I'm sitting here, looking at my calendar for the month of April and realize why I'm tired. I thought March was busy, but April's activities were a very different sort.
This is not a Six on Saturday blog today, but I'm throwing in some garden pictures with paragraphs that have nothing to do with the content. Despite my busyness, I managed to do a walk around the yard a couple of times a day. It clears my head, lifts my thoughts, and prompts me toward gratitude and prayer.
I've realized that most appliances and electronics might as well be considered disposable items these days. "Planned obsolescence," isn't that what they call it? I still think when you pay a lot of money for something it should last at least twenty years.
We got in over our heads when we decided to "cut the cord" from the cable company. It took way too much brain power to figure out which streaming sources would give us the shows we want to watch. And the television in the living room, though only eight years old, was having both video and audio problems. So we also started a search for a new TV. It took several shopping trips. When it was delivered, the set-up guy said our old sound system wouldn't work with our new television because the old cords weren't compatible anymore.
After a couple more visits to the store, we added a new soundbar with a subwoofer. Oh, and we threw in a little indoor antenna for good measure. After much deliberation, I think we're finally satisfied with the results. Two weeks were consumed with this process, and I don't even watch much TV.
The world is changing too quickly for old folks. I'm spending an inordinate amount of time trying to learn the new technology and help my husband (who still suffers some effects from a traumatic brain injury in 2020) learn how to get what he wants to watch. His simple surfing skills have now been challenged by too many options.
I started a major decluttering project, but I seemed to make a bigger mess before I could get things back in order. Several trips to the Methodist re-sale shop gave me the satisfaction that someone else may need my old stuff, and the proceeds go to local ministries. I hope our perfectly good, old sound system finds a good home.
In the meantime, I've been back to physical therapy for a new elderly diagnosis of bursitis. Getting older seems to mean we keep adding diagnoses. Ten sessions of PT did the trick, but I have to discipline myself to continue the things I can do at home.
Oh yes, and April also had five visits to a dentist or doctor for my husband or me.
I've found my niche in my church and am enjoying participating in ways I feel called to do. I'm so excited about how the Lord is awakening our congregation. When I get in my car, the little map thing automatically thinks I'm going to church. It tells me I can be there in twelve minutes.
I only managed one lunch out with friends during this whole month. When I'm too busy to socialize with my best buds, I'm too busy.
So what about the garden during April? I did little beyond taking photos.
There is no such thing as April showers around here. Until last night, we had eighteen straight days without rain. But the flowers have been beautiful on their own—the benefits of work I did months ago.
I'm overrun with weeds and plan to rid the yard of them soon. However, I have to say, the blackberries have been a hidden benefit of my lazy gardening practices. For several days, I picked a handful of these juicy gems from my yard each morning. I didn't make cobbler or jam, but I enjoyed the berries on my morning cereal.
I've tried to show you a variety of the flowers I've been enjoying this month. April really deserves its own Six on Saturday treatment, but I'll try to catch up in May.
My garden anchors me in the stresses of life. Oh, the garden changes, but by natural processes. Growth, fruitfulness, signs of aging and drought, and decay and death are to be expected. All the external stressors of life in the twenty-first century don't seem natural. And many are not.
Life is good. Family. Friends. Fellowship with God. Fun. Flowers. Food.
All good as long as I stay anchored in what's real.
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