rain, we loaded up both vehicles as full as was safe and reasonable to do so with my son's belongings.  He has just two more days of final exams, and then he will be done with what he needs to do there.  He still has an online class and an internship to complete at his job from home this summer, but after that, he will be graduating with his Bachelor's Degree in July.  


My husband made another trip with the van today.  It's amazing how much stuff one person can accumulate in nine months time!  My son will be home Tuesday night for a short two and a half months before he plans to move to Florida to begin his studies at graduate school.  We haven't yet figured out how we are getting his belongings to Florida, but we have to leap over one hurdle at a time around here.


Fortunately, I took the following pictures earlier in the week.  I'm sure the rains we've had the last two days have knocked many of the blossoms off the trees in these pictures.  First we had the triumphant yellows of the daffodils and the crocus and the forsythia to announce the arrival of spring.  This was followed by the white blossoms of the Bradford Pear trees and the trilliums and other ground cover flowers in the park, which bring to mind the newness and innocence of the season of spring, the time of new beginnings.


This past week the pink, red, violet, and lavender hues came bursting forth everywhere.  These colors always seem to be the most magical of all to me.  I anticipate the arrival of these the most. One minute the trees and shrubs are quiet, bare, dark sticks, and the next they are nearly shouting with the colors of joy.  If ever there is a time when trees leap and dance, it is when they are wearing these colors of spring.  The appearance of the blossoms on the crabapple trees, redbud trees, apple trees, lilacs, and more cause me to flit like a butterfly from one to the next with my camera, capturing and celebrating each one that I find.  In my version of heaven, in my mind's eye, I feel that there must be beautiful, flowering trees like these everywhere you look.

Those little green trees in front of the pink crabapple trees were covered with white blooms a short while ago.

Lilacs--can you smell them?

The apple tree blossoms are white tinged with a sweet, delicate pink

As the sun began to set, I noticed there were about a dozen buzzards high up in a nearby tree.  They seemed to be looking down in approval of all the colors bursting forth below them.  

Isaiah 55:12

   You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.