View Looking Up....

Sometimes I notice wonderful photographs on line where the camera is poised to shoot upwards from underneath a flower. I love the results the photographer gets while looking from an unusual angle.

Yesterday I was walking past one of the ECP gardens and thought I'd try it with my cell phone. I bent over and tried to keep my hand and face out of the way while taking the shot. This is certainly not a prize winner....but I am going to keep exploring my neighborhood from the bottom up!

 

A Post.....

Memories come flooding back and my eyes are damp....once again. Someone posted this on Facebook and it brought back scenes from my grade school years:

Growing up in Park Ridge, Illinois, my friends-on-the-block, Jeanie and Lois, and I spent so much time outside all over the neighborhood. Or my bike would take me a mile or so to best friend Sally's house. We built tree forts, played kick-the-can, climbed on the grade school playground equipment, explored nearby construction sites for more new houses.

But the best memories come from the time spent at Gramma and Grampa's small house in Antioch on Voltz Lake. A small lake, no motor boats allowed, it was kid heaven. Farmer's fields on one side (hiding in the tall corn stalks), undeveloped  acres on the other (a beaver dam in a pond) and forested acres down the lane (we found an animal skull one day!). The high points of each of our Sundays together was the lake itself. Ice skating in the winter, skipping stones in spring and fall and using the row boat middle-of-the-lake swim raft all summer. 

Each summer Claudia and I would go for a week together at "Camp".... that meant about five days of fun and sleep-overs together. We picked apple and cherries for gramma's pies. We ran, screaming, from grass snakes. We helped gramma do laundry down in the basement and grab clothespins to hang clean clothes on the outside clotheslines. At night we shared a sofa-bed....talking and giggling way past "bedtime". Gramma's solution was to roll up a big blanket and tie it in a "log" with some string. She called this "Mrs. Barney" and put it right in the middle of the bed....dividing the mattress in half. Mrs. Barney sort of separated us and eventually we would fall asleep until waking to a good breakfast and another adventure day.

The Facebook post brought Claudia's face directly to mind....my cousin, two years younger than me. After my mom died she was the person-on-earth who'd known me the longest...shared the good memories, understood some of my sadnesses, fell into easy lock step whenever we'd be able to get together as adults.

Cancer took Claudia in the summer of 2016....almost seven years ago. My heart was broken then and after reading this post my sadness is back. Not the first full-blown grief you experience when someone you love dies but still.....the memories are streaming in my mind and the tears are right in the corner of my eyes.

Miss you still best cousin....miss you still.

And Today....

 ....walked out of the building with Fenway this morning. A lovely day in Milwaukee! I look at so much of the rest of America and see the heat dome affecting other states and feel SO fortunate to live here. We do expect a few hot days this week, but nothing like other areas of the Country.

As I left the building and closed the door on the Downer Avenue side the beautiful flowers planted in an urn caught my eye...they are reaching their peak. One of our residents bought the colorful arrangements a few weeks ago and tends it carefully.

Fen and I went around the small triangle park just east of our building for his morning "business" and then back to the west side entrance. This way I passed some of the big planters taken care of by our maintenance crew. When my friend, Lynn, was visiting from New Hampshire a few weeks ago she told me these planters should have "a thriller, a filler and a spiller". I never knew this but then I'm not a gardener. The thriller is the tall grasses in the center, colorful flowers provide the fillers and some kind of greenery spills over the edge of the huge pot.

Closer to the entrance was one final pot - it did not have a thriller, but I still enjoyed the filler and the spiller colors as Fenway and I walked past.

So a nice first morning walk during Milwaukee's summer....I feel lucky today.

Blank Screen....

Why this day-after-day non-inspiration? I've been enjoying writing my little blog about five or six times a month for years. I have a small following but mostly do this because I like to write. Looking back it started with my little pink plastic diary (with a gold key) in about fifth grade....and I've continued to ponder things and share my thoughts ever since. 

Years with a weekly column in the little New Castle, Delaware newspaper and then on-line with this blog. Just whatever caught my eye as I moved through my world, or caught my ear as I listened to the radio. Whatever.....but I seem to be hitting a dry spot.

I listened to an interview on Youtube with Anna Quinlen and she was talking about "writer's block". Her method is to work on a novel or essay and at the end of her day she leaves with an unfinished sentence. She explained that doing that helped her to start right in and finish it the next day and then continue the narrative.

So maybe if I

My Nemesis.....

Sunday we took off in the RV to visit friends up in Waupaca. Susie was my college roommate so we have been best-of-friends since 1965! Many years ago her grandfather built a cottage on Long Lake and it's a beautiful spot...lots of happy memories of times spent there.

So we were looking forward to the visit with Susie and Dwayne but knew it would be even more fun because of the setting. Arriving on Sunday afternoon it was a beautiful day....breeze, blue skies, nice summery temperature, low humidity. We visited, laughed, ate and just had fun together.

Monday morning we drove into Waupaca to First Bank to see the three of Megan's paintings they commissioned several years ago for their board room. Proud to see some of her work in place.

After stopping at a nice coffee shop we headed back to the lake. With temperatures moving into the 90's we all wanted the water! Into our suits, grabbing towels, we made it down the steps to Susie's dock. Stepping down the ladder the water seemed COLD....but once in it was so refreshing. I grabbed one of her big innertubes and plunked my butt through the center. Arms hanging over one side and legs the other I casually floated around for about an hour. Ahhh....Lake Life!

Then I tried to get out. Arching my back I struggled to move over the edge of the fat tube....nope. Several tries and I realized that I was "stuck". So I paddled my way to shallow water until I could literally flip over and dump myself off the side...arms and legs flailing. How graceful. (If anyone had been taking a video their phone would have gone in Long Lake.)

I guess this was just one more reminder that I'm not a college student any more....it's not 1965 and some things just aren't as easy as they once were.

But....it was still a lovely afternoon afloat!