Summer and stitches...

It feels like a lifetime has passed since I posted anything (creative or original) of substance. I've had too many plates spinning in my head to focus on just one. It's what happens when you have family and friends that you love and care for deeply... ...and they need you (or someone) and you are available. If only to listen and pray... ...or play cars and "Whac a Mole" and cuddle for a nap.

I'm leaving one feeder out this summer (until I run out of seed) for the blue jays and red-bellied woodpeckers...

...and the northern cardinals to feed their fledglings.

Have you ever seen a cardinal fledgling? My goodness, those babies are ugly scraggly.

Without complaining or belaboring the point, it's no secret how I hate feel about summer. I seem to require an inspiration surplus to stay creative and energized in the hot and humid and draining summer. Summer is the perfect season for me to stay inside...

...away from the distraction of insects and flowers and birds

...so I can concentrate on a growing stack of new releases...

...that are begging to be read, reviewed, and shared (when I'm not needed or wanted elsewhere).

We birthday partied over the Memorial Day weekend - ate hot dogs and hamburgers and cake, of course, delighted in cuddly babies and too-cute toddlers, and watched preschoolers play baseball with imaginary bats and balls.

Yesterday, in anticipation of a busy hurricane season, we (as in Louis and Nick) cut down two tall dead long-leaf pines and one dead eucalyptus.

I was relieved when all three trees were on the ground and the house, the fences, Louis and Nick survived intact and unscathed.

An hour or so later, Louis mashed his finger on the tailgate of his truck and we spent four incredibly long hours (over three hours just waiting to be seen) in the emergency room and another hour after we left in search of a pharmacy open on a holiday.

Almost unheard of for me, I'd left the house without a book to read or a notebook for writing. My iPod was in my purse, but I thought it would be rather selfish of me to plug in and mentally "escape" the ER ambiance and leave Louis with his gauze-wrapped and bleeding finger to endure it alone.

I did have my camera and it came in handy when we watched two men in the hospital parking lot put a trash can on a platform with wheels and drag it off behind a golf cart. It seems that a raccoon was discovered in the trash can when someone went to throw something away. I have no idea where (or why) the men took it, but I couldn't resist capturing the moment with my camera.

Poor Louis. He's not a happy camper. Thankfully, his finger was not broken, but he left the ER with a tetanus booster, four stitches, a bulky bandage, and antibiotics for ten days.