Confessions of a Grandma

  This was from the week we had winter in Florida. Minnesota man in shorts! I am in the middle with a green sweatshirt on. I am grateful for this group as it gives me opportunities to walk in area preserves/reserves/state parks where I might not venture on my own. I usually walk on neighborhood sidewalks. Of course, in this group there are six bad knees and two bad backs, so the walks are slower and shorter than I might do on my own. That's okay. I can be grateful to be temporarily pain free and healthy and inspired to know that we can accept limitations but keep moving as long as possible. Even if it's just out of stubbornness, which is what it would no doubt be for me. I finished reading The Overstory by Richard Powers. I really loved it. Apparently, it's one of those books one loves or just can't get into. I was definitely on the love side, so call me a tree hugger if you must. My craft project for this week was crocheting these two little baskets. I seem to have som...

  These are not my photos. They come from the internet. They just fill me with an appreciation for the beauty in the world and appreciation for photographers as artists. I actually did see these travelling rocks in Death Valley.

 I went to a party on Sunday afternoon. There was a crowd, but the host had arranged for parking on the street with her neighbors. I found a spot and met up with a friend I had arranged to meet there. At some point a woman was working her way through the crowd asking where the person with the Vermont car was. It turned out that she was the next-door neighbor. I had parked in front of her house and she noticed the plate on my car. When she found me, she explained that her son, recently deceased, had lived in Vermont and she was now in the process of dealing with his considerable piles of stuff. She showed me two pictures of Burlington, VT, scenes and asked if I would take them. Two drawings of very familiar Burlington downtown -- Flynn theater on Main Street and  Church Street This morning was a group hike at the Carlton Reserve, where there are over 80 miles of trails. We did not hike the entirety of available trails! It was a brisk walk, though, with temperature in the 40's. ...

 I have read that teachers are reporting increased behavior problems in classrooms. Also, there is anxious discussion about the impact of mask wearing has on the mental health of children. Now, I am not a psychologist nor am I a mental health expert, but I do wonder . . . has anyone who does happen to be expert in these things given consideration to: children are products of their environment and mimic what they see -- like the behavior of adults on airplanes or, say, engaging in legitimate civic discourse using vandalism, beatings, and threats of hanging that many have had to witness increased hostility and fighting within and among family members that they hear nightly how incompetent and/or outright dangerous teachers can be in their effort to educate them that masks themselves just might be less of an issue than the divisiveness of adults around the issue Just wondering.

  It was a beautiful sunny morning with a bit of chill in the air. Perfect for a morning group walk in a nearby preserve,. Too chilly to see alligators. It may look like we were out in the wild, but in reality nothing is far from development around here.