Time, the universal currency

The Lady F and I are very busy right now, but in no sense are we victims of circumstance.  We have accepted life’s tasks, but we take the time to notice the scenery of life along the way.  And that scenery is gorgeous!

We have been spending many weekends caring for the Lady’s mother since the death of my father-in-law.  We found that she was progressively losing her sight at the age of 87.  The eye specialists diagnosed wet age related macular degeneration caused by a profusion of blood vessels and bleeding in the retina.  She started a series of treatments and is responding well, but that led to the realization that she had something called a macular pucker in one eye that required surgery in San Francisco.

We brought her to our house and took care of her here for two weeks.  The surgery was a success and things are going very nicely!  That investment of time drew fast dividends.

Along the way, we had some time to spend as spare change and spent it taking in some of the sights:

This is a group of 25 quail that crossed our path.  They are all over the mobile home park in which my mother-in-law, Gigi Fossil, lives .

They also have hummingbirds and here is one little fellow at her feeder:

Back home, the birds are no fewer.  Here are “the girls” as we call them that line up on our street lamp post out front:

We also love our plants, like our Christmas Cactus and our Angel’s Trumpet:

We spend time with our kids whenever possible and our granddaughter, who is growing into a fine young lady.  She is becoming a better soccer player, too!

Every so often, a special event pops up.  This one was once in a lifetime, the Space Shuttle flying low within three blocks of our house:

Then, there are the birthdays and anniversaries.  We celebrated our 30th Anniversary with our best friends, who live in the Sierras about an hour from Yosemite.  Here is one of those views that just caught my eye while sitting and sharing on their patio:

Then we went to Yosemite, where the wildlife are so protected and so tame that they simply hang around with the people:

We had brunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel at the park, world famous for beauty, setting and quality.  The food alone is some of the best I’ve eaten.  This is the lounge area in the hotel:

Then, going outside for a walk after eating so much delicious food that you think you will pop, the views are incomparable.  On our walk, I took this picture of Half Dome:

So, you’d think coming home would be a letdown after all this.  But … there is always a sunset while on an evening walk:

It isn’t a Pollyanna world for us and we work and contend a great deal.  But we are rich, oh so rich, in those things that count, those things we have the privilege to spend our time on.  We are surrounded by beauty begging to be seen, creatures sharing the wonders, family that cares about the substance of life.

Thank you, world.