The Blackburn Digest

Well the title got your attention, anyway:)

As I was leaving our house to run errands and buy a few things I’ll need when I teach my class on Saturday, I noticed the big “automated trash pick-up” containers being distributed in my neighborhood. I hoped we would receive our *very own set* of 96 gallon containers (brown for trash and blue for all recyclables), but held the pessimistic view that they would run out of containers before reaching our street. Delivery of *any* goods or services can be a bit slow in Texas ~ it’s something about that ‘Southern cadence’ . . . I was introduced to that phenomenon in Athens, Georgia in 1968, and it truly hasn’t changed very much in forty years:)

O.K., it’s ’shuffling along, carefully’, not ‘dancing’. . . . . .but then, I never have been able to dance well I’m taking it slow and easy, relying on post op boots and my spiffy red Rollator for support. It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, but it is exhausting! Right now, I’m limiting myself to three trips per day (bedroom to family room) before I request wheelchair help. I’ll have to work hard to get my strength back, once the surgeon approves me for more exertion!

Sorry I haven’t posted anything here since my surgery; I made a small tactical error when I assumed I would only be off-line while I was hospitalized. Each day, looking at my computer keyboard has been enough to make me want to take (another) nap. I’ve got zero energy!

Sara’s first birthday was celebrated at a park near her home, with both sets of grandparents, lots of aunts & uncles and a host of cousins. We all had a great time (especially Sara, when she was allowed to grab a handful of her birthday cake! LOL!)

The weather was clear and sunny, with enough of a breeze to keep us cool. That breeze is the reason Sara & I are both sporting the “wind-swept look” in hairdos;)

Now that Grand-Daughter Sara is becoming very mobile, our family room coffee table is becoming very dangerous! It has too many wrought-iron curlicues to crawl into, sit up under or bang little knees on. I know DD doesn’t want us going out and buying a new table, but I really hate having to restrict the little one’s play-and-explore area. She ought to be able to crawl over and see what the adults are doing without one of them whisking her back to her play-mat!

Last night, I had an Ah-Hah moment! We’ve had a huge 49″ high, 30 ” wide, 30″ deep, old-fashioned steamer trunk (the virtually indestructible kind with several drawers on one side and a generously sized hanging rod on the other) for many years. (Think “Joe & The Volcano”, without the pricy leather.) It has held miniature-making supplies, sewing patterns and fabric . . .just about everything. For the past several years, it has been a part of the odd “decor” in our living room, sitting half-open between our dentist & barber chairs. What if I close it up, turn it on its side and move it into place where the wrought-iron menace is now?