“Rinse and Repeat”

 

Front garden today!

            

            February in San Antonio plays out in a pattern of freezes followed by temperatures nudging close to 80°. Today’s clear day will top out at 83°. Annually, I use President’s Day to mark the first round of fertilizer on the gardens and yards.

            This morning, I’ll check the bin outside that houses the sprayer to see if it contains enough Miracle Grow to cover everything. If I enough, today’s “exercise” will focus on thoroughly watering all the beds with added nourishment. For tomorrow, another projected day of warmth, I’ll determine the best way for me to clear leaves from the front yard as my right knee still pings warnings if I overuse it. I may simply sit in place and use an old, broken rake to clear the areas needing the most work.

On this week's agenda

            The other part of my spring cycle entails checking the nighttime lows for consecutive 60° or above temperatures. Once the warmer nights hit, the plants being green housed inside will move back outside where I’ll assess their need for larger pots. This annual routine signals the return of spring.

            I love the repetition of life as I move from one season to the next. The reprise becomes my ritual now etched into my daily habits.  Rinse and repeat, year after year, brings comfort to me.

 

Waiting for warm nights

Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“His Type"

 

In youth, he found a filly

One he bullied into submission

Turning her against herself

Holding her reigns tightly

Until her hooves pounded him into the ground

 

Next, he discovered a stately mare

One he adorned with silver and turquois

Turning her against herself

Grooming her for the family stable

Until her temperament demanded his temperance

 

He searched from stable to stable

One he enticed with his wealth

Turning her against herself

Forcing her to become the lost filly

Until her pride bolted her from his control

 

Now he seeks a steady mount

One he temps with everlasting security

Will he turn her against herself

Commanding her to his will

Until her soul requires nurturing he can’t give

 

February 20, 2023

 

"Blessing in Disguise"

 

New couch with new floors!

            Before my dad died, he installed off-white carpet throughout their home to offset the richly dark paneling that walled their home, a typical decorating style in the late 1970s. Only three adults lived in the house, and he figured the more expensive Berber carpet would last for many years.  After he died, Mom moved to an apartment in San Antonio, leaving my brother alone in the home. My brother tended to enter his house through the garage, which meant the area next to that door became an eyesore.

White painted cabinets we did!

            We spent many visits with my brother fixing and refreshing odds-n-ends around his home. Sometimes we focused on yardwork out back. We spent many days with paint brushes in hand when Mom talked my sister and me into painting the dark kitchen cabinets white. I tackled the first round of decluttering the garage, and my brother helped me paint his bedroom a soft blue. We bought a carpet cleaner, but it never seemed to handle the trail that tracked Charles’s footsteps from garage to his bedroom.

            We debated ripping up just the carpet in the hallway, the highest traffic area. After tiling our entire home in San Antonio, we toyed with the idea of taking a couple of weeks off to rip out the off-white nightmare to install tile floors into every room of Charles’s home. This labor intensive project, once we ran the numbers, proved too expensive as a gift for my brother. We shoved the ugly carpet out of our minds and focused on funding his property taxes and car repairs instead.

            Around this time in 2021, a huge ice storm devastated Texas homes and businesses. My brother spent a huge part of the crisis staying at work and in a hotel room his boss rented for employees who had freeze damage. One pipe burst in the master bathroom that flooded Charles’s entire home. When he finally entered his home, it was to find water in the garage and every room of the hideous carpet sopping wet. He entered a nightmare of the scope he’d never handled alone. My sister found a wonderful, reliable general contractor who understood my brother’s limitations. She ripped out the carpet within hours, oversaw the plumber as he repaired the burst pipes, and with her camera documented damage for the insurance claim.

            As the entire state competed for supplies, it took months for the floors Charles selected to arrive. Sheetrock, something usually stacked several feet high at hardware stores, didn’t become available until June in his area. Bit-by-bit, the contractor moved from room to room installing the new floors Charles selected. He wanted tile, not wood. Another flood hitting his home won’t translate into floor damage!

            This month, we passed the anniversary of that terrible storm. Although the experience almost stressed my brother to his limits, he speaks of how much he loves the new floors. As he lived through the disaster, he felt overwhelmed. Now, though, he speaks of it as a blessing in disguise. His home became his haven.

Spare bedroom with new floors!

Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

"The Cottage"

 

Cottage on Inisheer, one of the Aran Islands, Ireland September 2010   

Whitewashed walls tinged rose by sunrise’s blush   

sashes—a splash of sky   

new thatch mixes with dew’s perfume   

while flowers and ferns embroider the path of home       

Door opens with smiles and cheer       

Enter!       

Enter!       

Peat banked in the hearth       

black pot nestles in amber embers simmering Guinness stew         

Lace daintily drips from the table        

—tatted by Grams’ steady hands       

Oatcakes totter on a platter       

sheep’s cheese, churned butter, honey, cream       

and tea brewed black—a midnight sky swirling with galaxies        

From the loft flows the fiddle’s enchantment        

a boy’s toe tapping, keeping the beat        

drowning out the past’s lament        

tears of yesteryear hidden in another song        

Cottage at Bunratty Castle

Share a pint   

Share a verse   

Share our life     

Welcome home!   

Welcome home.   

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

Cottage at Bunratty Castle

 During our entire trip through

 Ireland, a place I'd never visited before, I felt    as though I was returning home.

Cottage on Inisheer

“Coming Late to Tech”

 

            While everyone around me updated phones with each configuration of the devices, I held on to my iPhone 4 with tight resolution because it still worked. The more phones cost, the more I convinced myself that I could wait. My trusty iPhone 4 never failed me, but in 2021 my son convinced me that it was time to rejoin the world with newer tech. I welcomed an iPhone SE that I basically used exactly like my old, limited phone—calls to my family, texts to friends and family, and very few apps all neatly arranged into categories like SOCIAL, PRODUCTIVITY, or ENTERTAINMENT. Basically, I hummed along the same phone usage as I had for the previous dozen years, except for the camera. I fell in love the convenience of having a decent camera that fit in my pocket or purse.

            Fortunately, my son pushes me onto new tech that forces me to stretch into different areas. For last Christmas, he purchased a pair of AirPods for my long neighborhood walks, which I took with nature as my background beat. Each morning, I’d select from YouTube favorite musicians that put pep into my pace. He also gifted me with an iWatch 9.3.1 for my birthday.

            Learning how to use the watch proved more of a challenge. On one of my first walks, I unknowingly swiped at or tapped onto the little green walking person and accidentally recorded that walk with all this wonderful data. When I tried to replicate gathering the information for my walk the next day, the tech defeated me. Once I arrived home, with watch in hand, I farted around until I saw the option for LIST. 

            “I love lists,” I thought. Selecting that option made all of those small icons that crowed my watch face change into a respectable and manageable list that let me discover WORKOUT. Dancing around the bedroom with excitement, I saw the option for “Outdoor Walk” and selected it. I never ventured beyond that choice.

            Another overworked knee (too many times up the steepest neighborhood hill accompanied by sweeping leaves from the house front) meant nursing the injury and not returning to my daily walks. Our family Christmas gift, an exercise bike, came to the rescue to help me get back into healthy knee shape. The first time on it, I wore my watch and left it on the “Outdoor Walk” option. I felt pretty silly when I scrolled further down the options and found both “Cycle” choices. Yesterday, though, I ventured down the choices on my WORKOUT option and discovered “Dance”.

            With AirPods in place and Nickelback blasting, I danced from room to room for thirty minutes! I pulled into muscle memory for old drill team routines. 3 Doors Down and I swirled and pumped. Evanescence accompanied me though adding small weights to my spins and twirls.

            This new tech allows me to have accountability for my exercise goals, but it also adds an element of fun. I don’t know what today will bring, but I fill thankful that this new tech becomes part of my daily routine.

 

Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman