Tag Archives: summer flowers

What I CAN see

Yesterday afternoon, I went for my annual eye exam. I was six months late, so it was actually an eighteen month checkup. As I suspected, my eyesight had gotten worse since my last exam in December 2013 and I needed a new prescription. This spring, I began to notice when I wore my sunglasses that the horizon was a bit out of focus, not significant, but enough to be annoying.

a pale yellow lily yearns for the sun
a pale yellow lily yearns for the sun

I started wearing eyeglasses in seventh grade. My vision was off just enough to warrant a visit to the eye doctor and I learned my eyes needed help – just a little. I’ve been wearing glasses since. When I passed forty several years ago, I began to notice that I needed reading glasses for reading (and see) up close. It’s the rule of forty, when you reach forty years of age, there needs to be at least forty inches between your eyes, and what you are trying to read or see up close. Gradually, I came to grips with the ideas that my arms were not long enough and my eyes needed more help. I made the transition to progressive lenses and I haven’t regretted it, in fact, considering the amount of reading I do, as a teacher, blogger, reader, and writer AND how much time I spend looking at a screen – phone and computer, my eyes needed the extra boost. Continue reading What I CAN see

summer flowers, summer memories

olivia_lilies1
O among the lilies – one of my favorite photos of her – July 2004… she was not quite 2 years old

I started the summer with seventy-two, and now I am down to seven days. It seems like yesterday and yet, it seems like so long ago. Summer is a magical time for me. I met my wife thirty summers ago and I get to spend my summers reinventing myself, year after year. Summer is a time for family, growing, trying new things, traditions, and enjoying being outdoors. Twenty years ago, the new summer cottage opened for the first time. I spent that first summer, or as much time as I could, up north moving rocks, planting lilies, working, and getting the cottage settled. I’ve been doing much the same around the cottage since; and I enjoy every minute of it. Summer is also the time when I remember my dad’s passing and my trip a year later to France and his final resting place. This summer, five years after my dad, my father-in-law passed away.

Ironically, it was five years ago when the deer ate the lilies. Continue reading summer flowers, summer memories