UGHHHH!!! BLAH!!!!!

1. I'm sure this is karma telling me I spent too much take home pay on a device I'm going to selfishly use to manipulate photos and compose nonsense. . .

2. Brother called late - spoke with him for a while.

3. Check emails on iPhone.

4. Hate email from iStore indicating that my debit card isn't able to be verified for purchase of MacBookPro.

5. WTF? I NEEEEEEED IT!!!

6. Attempt to resubmit card info.

7. Quickly realize this must be sending off all sorts of fraud alerts with the bank.

8. Call bank. Indeed my account is flagged for fraud.

9. Sweet lady at the bank informs me I should call the company to resubmit the card or I can resubmit online "as soon as I hang up."

10. Hang up.

11. Attempt to resubmit card online. That's a negative.

12. Call Apple's customer service. Their system is so sophisticated it is able to "understand complete sentences."

13. Request billing.

14. "Our offices are currently closed. Please call back."

15. Does "FUCK!" count as a complete sentence?

16. Thank you Citi for your excellent fraud monitoring. Thank you Apple for allowing your employees regular business hours.

17. HOW DOES THIS HELP ME!?

18. Must go to bed (again).

19. Dreaming of MacBookPro

20. Now delayed by a day. . . .

Patterson Park #99

Mr. Boh. . .Oh how we swoon for Mr. Boh come a spring sunset!

Patterson Park #97

Patterson Park #81

Are you over this already? It's only been featured and discussed about 12 times on this blog in the past year. d's favorite view: The Key Bridge as seen from Hampstead Hill in Patterson Park.

Patterson Park #80

The sun sets on the Pagoda and a glorious spring day.

Patterson Park Ducks #69

Patterson Park Ducks #131

I look at the series of pics I took of the ducks at sunset at the Patterson Park Boat Lake and it reminds me of how I think about C and me as we grow older together: A pair, watching another sunset, peacefully, side by side, content.

Patapsco Park #162

This spider was moving. I'm surprised at the couple good clicks I got off before he went hiding under some leaves.

Patapsco Park #158

The Bloede Dam at Patapsco State Park. It was used to generate hydroelectricity in the early 1900's.

You could tell winter was hard on the woods even from the main trials C and I walked. Lots of up-rooted and trees and broken limbs. Luckily signs of spring were EVERYWHERE!

Patapsco Park #161

C and I checked out Patapsco State Park on Sunday afternoon. The weather was great. Neither of us had ever been to the park - which is rather embarrassing since it's practically in our backyard! We couldn't stay too long, but it we will definitely be going back.

We saw a snake, this spider, and a few waterfowl. A good end to a nice weekend.

Sorry I'm soooooooo slow in uploading all this stuff. I've been busy doing a whole lot of who knows what?! Ordered myself a little technological toy this evening that might make all this magic happen a little more rapidly (hahaha). . .A MacBookPro! I'm very excited about it's photo manipulation capabilities. We'll see how it all works out 3-5 days from now! hahaha.

WTF??!

Not sure about you, but I would certainly think twice about crossing this road!

April 1 is April Food Day!

April 1 is April Food Day, Bloggers Fighting Hunger. I'll put up some links where you can visit to make a small donation to a national "food bank." In the alternative, please give something or perhaps a little something extra to your local food bank in April.

Life is challenging even for folks that are blessed with resources beyond the basic necessities of food, shelter, water. One can barely imagine how difficult life must be when you are hungry and do not have the resources for adequate sustenance.

If you find it nearly unfathomable that anyone could possibly be hungry in a the United States, it should really be a wake-up call to know that a great number of the starving in this country are children and elderly.

More details coming soon! Please consider giving. Thank you!

Really?

> From this month's Better Homes and Gardens:
>
> "Put on a crown to signify when you want solitude. Let your family
> know not to mess with queen mum when they see the royal sign."
>
> This must be advice for those whose families won't laugh their asses
> off when they see a grown woman in a plastic tiara slogging around
> the house in some vile sweatpants.
>
> Sent from my iPhone

Spring Fling

Fresh air. . .Beautiful blooms. . .blue sky. . .How could you have a care in the world? Life is so hard. Life is also so beautiful.

I'm learning a lot about unrequited love. It's difficult.

It makes you question yourself. It hurts.

But it also allows you to open your heart up for those that are willing to reciprocate, those that are gracious.

I won't stop trying. Or hoping. Or giving.

Because a giving heart is the only heart I know. It is the only - sometimes seemingly stupid - heart I have.

I'm BAaaaaaaa-CK

I'm back!!! I'm back loud and clear - signal strong. It took a long winter, a haircut that involves bangs, a lot of love, a lot of loving, a lot of losing. . .a lot of still losing. . .which might end up sum total to be a gain? . .

I can finally smile for real again.

I can shed heartache and worry like a winter coat.

I can do anything I want.

And if it pleases me, I will.

Someday I will. . .

Today I will. . .

Getting Old. . .Is Starting to Get Old

Pics coming soon. I promise.

Had a wonderful day. Weather here is beautiful. C took less-than-full advantage by spending most of his day at a car dealership. It had to be done. His car had a lot of years and a lot of miles and needed so many repairs, it was ust more cost effective for us to get a new one. Yikes! Can this happen to wives too?!

C and I walked to Yellow Dog for dinner. We both enjoyed a beet salad. I had salmon with mine. C had a beer. I had a glass of excellent sangria.

And then. . .Then came the time of the night for "going out." Now, in my younger days, I would have spent a considerable amount of time and effort preparing to "go out." I did put forth some effort. Those efforts did not go unnoticed. A gal at the bar told me how much she loved my hair (straight, plus bangs. . .that does take effort, no?).

Now the premise of this evening was to catch up with some old and dear friends. Most of them flaked for various reasons. . .And when you're our age, family and work obligations are top priority.

So the group was much more intimate and a tad random. But still good. As I said, weather is beautiful so folks were out in force. Bars were packed.

When I was younger, I could have carried on until the dawn's first light in a crowded bar. This evening all I wanted was to not have to shout to carry on a conversation.

My dear friend L was there. She's married a few years now too. I remember a time when we would throw back Miller Lite bottles until all hours on a work night. Now she lives in PA and has 3 drinks all evening so she can drive home safely. Another friend E, who I see about once a year but who is so smart and so beautiful and lives so close I should see once a week also used to run with the late to bed early to work crowd. Now she owns her own home and spends quiet time there. . .

My feet hurt from the standing. The bar was hot and crowded. There were a bunch of drunk frat-guy types getting cut off and thrown out. I'm too old for this scene!

What I'm not too old for. . .The laughs we always share, the pleasure of spending time with family (brother and sister in law came too), how old friends nearly "instantly" catch up and pick up where they left off. . .A blue on blue oyster shooter (ok two shooters). . .

Next time we do this at Homeeckwreck, in flip flops. . .And we'll still remember "In my younger days I was so bad! Laughin' about all the fun we had."

I guess the moral of this story is, you can still have fun. . .The collateral damages are just bigger. And most of the time, the concept of "fun" no longer revolves around a bar and a display of drunken mayhem.

I have to pass out with my feet in a cool Epsom salt laced foot bath now. . .LOL!