…and the first post of 2025. I started this post in January and didn’t finish. It happened again in February. I am going to finish it today and get on to the other things I need to finish for the weekend.

I’ve been following along on other blogs and I last month I read the sad news that another blogger I’ve followed for years has decided to stop posting. I was sad, because the thought crosses my mind from time to time. I was in late 40s when I started Making the Days Count dot org and now, I am in my early 60s, a fact I find difficult to believe. But I am here as stubborn and resolute as I was the first time I pressed ‘publish.’ I am hopeful too that my stories and posts show that I am still making my days count.

MOM DAY
Today is mom’s day. It was six years ago this morning when I learned my mom had died after a brief illness. I was talking to my brother David when he told me he needed to take a call. He called me back a few minutes later to share the sad news.

Her death wasn’t unexpected, she’d been moved to hospice weeks before she died. But six years later her passing still resonates with me.

This morning, I was looking for a photo of her I could post, and I searched through the boxes I packed when she moved out of the house, we called home in 2028. I brought them home the summer after she died. They’ve been stacked unopened near my desk since.

I found her childhood photo, scanned it, and placed it on the bookcase behind me. It’s near the photo we took after her service where the house was.

I talk to my brothers often and I am thankful for them. I came across the photo of us together with mom from 1983, she would have been 44, almost 45 in the photo. I was 21, Warren 19, and David 18. The photo was on a flash drive with photos I scanned in one of my trips home before she sold her house.

I think of her often and have so many questions. I might find the answers if I go through the boxes, more likely I’ll have more questions.

THE BIRDS
I’ve been watching the birds gather at the backyard feeders. My wife has, too.

There is a papa cardinal who I hear in the morning calling. I see him at the feeder in the morning and in the afternoon. I have yet to see his mate this year. Maybe I haven’t waited long enough or she’s busy minding the nest, but I’ll keep looking.

papa cardinal

Mr. Squirrel, my nemesis and Fern’s when she is home

Fern, the squirrel hunter

another bird visits the backyard feeder

It’s been a cold winter with little snow, but the year-round birds keep coming for food and so do the squirrels. I created the video below on our snow day in mid-February.

Fern’s home for a few weeks and has been keep a watchful eye on the feeders. I don’t think the squirrels are deterred, but they do scurry when she charges hoping to catch one. They chirp at her and keep their distance when she’s nearby.

SUMMER
It is that time when I begin thinking of summer, sometimes dreaming. My wife and I will travel to Europe this summer. We are taking our stepmother’s cremains with us and will be spreading them in the Mumbles on her birthday in July. This year’s birthday would have been her 91^st. She died last January after a brief illness. My brother and I will be travelling separately but meet in Swansea and again in Paris. We will celebrate her life with a gathering of her Welsh and Scottish family – a niece, a nephew, and her two grand nieces.

My stepmom was the last link to our past and now it is my brothers, and I remaining to tell the family story. I think that’s one of the reasons I keep blogging.

My wife and I plan to visit London, Swansea, Paris, and Amsterdam on our trip. I am excited and nervous. My last trip to Europe was to Paris in June of 2010, I blogged about then and sometimes I re-read those posts. My wife did not travel with me on that trip but has been to Europe several times with her sister and is excited to share her travels to Paris and Amsterdam with me. It will be our first trip to Europe together since 1997 and I am looking forward to seeing Europe with her. Nervous because I am going to take my stepmom back to her home and visit where my father rests.

I am going to finish and post this. I am.

Spring is here, or at least around the corner. The sun is shining, and the birds are singing. Today is going to be an amazing day. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the days count, one day at a time, three things (or more) to keep it fair.

What is one thing you’ve got going for the first Sunday in March?

BTW – I finished this right before I went to bed Sunday night.