A Beautiful September Day

Bob and I decided to act like retired folk today! We went to the McBride Raptor Center and then fishing on McBride.  So enjoyable! No time table hanging over us.  Just sort of going with the flow....

First stop was the Raptor Center.  Above, is one of the magnificent birds that live there. This is Spirit.  She has an injured hip, I believe.  She has been here for many years. There is a golden eagle and a peregrine falcon plus several varieties of owls and hawks and even a turkey vulture. They have all been injured or somehow human imprinted and unable to survive in the wild.

After the birds, we went fishing!

 Never caught a thing, but saw a lot of fish jumping!  So of course, we just kept trying to catch one! We did manage to take some goofy selfies, though!

We also saw a flock of pelicans on McBride! Of course, the picture doesn't do them justice.  But they were pretty awesome.  There were even some beautiful egrets in the area and one heron.  Great day for bird-watching!    So, I guess we'll just have to try again.  The weather forecast is for more great weather in the next few days.  This retirement -thing is pretty sweet!.

Updating My Blog

I haven't blogged for a while.  My mother passed away on August 31, and things have been crazy before and since.  The good news is that she was 93 and she was sooo wanting to join dad and it finally happened.  She was only sick for 3 days, so I guess that's good too. She got to stay at the nursing home in hospice care and not at a hospital where she would have been poked and stuck and pricked, so that's good too. And, it was good that my 2 brothers were able to talk with her before she passed.

The beautiful flowers were at the funeral service and are now planted in our little back flowerbed. Another friend sent some money and said to get something to honor mom and that we would see daily so I finally got a hummingbird feeder!  The hummingbirds found it the first day and have been feeding there everyday, all day! Mom would have loved to seen that!

Our family gathered for the funeral at our home. We are a pretty small group these days. It was good to be with every one.

Lauren was able to come home for the weekend.  Her friend, Julia, came with her.  I was so glad that Lauren didn't have to drive the 3 hours all alone with her thoughts...  Besides, Julia was our official photographer!