Today’s assignment is to recreate the events of a single day. This one will be easy, since I will draw on memories of my recent stay with my friend, Sue, in her rental condo in Orange Beach, AL I wake up when I wake up, without an alarm or obligation. I know without getting out of bed whether Sue is up before me. The first thing she does each morning is open the glass […]
One of my favorite parts of spring is all of its new beginnings. Flowers reappear from the soil and bloom again. Or they are planted for the first time, sharing color and fragrance from their very beginning. Baby animals come into the world. Trees begin another year by putting on their loveliest blossoms. Like this one. And it’s not only nature celebrating new beginnings. The Maples is all about new beginnings too. For as long […]
My neighbor Tom prefers living off the beaten path—taking the road less traveled, if you will. Sometimes that even means constructing the trail himself. And that is fine with him. He and Brenda moved into their Portico a year ago. Their Phase 3 lot nestles along the treeline at the edge of the Maples. A few steps beyond their courtyard is a low stone wall marking the line between our property and undeveloped land owned […]
When I moved into my Abbey in October 2010, I didn’t really have expectations for how its landscaping would change over time. I guess I was concentrating on the home’s interior and just assumed that bushes would grow larger and I would plant flowers in the spring. That, of course, is exactly what happened. But this summer I’ve opened my eyes to the changes and the beauty that now surrounds me. Before I offer some […]
First comes the thunderstorm watch notice scrolling along the bottom of the TV screen. Then ominous clouds roll in, darkening the sky when it should have yet been light. Then the winds gust. In the distance, thunder rumbles and lightning streaks through the black clouds. And then it is here. Sheets of wind-driven rain send me hurrying indoors to protect my camera, and myself. The storm is Mother Nature’s display of drama, beauty, danger. It […]
Labor Day is considered the traditional beginning of fall. But that was not the case this year at Maples at the Sonatas, where we enjoyed three-plus weeks of bonus summer. There were still several sizzling hot days for swimming. Our walking group, known for getting outside in challenging weather, took their exercise in the pool a few days. Don’t they look nice and cool here? And they can spell too. A-A-R-P… The weather has turned […]
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Symbol.” Something white caught my eye when I walked past my neighbor Ollie’s flowerbed this morning. Something that, as beautiful as it was, felt out of place. I had never seen an Easter lily growing outdoors before, nor had I ever seen one blooming in July. Yet there it was, a glorious, serendipitous surprise. Symbolically speaking, the Easter lily is identified with beauty, purity, hope, and […]
It’s record-settingly official. The Chicago area just survived its cloudiest June on record. Books close on Chicago’s cloudiest Junes on record and one of its wettest; May-level chill settles in as July 2015… http://t.co/znnu4eCmIv — Skilling (@Skilling) July 1, 2015 If you were to read the entire post, you would find all the depressing statistics. If that sounds too gloomy to tackle, here are the highlights—or, should I say, lowlights: Last month our total sunshine […]
Sunset is one of our loveliest times at Maples at the Sonatas. There is so much to savor in this time of transition. And then comes nighttime, which is downright magical. Darkness settles gently, gradually over the neighborhood, bringing with it an altered perspective. Our homes, our lawns, our streets — everything so familiar that we may not even see it any more — all becomes subtly new, demanding a second look. ••• It’s a […]
This time the weather forecast was right on. A winter weather advisory posted yesterday was amazingly accurate. Unfortunately. The sleet hitting my bedroom windows was loud enough to wake me just after 6. I peeked through the blinds to see that 3″ of snow had fallen during the night. The sleet continued off and on — mostly on — for an hour. No yoga class for me this morning, I said to my cats. ••• […]
Groundhog Day greetings from snowy Woodstock! Yes, that’s right. I’m in Woodstock, not Columbus. After receiving a foot and a half of wind-driven snow yesterday, I shouldn’t have been surprised to get a text this morning informing me that my flight was canceled. Disappointed, yes, but surprised, no. But do not worry. This post will have a happy ending. Before we get to that, let me show you just how snowy it is here. A […]
Maybe it’s the sunshine today. Or the bluest of skies, or the vibrant colors of October. If there is such a thing as a photogenic fall day, this is one of the best we’ve had. I couldn’t wait to put on my walking shoes and grab my camera. I was on a mission. I would wander our community, snapping photos of anything that caught my eye. I would try to use little details to capture […]
It’s impossible for something as large as a sunflower to sneak up on you. So I really can’t say I was surprised when the sunflowers in our community garden burst into bloom this week. With the summer’s plentiful rain, they surged out of the soil and shot up into the air. Their study green stalks soon supported buds so promising large. Now they stand like a line of soldiers at the back of the […]
Home Sweet Abbey 