On My Mind This Week...

National Championship - I'm so excited about this, I feel like a college kid again.  I've always loved being an Aggie and it's nice when the school gets the national attention it deserves.  It's a one-man (or two-person, actually) celebration out here in Southern Maryland, though.  My giddiness has been hard to contain, so I brag openly to neighbors and friends, even if they don't know who Texas A&M is or didn't care enough to watch the Women's tourney.  And I can't help but love this musical tribute to the national champs, even if rap isn't generally my music genre of choice.  Ladies, you most certainly showed them how we gig 'em:




Government shut-down - While I do feel like we're all victims of some uber-electioneering, from both sides of the aisle, with this threat, I'm not feeling worried about the imminent shut-down.  I am, though, curious to know how - or if - Jeremy's work - the F-35, a joint development effort with the government's Nav-Air division and the armed forces - will be affected.  Friends who work with Nav-Air in other programs shared with us the notice they've received about the shut-down, but if Jeremy's co-workers have received any sort of information, they have not shared it with their Lockheed counterparts.  Business continues as usual in the flight test program.  (Our friends also alerted us to this sadly hilarious piece of irony, an announcement of which was included in the base's monthly newsletter.)

Blueberries - Blueberries grow here, but they need lots of sun.  We have two bushes already, but they are tall and spindly, misguidedly placed by the previous owners under shade trees.  After seeing a friend's bushes overflowing last summer, we knew we wanted more.  I've been waiting for the bushes to come in at a local nursery and they finally arrived this week.  There are six buckets of 3-year-old bushes out front, waiting for a home in our yet-to-be-determined blueberry patch.  Blueberries need cross-pollinators and produce at different times in the season, so there has to be some thought and planning in purchasing and planning.  Our varieties:  Blue Haven, Patriot, Elliot, Jersey and Tophat.

It's an adventure discovering all the spring blooms left in
the flower beds by the previous owner,  a master gardener.  Piles of daffodils
and these dainty clusters of white flowers, but only a handful of tulips.  The red
is irresistible to a 4-year-old, though, and everyone gets plucked and presented to
me as soon as their red appears:  "Mama, I picked this for you."  Kinda
hard to get mad at that!

Writing - I've been invited to join a small online writers' group and I feel humbled and excited and determined.  Whereas some members are actually polishing their novels, I'll be focusing on sticking to a regular writing practice and getting feedback on previously-rejected magazine submissions in the hopes of someday seeing my name in print.

Lifestyle bloggers - I guess this is the term for bloggers that make their blogs all about advising and guiding and helping others with their tips and tricks and strategies - often, they even make a business out of this, or at least out of their blogs.  These always read interestingly to me - for a few days.  But the advice and ideas and schemes just keep coming and I can't keep up.  I almost always end up abandoning them because they make me feel inadequate.  The cynic in me also wonders do these bloggers lives' (especially those with kids) really run as smoothly and beautifully on a regular, daily basis as their posts would have us believe.  If they do, then I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be friends.  People that organized usually can't handle my laissez-faire approach to housework, schooling and dinner.  I've got enough to say about this that it might become a post on its own.  Stay tuned.

And some reading for the weekend, posted by a friend on Facebook today:  Do you believe in God? or How can we bring more justice and kindness into this world?  Which is the more productive question to you?


Have a great weekend!

A Nature Trail Walk with Friends