Struggling

This defines me today.

I am not so much complaining, as trying to get a grip on it.  I feel like I am so close to having it all together.

That could be a song.

Sorry, random.

I got word this morning that a dear friend has left us.  Miss Mary lost her battle with cancer last night.  At 93, she gave it a good one.  I wrote about her before.  You can catch up on it here.  She has been in the hospital for a few weeks now, and her family knew it wouldn't be long.  Luckily they all surrounded her as she went home.  I am going to miss her.  I have never met anyone like her.  Her social calendar blew mine out of the water, and I am talking about a few months ago.  On one of our last visits, she told me that she had lived a long life and she felt like she had lived all of it.  I was rubbing her tired little hands as we were talking, and she stopped to look down at them.  I mentioned that I was sure those hands had done some things in their time.  She laughed, nodded, and then told me that they had done some things that we shouldn't talk about.

So, as I am struggling through this morning, I keep stopping and thinking about her.  Maybe it was something she said or did.  It makes me smile.  Like the time we had a party at our house, and they pushed all the furniture to the walls in the living room and started dancing.  There she was, 91 or 92 at the time, dancing like no body's business.  Or the time when we opened a bottle of White Chocolate Irish Cream and she kept swigging off the bottle.  She had a milk mustache before long, and we couldn't pry it out of her hand.  Or the time that she came over and we were picking these little grape tomatoes that were sweet as sugar.  Her son was here with her, and he was working away trying to get some to take home when he looked over and said, "I notice none of the ones you are picking are making it into the bag."   She just laughed and kept right on eating.  Then she went to a party later and shared all the ones that he had picked.

Really going to miss her.

The wind is also not helping my attitude.  It is really blowing.  It makes it 10 times harder to do anything outside.  For one, you spend all your energy chasing all your stuff down.  My poor tomato and cucumber plants are getting beat to death by it, and I need to work my bees today.  Not a fan of opening those boxes in a 50 mph wind.  My approach at this time is to sit here and continue drinking coffee.  I get to talk to you, and at some point, I will be so jazzed up that I have to go outside.

I think it is working.

So, to get myself going, and for a little amusement.  I am assigning a couple of tasks to all of you today. 

1.  You know all the times I mention something about a side story or leave you hanging on a topic and never come back around to it with an update?  I feel like I do this a lot, and then I get busy and forget.  Please know it is because I forget, not because I want to leave you all hanging out in the wind.

Coffee must be working because I am making wind jokes.

So - If there is something that I have left unfinished, or if you would like an update on something, let me know what it is.  You can leave a comment.  You can send an email to crossrdfarm@gmail.com .  You can give me a call 940-765-4185.  Whatever makes you feel good, just let me know and I will do my best to get an answer posted. 

If I don't hear from you then I will be forced to believe that I am thorough and my job is complete.  It will be really hard for me to choke that down, but you will leave me no choice.

2.  Look at the picture below and see if you can find the Queen bee. 

This is really just a sort-of Where's Waldo adventure.  For those of you that do not know what the heck I am talking about, Where's Waldo is something my kids were into when they were little.  It used to annoy the heck out of me.  I could never find Waldo.  I did not know who Waldo was.  I did not know why I was looking for him.  More important, why couldn't someone else keep up with him?  I was busy.

One little hint...she is longer.

I can't drink anymore coffee. 

Y'all work on that, and I will be back later.