A View from The Hammock

School is out so it means we wearied educators get a much deserved break from the throngs of gigggling, silly students. Of course they get a much needed break from us.
What does one do with all that newfound free time? Some travel. I like that option and by this time next year I have a summer of traveling planned. As it is this summer will take us to Wichita, Lufkin and Canada. However, much of my early free time is being spent on much needed projects around the house. My wife and I also get to spend lots of hours outside, some of it in gardening and working on our two acres of property, but a lot of it is spent in the hammock.
Now what does one do in the hammock?( keep your dirty thoughts to yourself- I'm too old for that).Usually I read since it is so peaceful in our back yard. Sometimes I watch the flowers grow and the butterflies enjoying them(see an earlier entry on that pastime). Today I got to be serenaded by the most beautiful assortment of birds.
We had classical music playing on our outoor intercom system, but in the background the birds were going crazy playing their own minuets and chorales with their trills and puctuating high notes. They were also flitting around like I have never seen them before. The cardinal was interacting with the wren and the blue jay with the chickadee. It was like the muscic in the background inspired them to put on their own outdoor concert. It was a beautiful blend of man made music and the God made harmony of the birds. It lulled my wife to sleep, one of her favorite pastimes in the hammock if the mood is right. Today the view from the hammock was the sounds from the hammock. I think I need to lay back down now and relax.

Cycling with My Wife

When we move to Italy we want to use our bicycles a lot. Many people in Italy, as in other European countries, cycle from place to place. Many use their bikes to go to the market. We would love to do the same.
Now it's not easy to go biking with one's spouse. Usually the male is stronger( not trying to be sexist) and has to do a lot of circling around so the female can catch up. Also there are the usual mechanical problems- chains, seats etc. This Monday, Memorial day, all these proved to be true. I have to give credit to my wife since she likes to go cycling with me. We went out on a road in the huge ranch behind our property. We take the truck so we can go up the steep hill(miniature mountain)without riding on it. We park the truck, unload the bikes and proceed to ride.
Lynda, my wife, has a strained wrist so it is hard for her to ride right now( as you will see later it affected her mind). I did my share of circling back, fixed her seat level and we returned to the truck after a few miles. I gave her my keys with instructions to pick me up on the road which returned to our house. It was a beautiful day so I wanted to ride more.There were beautiful butterflies on the thistle patches, birds of all colors, goats and donkeys, cattle and horses and if I was lucky I might even be able to see the magnificent caribou that were on the wild game ranch. I was having a good ride and was waiting for Lynda to come by in the little red truck so I could motion to her to pick me up. No Lynda, no truck. I was climbing a hill and I thought I heard a truck behind me. No luck, wrong truck. I stopped and waited. I was getting tired and hot at this point. Finally I got my cell phone out and called her on hers. She had been having a 'blonde' moment as she was still waiting with the truck where we had left it. She has selective hearing and didn't pick up the phrase-'pick me up on the road'. To her it sounded like wait until I return. She hadn't even loaded her bike on the truck. So in the noon day sun I waited. Finally down the road came our little red truck and my lovely wife. She opened the door, I gave her a grave look and she laughed. End of story.

A Skunk is Still a Skunk!

This past week I have been involved in our school district's Nature Venture program for 6th grade students. This year I was the chairman for the event. This meant a lot of pre -planning in order to get over 800 gifted sixth graders to a nature park in the middle of San Antonio, Tx. We set up 29 different events at this site. Little did I know that I would be on 'skunk' patrol.
Now skunks are beautiful animals but are often, as most people know, a little annoying, but often misunderstood. They not only can shower you with long lasting odors, but also can carry life threatening diseases. Now when you get a report of a skunk near 400 students you move fast. This old body does not move too fast these days, unless it is on a bike. My partner, Anita, radioed me that there was a skunk near one of our activities so I 'quickly' moved to that area. She kept me in contact with the skunk as it moved from one area to another. The other facilitators that were listening to us on our walkie talkies must have busted a gut laughing at us as we kept giving updates about this tiny little critter who was making me walk all over the place. I kept the little guy in view as he circled activity after activity. I also told everyone I came in contact with to leave it be so they would not be wearing the skunk home, if you get my drift. Nature Venture is one thing but interacting too directly in nature is another. We were messing up this poor little guy's habitat considerably, as if the torrential rains of the previous days had not already done so. I watched( and smelled) the skunk disappear into the woods and I was satisfied he was not going to bother us any more.
This is not the end of the skunk's tale. Later that day in another area of the park I was driving my car with two of my colleagues in it when Ms. Skunk appeaared
on the road trying to get a drink from the water5 running across the road. The ladies I was with were pleading with me to stop and turn around s o they wouldn't feel the wrath of the critter but being myself, a risk taker, I slowly eased the car down towards the skunk to get a closer look. The skunk just ambled off in the tall grass near the pond. Later the next day another coworker saw Ms.Skunk walking towards a wooden bridge with food in its mouth to feed it's young who were hiding there. The skunk did not bother us if we left it alone. I guess the moral of this is that if we all learned to recognize each other's differences, whether it be race or religion, like the skunk who learned to not let 400 children bother it, we too could coexist in this world with others who seem different.
By the way there are no skunks in Italy.

Butterflies are Free!

It is officially spring. As I was lounging in my hammock in the back yard reading a mystery novel, 'The Last Templar', which my friend CJ had given to me, I looked up over at the flowers I had planted and there were butterflies everywhere. All different kinds of them- yellow ones, monarchs, swallowtails etc. You see if I didn't plant so many flowers and herbs there would not be any butterflies. They are a symbol of the resurrection of our life. They have gone through their life cycle and feed off the beautiful flowers that we plant. They share the blossoms with the adorable hummingbird, God's helicopter, the bees and of course the nasty red wasps. They were even flirting with each other as they flitted through the air, letting the breeze take them up higher and into the forest. I looked at them and remarked to myself, 'this is good'. The freedom of the butterflies as they wispfully hover over the colors of the blossoms remind me of how wonderful this world can be and how God has put every creature on this earth for a reason. I urge everyone to plant a flower or a vegetable so that butterflies will always be free.

Making Wine

This has been a long process. Our friends CJ and Susan and ouselves decided we would make some wine. Being the good Italian lover that I am I found a local 'Water to Wine' store and we all went in to test their wines to decide on which ones we would like to make. Now this is not an easy process so we had to test many reds and whites. Finally we narrowed it down to one red, a 'Barolo' style and one white, a Pinot Gris. We put in the concentrates, the yeast, the oak etc. and after thorough mixings and testing they were ready to age in buckets.
A month or so later we came back to visit our 'babies'. They had been transferred to clear bottles and were percolating nicely. We tasted some new wines they had, very generous tastings and bought a few bottles. CJ and Susan seem to love the process. We are taking them with us to Italy to see the real thing next year.
Last Friday was B-Day, bottling day. We came in, after we had sent our labels in to get done. Thank goodness they had not been printed yet since I had sent a picture of our old red truck instead of our house for our labels. We bottled, corked. foiled and labeled 29 bottles of each, testing some as we went. It needed aging so they put some on 'aging magnets' which helped alot. After celebrating our 'children' Lynda, CJ, Susan and myself had a great dinner and dreams of Italy danced in our heads.

Getting an Award

It's been a busy week. Besides clearing brush and burning brush I have been working in the gardens. However, I had to take time from my busy schedule to drive down to Corpus Christi to receive an award. Now, I'm not about awards, but if someone is going to give me one, I'll take it. This was a special award- Texas Educator of the Year. This was given to me by a group dedicated to the preservation of Texas history, the Sons of the Republic of Texas. It was great honor. I even met Sam Houston IV. The irony of this is that I'm probably the only Canadian that has ever received this award. To be in the Sons of the Republic you must be able to trace your ancestry back to someone who fought in the Texas Revolution. The dinner was very good with chicken Dijon as the main course. They served an excellent chilled pecan pie for dessert. My wife Lynda accompanied me to Corpus and we got to see the beach at Corpus, probably for the last time. By the way the dollar is now at 1.35.4 to the Euro. I hope when I retire it will be better. Nothing I can do about it, but it deserves watching. We are planning our next trip to Italy as I write.

The Apple of My Eye

If anything stops us from moving to Italy it will be our grandson, Blake. He is so adorable and smart. Everyday we watch him on the webcam. Our daughter is set up in her basement and we see him doing all sorts of tricks. He talks and walks all over the place. His latest trick is to push his large Fisher Price piano all over their basement. He gets into corners and sometimes can manouver himself out of tight jams. He resembles a little old man pushing a walker, but only twice as fast. I guess we will be able to watch him on the webcam in Italy. By then he will be able to talk to us in sentences and God only knows what other 'tricks' he will have up his sleeve. He is only nine months old but it seems like evry day there is something new he does. Our daughter and her husband are moving back to Texas soon and will 'only be five hours from us instead of ten hours as they are now. All you who have grandchildren can relate to what I have said. I'll keep you posted.