Who turned the calendar page?

 ...and other funny things.

First, the weather Sunday was incredible.

And then the miracle things began to happen. I pulled everything off the bed for fresh sheets [you know, the usual things I do]. I stepped outside to toss the light blanket on a ladder on the porch for it to air out in the nice fresh air.

When I got back inside, Rich was putting the sheets on the bed.
Wait. Stop. 
I was stunned and shocked but didn't faint or fall over. 
He fed Charlie ... because feeding him would require me to bend over even though I showed him how excellent I am at squatting [Thank you CrossFit!]  

I spent part of the day messing around with crafty stuff and I even made a handmade card that I cut out of cardstock and designed. 
I'm not very good at it. However it feels nice to 'make' something while I am supposedly behaving myself. The dried flower is Fleabane and I dried it using the microwave 'method'. I sprayed it with fixative and glued it to the card.
Not the prettiest. But it was a good experiment. 

My mess. I really just got stuff out and messed around with no real plan in mind.

Drying a green dyed Queen Anne's Lace with stem intact!

The photo below is of microwaved flowers with 90% of the moisture removed.  I'll press them for another week before I figure out what I might do with them. I like Aurora's suggestion of putting them on a skull! 

These would look cool inside a clear Christmas ornament?

August 1st. Time for the Orb Weaver Spiders to appear!

And this morning Charlie and I snuck out with the super duper long lens in hopes of seeing deer or some sort of cool things right at dawn.

Doing the happy dance!

This is a non typical buck, he has 5 points. The lens is soft at 300mm, but I am not a pro, I'm just happy to be able to 'get' these shots.
I actually stood for a long time and watched him graze here and there. He looked up a few times but never spooked.

We waited until he went back into the woods to leave. Charlie was very quiet and stayed with me. He was more interested in digging a hole for some reason. 

In case you are wondering, I still have those funky brown spots floating about. Looks like someone tossed coffee grounds in my peripheral vision and a brown bubble in the center of my eye. 

I spent most of the rest of Sunday resting with my eyes closed and listening to music.

I will not be a good patient if I can't at least take walks.

One last piece of advice. Don't google a diagnosis. It could scare the shit out of you. But you know I did it.

Hopefully I will not be banned from taking photos. 

Update later, tators!

Strange times

So no yard mowing today due to heavy particles of smoke in the air. That put the kabash on the Big Plan for the day. 

I guess if the grass really got out of hand, I'd do what I did in 2008 and again in 2016. Put a hot wire around parts of the yard and let my critters do the mowing.

Instead I picked berries this morning then closed up the house for the A/C to hopefully keep hubby feeling healthier.

Cell phone shots of the berries. 

The top photo is from the top of the ridge and the unripe ones are midway down into the valley. There are micro climates in our woods and I am beginning to understand that certain areas will produce berries in different stages.

Since I couldn't mow due to how wet it was and how bad the air was, I collected some flowers to try 'pressing' and drying. I dyed some Queen Anne's Lace with food coloring and some Fleabane.

Here is my sample of flowers I am pressing between two boards:

There is also Chicory, wild Vervain, Cosmos, Bee Balm, and Marigold. This method is supposed to take about a week or more.
I have to change the paper every few days to draw the moisture out. I used some rocks from my garden as weight for the top board.

Now I have some ideas of trying to put some of the flowers on handmade greeting cards so I will watch some videos of that. Another option is to place the pressed flowers into a picture frame and use it as a decoration?

It all started because I wanted some Queen Anne's Lace to use for some Still Life photos and perhaps dry some for a bouquet in the winter. 

What strange times we live in, when the midday sun is but an orange orb in the sky.

I almost feel like I am living in a science fiction novel.

A secondary smoke plume will then be
transported southward across the state Saturday afternoon into early
Sunday morning. Elevated fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
concentrations are anticipated to result in air quality index (AQI)
values in the UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS level over this period.
Sensitive groups include children, elderly people, individuals with
respiratory and cardiac problems, and anyone engaged in strenuous
outdoor activities for a prolonged period of time.

So... I was out doing garden work and dead heading the petunias when something very odd happened. I noticed I had a splotch of brown paint or maybe bug goo on my glasses. It was in sharp focus and moved when I stood up. Totally freaky! 
So I grabbed my glassed off and it was still there.
I brushed my face because, just well, because.
It moved and then swirled. I dropped my crap right then and there and headed to the house. 
Visit to Urgent Care sent me to the ED. After some testing I was given the diagnosis.
Vitreous Hemmorrhage. 
Vitreous is the clear gel in the center of your eye. Mine had blood in it. 
I will see an Ophthalmologist on Monday.
No bending. No lifting. No straining. No exercise. Damn, they should have included NO cooking too.
I get to sleep sitting up.  
I am not in pain but apparently this needs to be figured out and I don't need more blood seeping around in my eye. It sort of looked like this, but brown:

I still see stuff floating about and coming into my visual field. Hmmm. Mmmm.
Strange Times indeed.
Have a great weekend.