Cherish is my favorite word, and I cherish the ability of turning the routine into a beautiful moment.
Nature creates in me, a spiritual and meditative time to bring peace, harmony and balance, into an otherwise ordinary day~
Mary Howell Cromer







Friday, September 9, 2016

Long Lost Summer, Making My Way Back~


It has been quite the down Summer in many ways and yet, here we are almost to Autumn and I am feeling positive and optimistic for the first time in many months.  The fall back in January, then the knee surgery in May, a total failure, 5 weeks of rehab...and it failed as well.  The pain has been a very honest 10 more often than not and it has depleted me of any energy to do much more than get from one day to the next.  
The photo program that I have been using since 2007 Google Picasa, went out of use in May, and I did not realize it until 2 weeks ago.  I am so not real tech savvy, but decided on a Corel program...it came without the user guide and so I am making my way through the process, very slowly.  So much to learn.
Then came our new puppy Svetka... this beautiful miracle, a bundle of fur and sweetness, wildness, and a huge need for me to get better.  My daughter and her husband flew in for a surprise visit to help lift my spirits!  Ashleigh was able to make contact with a friend who knew of a really excellent Physiotherapy office and I have been being treated there.  After only 5 treatments so far, I can tell a promising difference. 









The Dr. ran very late. My appointment at 3:30 turned out to be after 5:00 and my daughter just kept smiling and kept us both laughing.  Below she pretends that we have been held captive at the Dr's office...silly girl~





Well, at this point I've got to take matters into my own hands. Literally...It's my knee Ashleigh lol, not my shoulder ;)



Svetka is 15 weeks old today and at weighs 33.7 pounds and is amazingly precious, even when she is a little bit naughty...lol
My husband has completed the beautiful fence that he designed for our yard to keep the dogs safer and other creatures out better than in the past.  
While out on a country ride with the three dogs last weekend, I came upon the 10 point buck and got some pretty amazing snaps as he jumped and easily cleared the four board fence.  He was magnificent.  I also got the snap shares of the Red-Tailed Hawks while taking country rides.  I have not been able to return to my walks for months and so these drives have come to represent even more to me.
No vacation again this year...we have the new puppy, I have to get better, and we have many things to try and catch up on before the colder season sets in.  One of the things that I recently did was to attempt some mowing on the back side of the creek.  My wonderful neighbor went back over the paths with her riding mower and it made for a great place to walk the dogs there, and not a single snake here all this season, that is a first!  Because of my life changing events, this was the first season since 1996 that I could not keep up with the Hawks that brought me here, but they have been very actively flying over Tingsgrove and I am still hoping they return here one day for nesting once again.
Hoping that you all are doing well...I have missed being part of the blogging family~


Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after                                                                you have read the narratives~

I am joining in the fun with Eileen at:
Saturday's Critter

Anni at:
http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/ 
I'd Rather Be Birdin'
 Linking to I'd Rather B Birdin'
    

Stewart for:









10 point White-tailed Deer~
















Taken through a moving car's windscreen, two Red-Tailed Hawks~





Svetka is now 15 weeks old ;)   LOVE her so much~






Freshly mowed paths on our Tingsgrove~








Red -Tailed Hawk hunting from the roadside bales~



















19 comments:

  1. Hi there and welcome back! I hope that the back end of 2016 works out much better for you than the first bit!!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  2. Hello, Mary! Awesome series on the buck! The hawk sightings was cool, great shots. Your puppy is just adorable, give her a hug from me! I want a puppy!
    Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

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  3. I'm crusheddddddddddddddd

    Your earlier blogs about Svetka never made my reader feed for some reason. I'm swooning over her cuteness. Oh, I miss my GSD Corky. Those ears. So endearing.

    (I don't miss the shedding and shredding.)

    Best wishes for that knee. :(

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  4. Hi Mary, I'm sorry your health hasn't been great this year. I hope the new physiotherapist can help your knee problems. What a shame to go through surgery and physio but with poor results! The photos of the deer are beautiful. I love the light in them. I'm still using Google Picasa and am wondering about why you can't anymore. I've taken hundreds of photos this summer and they are all on there plus they are backed up on an external hard drive. I'd hate to lose them but I can also use "photos" on my macbook if it disappears totally. I much prefer the editing in Picasa though! Take care Mary and I really hope you have a lovely fall and can be more pain free and mobile. Blessings, Pam

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    1. Hi Pamela.

      My Picasa started acting up and so I have had to in the past uninstall it from time to time and then download it again. I always keep the database though. Two weeks ago I did just that, as I have upgraded several times over the years and that always helps. I tried 4 times to download Picasa and none of the sites worked. I looked on Google and it shows that Google discontinued it on May 16. I can no longer upload any photos into the program and I am so very heart sick. I have all of my thousands of others that I can view, but I cannot get any new ones into it, as I am unable to download it back into my system. Google was the one that mentioned using Corel. I tried a couple of others, before making the purchase and while it looks good, it is just not like the wonderful way Picasa does things. I cannot see why Google would do something so ridiculous...so many thousands of people use Picasa. I wish I had never uninstalled it, then I might be able to still use it as you are.

      Best Regards.
      Mary

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  5. The deer is awesome and love the hawk on the hay bale. I hope you feel better every day and enjoy the Fall season. I know it's been a long hard summer for you. Enjoy your weekend! Hugs, Diane

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  6. Wow! Beautiful daughter ~ glad she got you physical help ~ Gorgeous shots of the deer and other critters as well ~ cute puppy and adorable cat ~ Feel better soon ~

    Happy Creating ~ ^_^

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  7. Dear Mary, Wishing you a better year ahead. It's good to see you back and sharing your beautiful photos with us.

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  8. Welcome back Mary. I have been keeping a look out knowing that you were fighting back, just like yours truly.

    Keep up the good work with the physio, the doctors advice, not to mention listening to daughter Ashleigh.

    We're off to greece in a day or two. Hope the sunshine works for me.

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  9. Dear Mary. So nice to see your glorious pics including the adorable Svetka.

    I am still using Picasa and you can still download the programme (Version 3.9.10.4 and older)from http://www.oldversion.com/windows/picasa/
    I would strongly recommend saving the downloaded file (picasa3.9.10.4.exe)to a separate drive just in case you need to reinstall in the future.

    Best wishes .... Frank.

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    1. Frank, you cannot possibly imagine how happy you have made me and my husby. He was so tired of my constant frustration in not being able to figure out the Corel program. I had tried various sites that were secure on my Webroot and none of them would download. I tried yours suggestion twice before it finally worked and I truly had happy tears pouring down my face...it really is a great program! Thank you so very much! I hope that you get to view this comment~

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    2. Delighted to hear the option worked for you Mary.

      Best wishes .. Frank.

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  10. I am so pleased to see you are back to blogging some...just don't overdo on anything...don't want you down and out again. Take it one day at a time. A long haul, but worth taking extra precautions, I'm sure. Love your daughter's being held captive in the Dr.s office. That would've had me in 'stitches' giggling.

    And one more thing....the design of the fence is incredible! What a great job.

    Thank you so much for adding your link this week at I'd Rather B Birdin'. I'm a bit behind visiting 'cause I just returned from a birdin' day trip.

    To have the hawks......two on a fence at one time...what a thrill!!

    And you little [not so little] ball of fur...gotta love her!!

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  11. Constant pain is so hard (impossible) to deal with. I am very glad you are feeling better. Your puppy is so cute!

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  12. Beautiful images Mary, I hope that you the better.

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  13. Thank you for the update Mary and as always for the beautiful pictures. Keep on getting better ... I hope the phisiotherapy continues to help. Your pup is adorable.

    I read where Picassa went out of business, but I am still able to use it -- we download the camera to it and I can still edit and make collages in there. Maybe they forgot to take it away from me. Anyway, being not tech-savy and being lazy, I plan to keep using it until I wake up some morning and find it gone. Then I will cry and learn something new I suppose.

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  14. Dearest Mary,

    It seems this summer, for some reason or another, has kept many of my friends away from their blogs, myself included. I am very sad to hear that your physiotherapy treatment was not effective in your post surgery recovery process, but am grateful that your daughter found a doctor that has been able to rectify that in a very short time. Hopefully, you'll be feeling much better soon!

    Your images are always pure perfection, and obviously not dependent on Picasa or any photo editing program in successfully bringing joy to your readers! It's all YOU! Having said that, it doesn't hurt that your Tingsgrove is so enchanting - I am in love with the photo of the glorious countryside and the wooden fence in the foreground; it's pretty, picturesque and should be painted!

    With such wonderful creatures both inside your home, (Svetka) and the wild deer and red tailed hawks outside, keeping a watchful eye on their beloved admirer as they check up on you when they fly by, it won't be long before you will be taking those long walks again amid an autumnal landscape, surrounded by the simultaneous energy and serenity that is Tingsgrove.

    Miss you!

    Get better, sweet friend.

    Sending love,
    Poppy

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  15. I hope you are healing and feeling better now. What a hard time you've had. I stopped by to say I have a hawk on my post this morning that I need an ID on...so of course I thought of you! Hope you have a chance to stop by! Happy Fall! Sweet hugs, Diane

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  16. I hope the new physiotherapy treatment works for you well Mary. You certainly have had a long haul. I haven't used Picasa for years. I now use Picmonkey.com Such an easy program to use for mosaics and the basic program, which I use is free. Take care Mary. I hope you are out enjoy your walks very soon.

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