In The Moment

"Living in the moment" means paying special attention to the present, as opposed to looking back on the past or planning for the future.  I think it also means putting your full attention to what is happening right here and now, to what you're doing at a particular time.  However, I can sometimes get so wrapped up in the moment, I become focused on me and what I am experiencing or doing, and I become a bit too self-absorbed. 

Because I am so busy living in the moment, fully focused on or mentally involved in what I am doing or experiencing, I forget to think of others and what they are living in/through.  It's not that I don't care about them, I am just too pre-occupied or busy to concern myself with them temporarily.

This week began with the most fantastic, blessed, unforgettable, wonderful, Mother’s Day weekend.  All our children (Courtney, Britney, and Daniel), Dan's girlfriend (Valencia), and their daughter Ava (our granddaughter) were here visiting.  I had a fantastic time with everybody and it warmed my heart to hold, see, talk to, and be with each of them.  I was however, so wrapped up in the moment, I neglected to call Mom or check in with my sick sister Cathy. 😦 😢🙏💝 
 

Saturday 5/8 - The four kids, Ava, and Dan's dog Tango all showed up before lunch.  (Patty didn't joined us until later.)  Many of the photos I am posting were taken during our photo shoot, out on the back deck, after lunch.

Playing pass the baby with Ava soon began, and continued all weekend.

 

 

 

Actually, it was more like steal the football (not toss the hot potato).  Everybody was wanting to get their hands on her... such a sweet, precious, cuddly, little baby.

Great Aunt Patty was holding Ava in this last photo with me in the background working on the jigsaw puzzle.

Joe and Britney admiring Ava shortly after she arrived. 

Maggie was quite interested in Ava.  Who or what was this little bundle of new smells and noises that everybody was fussing over?

Eventually Maggie settled in with Tango, but she had to be convinced that she could relax and not need to compete for human affection. 

Eating, drinking, snacking, chatting, working puzzles, and just relaxing ensued... along with 'steal the baby' (feeding, rocking, holding, and changing Ava).

Ava takes after her Dad, being a little on the gassy side... (Courtney catching Dan mid burp in this photo, LOL).

It really warmed my heart to see the tenderness, love, and care Dan showed as he changed Ava's diapers, her outfits, fed her, burped her, rocked her, and cuddled her.  He didn’t let her crying get him worked up, and just spoke with her softly about how life is going to be OK and that he was taking care of her and she just need to wait a minute.  

Dan put together this little seat Jan gave us (that she had used with her grandchildren) and it worked well for Ava.  But she was only in it once because there were so many volunteers to hold and rock her.

I was also touched by Val's watchful eye as different aunts and grandparents held and attended to Ava's needs.  She was watching out for her baby's best interests.  You could tell that Ava's parents dearly love her, care for her, and are proud parents.

Maggie was still trying to figure out this new and strange creature.  She may have been a tad jealous, but also seemed quit concerned and worried when Ava cried.

In addition to us all eating, drinking, and being merry... there was some resting and napping that occurred by most of us.

Patty arrived after lunch time and we all got ready for the photo shoot... changing into color coordinated outfits. 

Then out onto the back deck during the sunniest and warmest part of the day (it was still overcast and a tad chilly) we all went.

We photographed just about every combination of group you can imagine. 

Some selfies were also taken during the posing process. 

 

And as always, some goofy shots also had to be taken. 

As we 'played pass the baby' to get individual shots (posted earlier) and some small group shots, Ava took it all with great patience and I think enjoyed being outside with the big blue sky above her (well actually it was kind of a gray sky).

While we were all out busy taking photos, Maggie was at the window watching, wishing she could join us.  She sure didn't get any sympathy from us 'wise-guys.'

After the photo shoot, Ava got feed, some of us slipped back into play clothes, and soon we loaded up into two cars and headed to Mountain View Ranch.

Us girls admiring the volunteer pansies that came up in Terry's planter box.

We wanted to show Dan, Val, and Britney the ranch, since they had not seen it before. 
In this photo we are looking at Joe's raised bed garden.

We walked around and looked inside the machine shed, barn, tack room, and larger loafing shed. 

We gave Little Sweets and Smurf some horse treats Terry provided us.  And some of us climbed the fence to look at the catfish in the pond that came to the surface to eat the food we had thrown out to them.

I think Ava would have preferred to be back in the car where it was warmer, and she was getting hungry, so we didn't stay at the ranch real long.

Courtney sent some pansy photos to Cathy (her favorite flower) to show her we were thinking of her.  

I made spaghetti for dinner, including salad and garlic bread and then we had frozen blackberry crumb cake with ice cream for dessert.

None of us stayed up real late. 

Courtney ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room, with Tango near by.

Sunday 5/9 - Happy Mother's Day. 
I baked a batch of brownies and sweet rolls, and then told the gang I was done in the kitchen for the day. 

The day was more of what Saturday had been, with snacking, seconds and thirds on tea and coffee, and lazying around. 

The kids continued watching a show called The Circle (which was new for me).  All four have been watching it, but Courtney needed to get caught up so we watched three episodes with her and I got pulled right into the silly drama.  Joe was less impressed with the show.

There was plenty of veggies and fruit and sandwich fixings for lunch and we also continued to snack and have even more tea and coffee. 

There were naps, working on the jigsaw puzzle, knitting, dog walks and more lazing around all afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

Some storms moved through late afternoon and poor Maggie wanted to be where the action was, but also felt the need to hide.

We ordered out dinner from Stonehenge Grille and each of us enjoyed our choice of food.

Not much later we were all enjoying ice cream and brownies for desert.

But then it was time for the Nashville clan to hit the road for home.  Courtney left a little before Dan and Val, partly because she didn’t have much to pack up.  When you have a baby and a dog there’s just lots of stuff.

I hadn't noticed Ava's cute little unicorn outfit until her last dipper change. 

It was so good that both families took time to come visit. Britney was left here, so seeing the others depart wasn’t as painful.  And I knew I would be seeing them all again, soon.

Monday 5/10 - Joe and I left Britney at home doing her work via the computer and we headed to the ranch to help take down wooden fencing.  We wanted to keep all the lumber so I had offered to help with the project.  With all the rain overnight, we were in for muddy work.


It went very well in spite of a few struggles with some stubborn nails and screws and the mud.

It always helps to have lots of workers and the right equipment, especially a big tractor.  Once we had all the fence down and the boards stored, Joe and I looked into hanging the gate at the back corner.  Unfortunately there was an error in measurement and the gate that we thought would work was too short.  We put this project on hold to give it more thought.

The rest of the day did not amount to much, except downloading more photos, cleaning up after company, doing laundry, chatting with Britney (with a few very meaningful conversations).  We went for a walk after spaghetti leftovers for dinner, and I finished folding a second load of laundry right before bed.

Tuesday 5/11 -  Finally we had some sunshine and warmer temperatures.  Britney took this photo of the 'sun bathers' later in the morning.  I tried to get caught up on blogging, but was pretty distracted.  

Joe informed me that our neighbor Brian was still in the hospital, and mowed his lawn for him.  I had a good workout at the gym.

Britney needed copies of several documents (from work) to take to Milligan College.  So Joe dropped us off at the Conference Center, (now referred to as just The Center).  The lady behind the desk had a huge struggle getting the copy machine to do what we had requested, but finally after 30 minutes we got what we needed.  Then Britney, Maggie, and I walked home, and on the way went past the biergarten (which now had tables and chairs set out).

I went to the barn and had a quick, short ride (bareback) on Amiga.  The wind was picking up and another front was coming through.

Dinner was 'every man for yourself' and this is what Britney came up with.  LOL

We all busied ourselves with packing up for an overnight get-a-way.  I had Maggie to get ready to go to Patty's as well.  And getting the cat's supplies (food, water and litter) prepared to last 36 hours while we would be away.

Wednesday 5/12- Joe took Maggie to Patty's and then Britney and I jumped in with him and we drove in rain all morning, to Johnson City.  We arrived at the Open Doors coffee shop where Britney meet three professors from Milligan College to discuss her program in Costa Rica.

Joe and I sat separate, while Britney had her meeting.  In this photo, two of them had not arrived yet.  We watched it rain, and it was refreshing to see so many young (college age) people come and go.  The rain stopped just as we were leaving a little after 12 noon.

Next on our itinerary was Briarwood Ranch Safari Park located just outside Morristown TN.  It is a small drive-thru and walk-through zoo.

At the check-in area, we got buckets of feed and then headed out on a little walk.  There were lots of chickens, ducks, peacocks, and a few other birds wandering around loose in this area.  There were several small caged areas with mostly farm yard animals we fed. 

Then we headed out on the four mile drive.  When we stopped the SUV, the animals would come right up to the windows to get food. 

 

Many stuck their heads right inside the car and it was often difficult to drive forward because they wouldn't move away (videos) LOL. 

We got buffalo slimmed a number of times, and had spilled food on our seats as well.









It was a lot of fun, especially with Britney's squealing and other reactions.  

And this big guy couldn't get his head in the window if he had wanted to. 


Once we ran out of food, and had had enough animal time, we hit the road again. 

Now we were headed to Newport to meet sister-in-law Margie at Cracker Barrel, to visit and have dinner.  We hit a few more light showers and arrived really early, so had to kill time.  We went into town and did the River Walk, which wasn't very long, but we did see lots of ducks and geese.  As you can see, it was quite overcast and pretty cold out.  But at least the rain had stopped.

This group was heading down to the water where it was safer.

 
Since the River walk was so short, we also walked around downtown a little.  Then we drove past brother John's house (He and Margie were both at work).  We also hit a few stores before going to Cracker Barrel.  We were still early, but so was Margie, so it worked out perfect.

After a nice meal and visit (although too short), we said our goodbyes and were off now to the Air B&B.

Mitch had a fire going and met us enthusiastically and showed us around.  In this photo, he is leading us down to the Hilltop Glamping Stargazing Hut, where we would be spending the night and experiencing glamping (glamorous camping).  The roof is a clear plastic sheeting over 6x8 welded wire framing.






The cat is Murphy, who was very friendly and eager to visit.  He was allowed to come and go as much as we wanted to let him.

Once getting our gear into the hut, we went for a walk to work off dinner.  We strolled around the 11 acre farm on clearly marked trails, through the woods, to visit the sheep and see the chickens.  I love the fencing Mitch had built from the little trees he had cut while clearing some of the property.



We settled in at the fire, and yes, Murphy joined us.  By 8pm, after a beer, but before dark, I was ready to retire.  So was Britney.

Britney took this photo 0f me in bed, and I took the next one of her in bed from where I was.

These photos give you an idea of the size of the hut.  We had a propane space heater going, because it was quite chilly.  I had started a new book (Horse Whisper) and was engrossed in it for awhile, but it soon got too dark, and I got too tired.  I didn't even hear Joe come to bed.

Thursday 5/13 - Murphy came into the hut as soon as I went out to hike up to the outhouse.  It was only 38° outside.  The cat enjoyed the warmth from the space heater as much as we did.

Joe fixed us hot water for tea and coffee and then eggs.  He had some difficulties with the propane stove (seen in the outside area to the left of the door) at first, due to lack of experience.  But it all worked out.


We soon packed up and hiked the short distance back to our car.  The day was warming fairly quickly with all the sunshine.

Next up was the Seven Islands State Birding Park located east of Knoxville near Kodak, along the French Broad River.







We hiked just under two miles seeing a small part of what was there.  (A Great Blue Heron wades, seen in the middle of this photograph.)  I hadn't noticed the wisteria climbing on the iron butterflies until returning from our hike.

We all had a late lunch when we got home and then I kind of 'crashed and burned.'  I don't know why I was so tired, but I did nothing the rest of the day.  Well I did unpack, cook dinner (finally using the butternut squash from Carol), and Britney and I took Maggie on a little one mile hike.  Downtime was spent reading.

 Friday 5/14 - I had to put my cut flowers from Courtney and Britney up on the mantle because the cats were eating them and getting sick.

Likewise, I moved this potted flower from Dan and Val out onto the front porch.  You can see the chipmunk in the second of the two next photos, sitting in the basket right out front.  They and the birds torture (and entertain) the cats.

I met my three other co-workers at the pool and we did a little organizing to get ready to open in a week.  Then I scurried off to the gym to do my workout.  I got home for a quick lunch, and then Britney, Maggie and I went on a 2½ mile hike.  Once done, I filled bird feeders and picked up sticks.  I was showered and in my PJs by 3:45, and too tired to do much else the rest of the afternoon and evening. 
I have been enjoying having Britney home and engrossed in every moment we share.