It's been awhile

It's been awhile since I last posted on this blog. Actually I am more alive than ever, though more and more wrinkled.

Just catching up: months of family visits here and there with the eight grandchildren, many friends, and the incredible continuing experience of living here in a conservation area watching the seasons change, working in the gardens.  Hummingbirds came back today, and yesterday, the swallow tailed kites. The trail margins are once again filled with wildflowers.

I have been consumed with politics and the weirdness of it all. Never, since I first voted for John Kennedy, have I ever seen anything like what goes on now. I can only hold my breath while the next eight months until the general election unfold. Is our electoral process being destroyed?

Sometimes I see the Donald as an eerie reincarnation of Hitler or Mussolini. I imagine 'hate wars' happening in this country that used to have a degree of civility.  Where are we going with this fear and anger from white men? It's so troubling. Will the 'protesters' throw up a genuine leader? Who are those gnats who are the other GOP candidates? What is the hatred of Obama and Hillary about?

We have some interesting months ahead, indeed.

Today we went to see "La Traviata" at Opera Tampa. It was such a wonderful production of the old opera chestnut we all love (and can sing!). It was a full house, mainly old  or very old folks. They came on walkers and in wheel chairs and on the arms of their grandchildren. They came in assorted sizes of lumps and stringiness and retro dress that you might imagine came from the back of closets twenty years ago. They were stooped and white haired and slow to manage their tickets. And we all loved it and there was not a dry eye as Violetta died at the top of her lungs.

There were quite a few young adolescents who came with parents, and they seemed to enjoy it too.

I had been in a strange mood, not quite depressed, but kind of out of body, as the day began. We drove to Tampa with our grandson, 11, who had spent the weekend with us. We were to meet up with his mom outside the Straz Center before our performance. While we waited a few minutes for her to appear I watched this tall child I love so much. He's on the brink of adolescence, at that perfect age of competence, friendliness, and emotional attachment to his family. He's just beautiful, a perfect plum of a boy with thick red hair, perfect skin, wide smile and dimples. I know all this will soon be eclipsed by hormones, and I fear for his safety. I fear for everything for him!

During the weekend we went to purchase puppy stuff at the local pet store. We and our grandson's family have each adopted a puppy, litter mates and we anticipate picking them up in a couple of weeks. Our boy carefully selected puppy toys and we all had such fun thinking about what would be best and funniest. These are the prosaic moments that make life good.