May-bee Flowers

April Showers Bring May Flowers. In some areas this is true. In AZ flowers will bloom at the hint of moisture in the air anytime of the year. Yet she really puts on a show between March and April. The 1st of May was the Full Flower Moon. I know I am a Luna-tic. I have a tee shirt that covers both Raven’s and the Moon: It has a picture of a raven and it says Raven Lunatic. When John saw me wearing it he said you know you sent me that magnet. Really, hmmm, guess I really related to it and thought he would appreciate. Let’s start with the Flower Moon. My camera and cell phone picked up light and color that my eyes could barely see. Here is one from my cell phone.

Full Flower Moon rise

This picture was taken with my SLR camera. The sky was a little hazy as the sun was setting and as the moon came up this is what I captured.

Rick and I moved into the casita while the house was being painted. We are moving back to the house today and the casita will be painted tomorrow. John would ask us to send a refrigerator magnet of places we traveled. Luckily the fridge in the casita is still good for holding magnets.

Here are a few from his collection. Can you find the Raven Lunatic? There are more on the washing machine and in my office.

This whole week has had ups and downs to them. The magnets remind me of all the places we have been, of happy times. They make me think of John and miss him.

So, here’s a silly for lack of a better word. It has been a very hard physical and emotional week. We have been taking art off the walls, taking things off shelves, and moving what ever needs to be moved for the painters. In doing this you visit memories, which is good but also exhausting. Add on top of that physically moving things from room to room and by the end of the day you just don’t want to think. We wanted to watch a light hearted movie last night. Some of the networks really don’t understand what a comedy is all about. But, we saw “Shrek” the original one. Let’s watch that. Rick and I both looked at each other when scenes came up of Shrek walking through a field of sunflowers. Wow! Wasn’t expecting that. Most of you know that John’s and Marilu’s favorite flower was the sunflower. I am growing some for the memory garden. Rick or I buy sunflowers for my kitchen all the time. Guess John approved of our selection.

We are not only having the inside of the house and casita painted but also the outside. There is one little area that will have to be painted later. Mama Mourning Dove is sitting on her nest. I read that mom and dad share sitting on the eggs. I also read that you can not move a nest once it has eggs or babies. First it is hard to do without disturbing the family and second many birds are protected so it is illegal to even try. The painters were very understanding and left that wall and will come back when the babies leave the nest. She has been on her nest close to two weeks. Hard to tell but babies could be under her wing. She keeps changing positions. Once they are hatched in another two weeks they usually fledge. So, lots of excitement going on here this week.

During all this chaos I was attempting to make the sourdough bread. The starter was looking good. I followed the directions, which had you do an overnight proof. I felt like the dough was too wet but I resisted temptation and did not add more flour. The next morning, the recipe had you heat the pan. It said to pour the dough from the bowl into the hot pan. Well, it poured out with a plop and I was pretty sure that was not good. It looked pretty good while cooking. As with some of the other GF breads I have been checking the temp 205 degrees. I checked this bread and as I pulled the thermometer I could hear air escape, again, not good. Once it was out and cooling I cut off a little piece off the edge and looked good but the middle was dense and gummy. Two major issues, dough too wet and the drop into the pan condensed the dough, removing air. I still have starter and will give it a try another day. So close.

Another of John’s magnets, always good to take advise from a owl.

Thank you for hanging in there with me this has been one hard week. Rick and I are ready for a little down time. That will be coming soon. Take care my loved ones, my family, my friends, you all keep me focused. Much love, be safe, be strong, Linda aka “Ma” “l-mom”