Connie's Corner

Needles, needles, everywhere....

I have been raking pine needles today, pine needles that hopefully are finished falling for the season. I mound them up around the trunks to keep the grass (er weeds) from taking over where I cannot get at them with the riding mower. And I like the way they look when I am finished, so nice and neat and in order. If nothing else, I am an orderly person. Forget the dust bunnies, the Mopsy hair, and the spider webs, but make sure those zillion books are in alphabetical order by authors' names .

Orderliness does tend to crimp creative expression, though. I guess that is why I like writing. No mess to clean up when you are finished . Just a pen and notebook and/or a computer.

I started a good book tonight, Death Pans Out by Ashna Graves, and got half through before my eyes got bleary and I had to put it down for a while. The setting is an old abandoned gold mine in eastern Oregon from which the owner mysteriously disappeared. The story is told by the miner's niece, a journalist, who has come to stay at the old cabin to recuperate from depression caused by breast cancer and the resulting surgery. Fifteen years has elapsed since her uncle's disappearance and the reader learns the facts as she does, an interesting way, I thought, to tell a story.

Just to update, Jim is about the same. His potassium was high again on his last labwork, and his kidneys are continuing to cause problems. He has very mild symptoms even though his kidney function was 21% on the last test, but I understand that is normal. He is walking a little with his walker, and easily transferring to his wheelchair now and into the truck. He rides with me on short trips to the library and the grocery store, and is back to watching dvd's. We are taking one day at a time in gratitude.

until next time....c