back to normal - whatever that is

This week, I'm trying to get back to my normal schedule of volunteer activities and fun things, like clay classes and exercises. Actually, my aerobic classes are exactly 'fun', but they are things I enjoy, most of the time. Because my cold left me a bit under the weather, I haven't gone to aerobics since returning from Florida, but I will get there today. I have been walking aroung the neighborhood with Patty, but we haven't been walking as fast as usual. Both of us are a bit out of shape, but with the lovely spring weather, I'm sure we'll get back into the groove soon.

Nothing much happening in my life at the moment. I've been dealing with dentists and endodonists over the phone for several days, trying to get the final surgery and repairs done on the tooth that had the root canal. I'll have to wait until mid-April for that. These specialized dentists are really busy. Hopefully, the infection won't get worse while I wait, or I'll be back on antibiotics. Ah, the joys of being old! Really, I'm lucky to have good health most of the time. No serious problems, just nuisance ones!

I've previously posted photos of my flowers growing outside. Here are some photos of the floral arrangements (fake flowers) inside my house.

spring has sprung

I found crocus and mini daffodils blooming in front of my house when I arrived home on Tuesday. It was wonderful to have spring follow me up from Florida. After all the snow we had in February, we are all ready for spring. I had a good visit in Florida. We went to the annual "Art Under the Oaks" one day. I managed not to buy anything there. However, I did get some real bargains at some of the local thrfit shops. I bought another birdhouse, found some adorable corn husk dolls (only $2) and a wonderful jacket for just $5!

I'm having all kinds of trouble moving photos around on Blogger. I used to be able to click and drag them, but that doesn't seem to work now. Very frustrating. So, the photos won't be in any kind of logical order, but they are self explanatory, so that won't really matter.

Unfortunately, I also brought a nasty cold home from Florida! I'm so disgusted to be sick when the weather is wonderful and I want to be out working in the yard. I did a bit of clean up yesterday, trimming off stuff and bagging up leaves. Maybe I'll finish that up today. I really need to do some major surgery on my trees and bushes out back, but I don't feel steady enough today to get up on the ladder. Oh well, a few more days won't matter when it comes to trimming off the broken branches.

Florida trip - photos

Little blue heron.

Cormorant drying his wings.

fence sitters - storks, heron, and grackle

coots and other ducks

I took some photos at various preserved areas near Vero Beach. My sister-in-law is an avid birdwatcher, so she took me to the best places. The city has created an artificial wetlands at the sewage plant. It teems with water birds.

home tomorrow

Just a quick note to say that I have been on vacation in Florida, without easy access to a computer. I'm in the library today to print off my boarding pass for coming home tomorrow. Florida has been wonderful! Except for one day when it rained and rained (6 inches in 24 hours), the weather has been sunny and warm - in the 70s. I've eaten meals that I did NOT have to cook and enjoyed hiking around to look for birds and visiting all the local thrift stores. I got some wonderful bargains, which I will show when I get home.

That's all for now. They have lines of people waiting for the computers at the library.

off line

I will be off line for about a week. Nothing wrong, but will probably not be near a computer during that time.

Talk to you next week.

recent ceramics

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Yesterday, I spent most of the day at an officer's retreat for my church. In a weak moment, I agreed to serve on the Council (governing body). It's going to be a long three years! I was exhausted when I got home and just crashed.

I did not get the root canal finished on Friday because the infection is still there. I'm back on antibiotics for the next week. So far, no bad side effects, just feeling queasy. It reminds me of pregnancy - morning sickness. (Obviously, I had a very mild case of morning sickness with my pregnancies.) Anyway, I can live with this. If the infections still doesn't clear up, I will have to have surgery of some sort. The dentist didn't say exactly what that would be. I sure hope the drugs work this time. I do not want dental surgery - or an extraction of the tooth!

I did manage to take a couple of snapshots of some of my recent ceramic creations. See above.

Today, we are having a 'soup luncheon' at church. This afternoon, I hope to get down to the Montpelier arts center to look at a juried show sponsored by the Laurel Art Guild. My friend, Lynne, has collages in that show and I probably know some of the other artists. It's always fun to see what friends are producing.

update on computer

I'm doing better with my new computer now. Still having trouble with the keyboard. It's slightly different than my old one. I keep hitting the wrong letters. I'll get used to it. Had to take the CPU back to the store yesterday because I couldn't find the data from the old computer. It was there, I just didn't recognize it. They copied the entire hard drive. I hope, if there was a virus, that it didn't get transferred!

I can't get my speakers to work. I think they are not connected properly, but haven't been able to see what is wrong. Directions are very poorly written and rather skimpy for the speakers. I even got a message saying that the audio system was not working. Well, duh! I knew that.

Today is my birthday. I'm 69! Yesterday, I celebrated by getting a great haircut and going out to dinner with a friend. Today I won't have time to celebrate, between my volunteer job and choir tonight.

new computer

I've just spent the past 2 hours getting my new computer connected and running. I can't seem to get any sound from the speakers and I hate the keyboard. Also, the instructions provided were NOT easy to follow. And, I don't have enough USB ports on the back of the CPU. To connect the speakers, I have to use a port on the front, which means a little door will remain open on the front. Why can't they just make it simple? Why do they have to put little doors to cover up things that one will need to use every day? As I may have said before: I have a love/hate relationship with my computer. On the plus side, it is very fast. However, since I cannot hear the video that will show me how to use Windows 7, I will be learning by trial and error - mostly error!!

I still have to load the Windows Home Office (or whatever it's called) software, but at least I can get online. I am now going to try to get into email. Since I no longer have Outlook (too cheap to pay for it) I will have to do totally online email. And my address book is supposedly in a document, but since I have no word processing at the moment, I will have to type in any addresses I want to use. That should be fun - NOT!