The Mountain Thymes

 Last evening's wonderful time together at Michaelee's Italian Restaurant.......  left to right...Sandy Durrett, her son, Keith, who moved into the house to be her caregiver when Clay died.  Lynn, always with a smile and a happy attitude and willing to eat out.  Janice, lost Ernie late last summer.  We were seated in the Monaco room, had the room all to ourselves.  It felt like a mafia meeting! It was quiet and cozy with soft cushioned chairs and wonderful service.  Janice kept saying she was so content and happy.  That was good to hear because she has been so depressed since Ernie's sudden death.  Travis and Ricky T. working on my new fence around the old garden. They raked and cleaned up the garden and put in new 6' stakes. I can do some serious planting in May.  The locals say to wait until after Mother's Day.     

I don't need to adopt pets............. Mother Nature has provided me with a variety of creatures to enjoy from morning to night.   About ten days ago Janice and I were returning home from Clyde, NC where I had an endodontist appointment for an abscessed tooth when as we drove through the Nantahala Gorge all traffic was stopped.  We could see people clearing branches from the road and heard chain saws cutting trees.  We sat for at east twenty minutes when one car drove from where the noise was coming from and people were clearing the road.   Two people and their two dogs got out of this car that was crushed when a group of trees slid down the mountain totally covering the vehicle.  Someone must have had a chainsaw in their truck or car.  People were lifting limbs and small tree trunks to free the car and passengers.  The roof was crushed and all the windows and windshield were shattered.  I can't imagine the frightening sound these poor people hea...

 My little female hummingbird showed up on the back porch feeder Thursday afternoon.  I figured she had arrived because whenever the male perched on a feeder he craned his neck upward in defensive mode.  My friend, Susan, headed out her door this morning to walk her dog and saw a bear on her property.  A first time for her so she and Nigel went right back inside.  She lives about 10 minutes from me. The temperature was 40 degrees this morning at 8:30 when I headed to Murphy's farmers market in town.  Not many vendors set up early in the season but my favorite husband/wife team are always there....rain or shine.  Today they had their first harvest of baby kale, spinach, and mustard greens.  Bought a bag of each.  She is a native Cherokee Indian and sells her homemade healing salves made with her farm grown herbs. When she sets up each Saturday she burns dried sage to heal, protect, increase wisdom, and boost defense against disease.  This...

 Good morning!  I've been awake since 4:30. Laid there trying to fall back into a gentle sleep.  Did my calming breath routine, went through the body scan slowly telling each limb and body muscles to relax.  Did all the practices that normally calm my mind and muscles back into a light sleep for another hour.  Nothing worked.  Got up at 6 and took my morning tea out onto the back porch.  It's still dark here at 6.  Whippoorwills are back singing every morning now and my first male hummingbird was spotted on the back porch feeder at 2:30 yesterday. Stripped my bed sheets and cleaned out the fruit draw in the refrigerator.  Actually vacuumed out the draw then washed the draw with baking soda and water.   Yesterday afternoon got a frightening call from a female in Jamaica telling me my BOA charge card had been compromised.  The call showed up on the iPhone as potential spam.  I didn't answer it.  The call kept coming in ...