I'm a little behind . . .

I hope you know me better by now than to think I was going to go all cutesy on you and have a photo here of a baby's bottom to emphasize the title of this post.....

I am behind in just about everything right now. I'm behind in reading many of your blogs. I'm behind in correspondence. I'm behind in reading the books I have lined up to enjoy. I'm behind in housecleaning. I'm behind in clutter-clearing. I'm behind in yard work (at least there is that kid who mows once a week). I'm behind in my animal to-do list, i.e., the dogs must get to the groomer and one of our veterinarians (we have two in separate cities, further complicating my life) notified me by card yesterday that one dog and one cat are due their annual exams and shots. I'm behind in my wildlife to-do list, i.e., I must resupply the stock of whole peanuts and cracked corn for the blue jays and the hulled sunflower chips for all the other spoiled birds, and these are sold by stores in two separate towns.

Mike and I are behind in deciding our next course to take with his family, with whom we've been basically estranged for four years (except cards at holidays), who have suddenly extended not one, but two, Fourth of July celebration invitations. I am behind in trusting their intentions, something I did in the past and swore to remember the ouch.

I am behind in feeling great, because I'm behind in my yoga practice. Also, for the entire month of June...and continuing into July...I've had an outer (as opposed to middle or inner) ear infection, also known as swimmer's ear -- the cause of mine mysterious because I've not been swimming. This has caused near-deafness in my left ear, relieved only by the Cipro drops I've had to use every eight hours since arriving at the ER with a bleeding ear at the beginning of June. I had a check-up on the condition two days ago. My doctor has reduced the Cipro drops to once a day for a week, after which he will prescribe a different eardrop (he said it may take six weeks for my hearing to be normal). So now, without the relief of the more frequent medication, my hearing is affected all the more...

Which brings me right back to the 4th of July and the worries over exposing my hurt ear, even with earplugs, to a booming fireworks display (one of the suggested meet-ups with Mike's brother) and to the American Idol concert in Portland on July 5th. When I bought the tickets I did so with a surety that Adam Lambert would win, but we thought the entire group this last season was the best AI has had, so the concert is sure to be fun -- and definitely our only AI concert. Last weekend when my ear was aching I called our neighbor and offered the tickets, including the parking pass, to her and her 13-year-old daughter. She was flabbergasted because they're huge fans and not in a current financial position to ever afford the concert. But that happens to be the weekend when she has family flying in from two different states in order for them to drive to the lower central Oregon coast where her mother was raised, to scatter the ashes of said now-deceased mother, who requested that this be done. In other words, we still have the tickets and are planning to use them...and I plan on using earplugs...on Sunday night.

I need to catch up with my life a little bit. So my next post won't be until next Monday or maybe even Tuesday. In the meantime, I'll be happily visiting your blogs and catching up with your lives, too.


To close, here's a bonus Tagore quote. Once again, his words seem perfect to me because everything he wrote is golden . . .

THEY throw their shadows before them

who carry their lantern on their back.

-Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

This is Number Five in a randomly-posted, continuing series of quotes by Tagore.
Number One
Number Two
Number Three
Number Four




Photo of young bald eagle at Carpenter Nature Center from Twin Cities Daily Photo

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