December 31

This is the 731st straight day of posting my daily art to my blog.  Two full years and counting.  So here's the year in review....  Mary

December 30

Monster, however, is having none of it....  Mary

December 29

All around him is chaos and disorder, but Duvy is completely undisturbed by the moving around, shuffling, and winnowing.  We could all take a lesson from this....  Mary

December 28

We are all pitching in to lighten our material load.  The day was spent moving things around, upstairs and down, bagging, boxing, etc.  Everything hurts from my head to my toes.  Hopefully I will sleep like a rock tonight.  Tomorrow the St. Vincent de Paul Society truck will come and take things away.  May they go to good homes where they are needed and will be well used....  Mary

December 27

Half day at work dealing with clueless faculty over egrading.  Rick's back no better.  At least my mother is home from the hospital.  It was a mini-stroke.  It could happen again, or not.  There's no way to tell.  The doctor has recommended home health nurse visits and a speech pathologist. 

Absolutely exhausted from a very long day of cleaning, moving things around, and clearing from the holidays.  Tomorrow will be even worse, so I've got absolutely nothing tonight....  Mary

December 26

This is today's exam room fabric.  No ER visits for anyone, just a regular doctor's appointment to see about getting some PT for Rick's back.  My mother is doing better, and they are doing an MRI as I type....  Mary

December 25

This morning my mother had a minor stroke.  She was taken to the ER and then sent to a regional hospital down in central Illinois that has better diagnostic facilities.  My brother David is with her, and they are waiting for MRIs at this point.  Rosemary seems to be doing okay, but testing needs to be done to see what changes have occurred in her brain.  Rick is doing better today but still in a fair amount of pain. This appears to be our medical intervention Christmas.  Again, thanks to all the hospital staff that are on duty on Christmas day....  Mary

December 24

A memorable Christmas Eve with 4 hours in the emergency room.  (This is the fabric of the exam room curtain.)  It turned out Rick has a fractured clavicle bone.  Thankfully just cracked and not actually broken in two, so it mostly involves a sling, anti-inflammatories, a visit to the orthopedic specialist, and a fair amount of pain.

Thanks to all the hard working folks who are there on Christmas Eve in all the ERs everywhere: doctors, nurses, security guards, custodians, medical record folks, and more.  May they all have a lovely holiday season....  Mary

December 23

Working on a final Christmas present.  There's still plenty of time....  Mary

December 22

Today I put up our 70%-off, week-after-Christmas, $5.00, 36 inch-high, fiber optic Christmas tree.  No one can say I didn't decorate for the holidays....  Mary

December 21

Our beloved hardcover copy of The Hobbit with its slipcase.  Rick read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy to the girls at least three times when they were kids.  We went with our dear friends, Kent, Judy and Joe, to see The Hobbit movie in 3D Imax tonight.  Joe at 10 is recent convert to the world of Tolkien....  Mary

December 20

Last Thursday and this Thursday....  Mary

December 19

The blizzard has begun, and the whole world will soon be white like Monster.  (Cue evil genius laugh:  Mawhahahahaha!)  Mary

December 18

It is challenging not to let the darkness overshadow the light this Christmas. In the face of all the pain and horror of these days for so many people in so many places, I do take heart that there are people of hope and good will in this world....  Mary

President Barack Obama

December 17

Even after discarding all the spam and unnecessary emails this morning, there were still 120 messages that have to be dealt with.  It sure felt like for every couple of messages I dealt with four more came in.  Oh well, you can only do what you can do in an 8 hour day.  These rest will still be there tomorrow....  Mary

December 16

And, of course, the ever soulful Duvy....  Mary

December 15

Eileen's cats, Duvy and Monster, were sorely neglected while we were away.  Despite the fact that Eileen played, fed, and snuggled them in the mornings and evenings.  Anne came over after work each day for long stretches and snuggled on the couch with Duvy.  She would gladly have snuggled Monster if he hadn't been too busy telling everyone and everything (including chairs, tables, walls, etc.) how abandoned and neglected he was.

Monster is my shadow normally.  He follows me around in the morning before work, and he was very happy with our routine.  He knew where I would be and when I would be there.  In the evening, I turn the electric blanket on early for him, and he keeps the bed warm until I get there.  It was good.  Desertion was bad.  And he complained about it endlessly.

This is a cat who is afraid of his own shadow and everyone else's for that matter.  He has spent the past few hours wanting my endless attention and running away when I try to give him some.  We have finally done a couple of epic chin and ear scratching sessions on the bed.  Life seems to be returning to normal, and Monster is no longer complaining.  At least for the moment....  Mary

Odd-eyed Turkish Angora (emphasis on the odd)

December 14

This morning we went out early as the tide was just coming in.  There were a zillion aquatic critters on the beach and in the tidal pools.  Any shells we found that were still inhabited got tossed back into the water. 

The bi-valves peeking out of their shells were pretty cool to see.  And the little shrimp scuttling around in the shallow water.  Tiny crabs were burying themselves in the wet sand, only to be found and devoured by the Sandpipers.

Rick even spotted some dolphins feeding the shallower water.  Just fabulous!

While I was washing off the shells we'd collected at the shell washing station, Rick went over to the pond to photograph a Cormorant along the edge.  As he was taking pictures, a three foot long alligator lurched out of the pond and tried to grab the Cormorant!  Thankfully, he missed.  Glad I didn't decide to photograph any foliage around the pond.  I had no idea there was at least one alligator (maybe more!) in the pond.

We fly home very early tomorrow.  I don't even really mind because it's been such a wonderful, relaxing week....  Mary

December 13

We went on a naturalist boat tour of Tarpon Bay in the late afternoon.  There were White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Great and Small Blue Heron, Great White Heron, Osprey, a Bald Eagle, Tri-Color Heron, innumerable gulls, a flock of Fish Crows, Cormorants by the dozens, and more I can't even remember.   The Mangrove islands in the bay are rookeries for all these different birds to roost at night.

The absolute highlight of the entire tour though were the dolphins with a mother and calf coming up right in front of the boat, maybe fifteen feet away.  It was breathtaking!  I took no pictures because I just wanted to see everything, not just what was in the camera lens....  Mary

December 12

The reason we are on Sanibel Island right now is because of today.  It's my birthday: 12-12-12.  For years and years, I said that I wanted to spend this very cool, once in a lifetime birthday somewhere very cool.  We succeeded....  Mary

 Sunrise after the storm