Hair Today . . .

Has your mother ever warned you not to complain about something?

Like, never saying you are bored or have nothing to do.

Well, Ken, my beautifully sexy long-haired hubby complained about his ponytail while we were driving home from church today. (I am absolutely gaga for gray hair, in case you hadn’t figured that out yet, have always been, even as a teen. Weird, I know.)

 That’s Ken being “licked” by my son, Trevor, when Trevor was eight. Please don’t ask why. Maybe it had something to do with frosting. We were at a birthday party, after all.

I mentioned that he could always cut it off and start styling his hair like when we first met. He made the fatal mistake of agreeing with me. So, being the driver today, I detoured to Super Cuts.

Let’s just say . . . well, never mind. Don’t ask why he has a shower cap on and is giving me an “Oh, Stanley,” grin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture was taken on a sailboat on the San Francisco Bay, too many years ago to count.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not that I didn’t like his long hair. I just thought he might look good with a change. And he might enjoy it short for a while, too. He can always grow it back, if he so chooses.

As a side note, Isabel, who cut Ken’s hair, was just finishing up the rather sexy head of hair on a TV star’s head, and yes, he is starting to gray. He’s the star of Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot. I’ve never seen the show, but he may be reason enough to watch.

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard!

Okay, back to the pictures of Ken’s haircut, and some other funny stuff that’s been going on lately.

One last look, before snip-snip.

I’m not sure if Ken was totally keen on the idea, after the fact.

Too late!

And now on to Ken trying to do his shoulder exercises. Tinker Belle thought it made an excellent tug-of-war rope.

You’ll have to excuse the silk boxers. He wasn’t expecting his picture to be taken, let alone have it put on the internet! But, hey, I told you he was sexy.

If you don’t think so, just remember that sexy is an attitude, not a look.

Before a Blank Canvas

I find myself standing before the blank canvas of my future once again. Our plans have been erased, and the starkness, the emptiness stares back at me, mocking me. Bright and fresh, yet painful to look at, for how easily my colorful strokes were washed from its surface.

God must find our plans rather humorous, especially since He keeps allowing obstacles to get in our way.

We have set departure date after departure date, and things keep going awry. It has been an awful health year, with both my guys having surgeries in the past several months. Plus Ken’s diabetic crisis last winter. And then there’s the effect all this stress has had on my own health. It has definitely not been a good year for us in the health department.

And all the other stressors: Too many to number.

In the financial department, it’s pretty dismal as well. Cost of living goes up. Rent goes up. Live-in son loses job because of needing time off for surgery. And yet, being retired means Ken cannot just go work a few extra hours a week to help make ends meet. Fixed income really means fixed, unless we scramble in other ways. More to come on that subject in a later post.

Things are bound to improve. I must hope. I must remain in faith that God will bring about only good for us, even from the bad.

Being visual, I made up a calendar showing that there’s only about seven weeks until our most recent deadline would come to pass. And there is way more work to do than that short seven weeks will hold. Sure, two or three able-bodied adults could handle it all in short order, but we are a chronic chick and two dudes recovering from shoulder surgeries.

So, here is the new “plan” and please don’t let that be laughter I hear off in the distance.

We will be stuck here in damp, dismal Portland for yet another winter. Fun stuff. Not! Tentatively speaking, we will make a go of it again next spring. It cannot be helped, unless we suddenly win the lottery, but then again, we would actually have to play the lottery in  order to win it, wouldn’t we? There are no rich old spinster aunts hiding in our closets just waiting to leave us a bundle, either.

My son asked me a question this morning, “What is it you don’t like about winter here?”

It is not that I don’t “like” winter here in the Northwest, but winter does not “like” me. My  arthritis flares up something fierce. And my depression also worsens, with the lessening of the sunshine. Heck, we barely have enough sunshine in the summer to keep me afloat and depression-free, in this Great Northwest. But I am now taking mega-doses of vitamin D weekly and taking measures to ensure an easier, if not less painful winter, joint-wise.

There’s not much else I can do at this point.

Except keep asking God why He has us tied here, for so long. There must be something He wants us to accomplish before we hit the road. I just need to figure out what that is.

Lord, with my faith, I place our future plans in Your hands. I wait upon You, with patience, yet an eagerness to carry out Your works. Lord, please instill in me what it is You want me to do.

Amen.

Hood River Fruit Loop

Today we ventured east to Hood River, Oregon, to travel the famous Hood River Fruit Loop. We also went to a wonderful lavender farm, always a favorite stop when we go to hood river in the summer.

It was incredibly hot, absolutely sweltering, but we had a great time despite the heat—all four of us in my best friend’s car—my son, my grandson, my best friend, and me. All in all, a perfect day with some of my most favorite people.

Our first stop was the Hood River Lavender Farm.

 

After the lavender farm, we went to Draper Girls Country Farm to have lunch and buy some fruit. A few more stops after that, and we were beat and headed home.

Me and my boys

♥♥♥