Another Wonderful Quiet Winter Day

 When I woke up at 7 on Tuesday, Mar. 19^th Bill was already up with his coffee. I started getting dressed and our little furry baby decided he’d get up too. While Bill took him out for his morning business, I made my tea. 

The nice thing about Clemson waking with us is that Bill often will decide to walk with me. After our brews were finished and a few blogs read, we both went out to get some steps in.

Our weather station was reading 47F which was about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday so that meant not as many layers for me. The grass was dewy but in our running shoes we were comfortable walking down the hill to the creek trail. I ‘snaptured’ a few shots of the sun rise and water reflections before we saw this huge bird. Not a heron, not an eagle but what the heck was it? A pterodactyl? Teehee.

We didn’t know what it was and I couldn’t zoom in to get a good shot on the little camera……he eventually glided away. When we walk, it isn’t always together, especially when on a walk like this. 

That's my sweetie walking ahead of me

With a camera in hand, I tend to lag behind as I’m capturing things on ‘film’ and Bill keeps going, usually.  We catch up with each other and so on and so forth. I enjoy his company and value our time together.

We don't know what it was, but it was exciting watching this large bird

When we returned, we slipped out of our muddy runners and into loafers before walking over to see our buddies. Rob has been dealing with a sore back for the last day or two and yesterday was not a good one at all. We wanted to see how he was today. He has improved somewhat but still not back to normal. At home, Rob uses an inversion table pretty regularly so misses it during the winter months while away. We hope the days just get better for him as we go forward.

We chatted a bit about the days ahead here which are few and far between, and Pat and I agreed to meet to go to see what crafts were offered today. At 9:30 we walked to the Texas Hall but no instructor showed up this morning. We knew that Bari would not be working but had expected to see someone else. No show. I put one of the jigsaws that was made on the table back in the box and moved the Route 66 one over to make room for a new one.

While the north end of the creek was flowing
this south end was very still

There is a giveaway table and there were two pair of shoes on it. Hmm, size 7 it said and Pat tried one pair on that fit perfectly and I tried the other pair on to find that they fit me as well. Strange, since I take an 8. We each chose a jigsaw puzzle to bring back and I found a couple of James Patterson books that we haven’t read. I’m planning on doing my jigsaws back home on the Ridge, once I get my table set up. I sat outside with Clemson for a while until the sun disappeared behind a mass of clouds and it felt like it dropped about 10 degrees.

this is the same place from the waterfall video I took
It was almost dry with seaweed this morning

the difference in the water level between yesterday and today was ridiculous

Rob came over so he and Bill could plan out our route home. It is nice to do it from Bill’s laptop, hooked up to the tv where Rob can see it on the big screen too. They got it figured out, printed off and Rob went back home. I hadn’t eaten and the toast Bill had earlier wasn’t sustaining him so I opened a can of Van Camp’s brown beans and cooked a couple of tube steaks each. 

once in a blue moon, we fall off the wagon with wieners and beans

It was fast, tasty and would tie us over until supper time. then I went outside again with my book. The sun had returned.

This is one of my favourite pictures of the day
Look closely and you'll see why

Then it was gone, in and out, in and out. The shade was too cool so the clouds were controlling my seating location. I finished the James Patterson book People vs Alex Cross within 48 hours, indicating how good it is. Seldom, do I turn the last page so quickly. It was around 3 so I took Clemson for his walk around the perimeter. I try to draw our walks out for 30 minutes, or maybe Clemson does that, and today was no different.

With just a little patience, Clemson and I waiting
He'd keep coming back to the hole to see if we were still there

When we returned, the sun had also returned so I left him inside, made myself a tea and went out with a new book. Thought I’d try Michael Connelly’s Concrete Blonde. Time for some Harry Bosch. Ron and Loree had given us this story and 2 others in audio cd’s but with Sirius radio, it just wasn’t going to happen in the vehicle for us. I hope they don’t mind that we instead resorted to the hard copy in book form. I’m into it already.

Just enjoying the beautiful day

Moving inside around 4:30, I made up Bill’s meatloaf. That is what I should call it because he loves it so. It went into the convection oven for an hour and as I placed it in there, I thought about the Instant Pot. Darn! Although we have time to wait for this to cook, it probably would have cooked in 15 minutes in the IP. Next time, we both said. I'll have to Google that!

the steps again to show my sister the afternoon sun

While supper was cooking, I decided to walk to the Texas Hall and drop off the book. I also had a puzzle I wanted to take back. Once I got there, the place was empty so I dove into a new puzzle. It is 1000 pc. with larger pieces so it took up a lot of space on the table. It took a long time to turn the pieces and pull the border pieces out. I had texted Bill to tell him that I was staying for a while. He understands the attraction for me.

Something about this part of our walk, draws me to it
from the park maintenance and storage area down to the water

When I returned, the meatloaf was 2 minutes from being done so I prepared a salad on each of our plates and served it up. This is one of those entrees that never lets me down. Exactly an hour and it is perfect. We cleaned up dishes and instead of waiting, I cut the remaining cheesecake into 4 pcs and we had a couple tonight. I do love cheesecake so happy to have a couple more for another night. 

It was another successful meatloaf dinner

Bill and I watched a couple of recorded programs on television since there were no new ones playing tonight. Quietest Tuesday night in a while. This has been a nice quiet day. Nothing pressing and lots of heat, getting up to 71F even with the occasional 10 – 15 mph winds. We have no complaints. I hope you’ve had a great day too.

With Spring arriving tomorrow, the staff girls planted flowers around the
Texas star today
Nice job!

Thank you for popping in!