5th Blogging Anniversary Slipped Right By

I meant to post on the 5th anniversary of my blog start (March 22nd) and managed to forget. I get little feedback. I doubt my blog enhances anyone's life, but as long as I have a sense of accomplishment doing it, I will continue. If it bores me or no longer interests me I will stop. I doubt I would erase all of my posts though. I have seen or heard of cases where bloggers do that.

Sometimes I am busy with other things so don't post. Other times the well is dry, I don't feel like writing or I can't think of anything interesting to post. I have some idea of what kinds of posts are read the most, but since I am not committing a lot of time to research or place descriptions, but just posting as things come along in my life, there isn't likely to be a concerted effort to create those kinds of posts. That's OK. That is where I am in relation to writing posts right now.

When I first started reading blogs, I found most blogs last 2-3 years as active entities. Life priorities change. It is also hard work to sustain a viable blog for very long.

The bots can be discouraging, skewing stats. This week my description about Winona Lake shot up to be my second most-read post. That makes me happy, but I think some of it is bots accessing the posts. I have a few posts that show no one viewed them; quite a few with 2-6 viewings, but at least half a dozen with over a hundred reads. The way "viewings" are counted isn't very clear. For example, I think when somebody views a post and then scrolls down to the preceding one, that older one isn't counted. I like to go back and re-read some of my posts; that is why I am pretty sure I won't delete them.

United States Navy Band Concert

This afternoon we attended a concert by the United States Navy Band at Warsaw High School Performing Arts Center. Free admission, but we did have to send away for tickets. This group is on its national tour. The band also marched and played at the presidential inauguration in January as well as other ceremonial venues.

Today there was a variety of music from a Sousa march to classical pieces, a song from the Disney movie The Incredibles to a vocal tribute to Barbra Streisand. An interesting piece was a song by Ryan George based on the beliefs of the Celts. He titled it An Ge Fhiain (The Wild Goose). When the Celts were introduced to Christianity, they did not relate to the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Instead they thought of the Spirit as a wild goose to be pursued and chased until He led us to "the thin places", the places where we meet God in transcendent ways and God speaks to us. The opening motif changes and transitions until at the end of the piece it breaks out in a jig, a dance of joy as we meet God.

Another way to "fill the well" though this time with buckets of stimulating music.

Snuggling and Snoozing Weather

About the only signs of spring around here are the daffodils I bought at the grocery store yesterday.

My tulip blooms are spent. These are a nice replacement.

My husband likes to eat breakfast at a restaurant. We usually go together on Fridays; we have weekend delivery of the Fort Wayne newspaper and take it with us. I told him last night that the forecast was for freezing rain around 6 a.m. this morning. I got up at 7:15. There was a little light snow so we decided to go to a nearby restaurant. While eating, the snow started coming down at a good clip. By the time we headed for home, sleet was falling. A good day to cocoon at home, snuggling under a blanket or throw. Now that I have the lunch dishes cleaned up, I feel a little drowsy. A nap sounds good. My husband is stretched out in his recliner watching some of the March Madness, but I won't be surprised if he nods off.

A big box arrived from Better World Books Wednesday afternoon. That is the fastest I have ever received a shipment from them (4 days). They used UPS instead of the U.S. postal system like they have previously. For the most part, the books are in very good condition. I plan to catalog them this afternoon. However, my nap is calling to me.

The Shack is on sale

As I was browsing for free Kindle books for the Grace Village library, I noticed The Shack  is currently on sale for $2.99. Since the residents often need large print, I bought this Kindle version. Now if I can just convince them to overcome their timidity and let me show them how easy it is to read an ebook. I think the paperback edition is also on sale.

Tulips Opening

The tulips are opening. There will be 3 of them. There is a small unopened bloom tucked in the leaves, but I doubt the plant will stay alive long enough for it to grow and bloom.

Yes, that is snow in the background. It started last night and has sifted slowly down during the day. As I crawled under the electric blanket in my winter nightgown last night, I thanked God for providing warmth. The snow isn't the big story for us as it will be in the Northeast, but we will remain cold for several days. I can stay inside tomorrow, but Wednesday I have literary club. We will still be in the low-to-mid twenties Wednesday afternoon.

I ordered 20 books from Better World Books yesterday to fill the gaps in series titles in our retirement library. However, I have over 100 gaps to fill; this is a start of a project that will go on for years because I have very limited funds.

There is a public library book sale April 7th. Usually, I fill the gaps with 2 books a year when browsing and buying at these kinds of sales. It is very hit and miss. The prices are good, however. I feel filling the gaps is important to enhance the library collection. At least at Better World Books, the prices are about $4-5 with free shipping. The profits go towards literacy programs throughout the United States. It is a good place to buy; the online store did not have all of the titles I was seeking, but I can continue to browse over the next few months. I have some money left to spend.

Sunny But Cold

This morning when I drove to the grocery store there were snow flurries coming down. After lunch, the sun came out, but it is windy. Current temperature is 29 degrees (at 4 p.m.). We may get a little accumulation of snow Monday into Tuesday. We won't warm up much again for another week. A reminder that it is still winter.

To cheer myself, I bought a small pot of tulips.

I also bought a cinnamon muffin to share with my husband this afternoon with a cup of tea.

This week I have been reading Amy Clipston's series Hearts of the Lancaster Grand Hotel.

Today when I worked in the library, I returned volume 2 and picked up volume 3. These are the first books written by Clipston that I have read. She is a pretty good writer. After I read A Dream of Home, there is still one more book in the series, but our library does not own it.

It is on the list of series gaps to fill. I have started compiling the gap list; so far I have about 20 books I consider priority purchases.

Tomorrow I will look on Better World Books to see if any of them are for sale. Otherwise, I will have to look for used copies on Amazon, but then there will be a shipping fee. A few of our gap books are on the Kindles, and I have read them there, but most of the retirement residents won't use the Kindles.

Right now, I have people asking for The Shack. We own a copy, but it is not on the shelf. Two weeks ago, The Great Gatsby sat falling apart in the return box. I will try to find a cheap replacement. Never a dull moment in the library. Today I finished adding the mass market paperbacks to our catalog (online data base). Still have all of the Love Inspired books to add though.

Windows Live Writer still does not work if one wants to post pictures. I feel a little more comfortable posting from Blogger. I guess this is going to be my only option.

My husband went off to the workshop to do his project. It is quiet here. I think I will tuck my slippered feet under me in the recliner and read some more Mary Oliver poems.

Then I hope to look through the decorating book I bought at Good Will Wednesday.  I should have time to add to my folders tonight or tomorrow. I am thawing out some zucchini I froze so I can bake bread tomorrow. There are some comforts to winter.

Hope you are having some cozy comfortable moments in your day and weekend.

Some of My Favorite Photos

I used one of my favorite photos as the background on my husband's Facebook. It got me thinking about some other favorites. Let me share a few with you. I would like to pursue photography more, but I really need a better camera to do that; so far, I have resisted the extra expenditure. I am wondering, too, now that lithium batteries are banned from airplanes, would that apply to lithium batteries for cameras? Has anybody had any experience with that? The camera I am interested in uses lithium batteries.

Here is the photo I used on Facebook

 Some have happy memories of trips taken

 Others were taken in my community or nearby towns

 The hat I played around with Fotosketcher

I liked the lighting of this photo at Connor Prairie Settlement

A lot of them depict nature

Some are interesting items

I am thinking of making some notecards with some of these photos featured. Maybe in a few months when I have more time.

March Roared In

March roared in Wednesday. Besides the wind, the temperatures dropped dramatically in the afternoon and at night snow fell. It has been cold ever since though the sun has melted most of the snow. Right now at Friday evening 5:30 p.m. it is 29 but according to weather.com it feels like 19 because of the nasty cold wind. My crocus will probably start blooming in another 10-14 days. The daffodils which I planted last fall are about 3 inches high. We are still in a roller coaster weather pattern; above-average followed by below average temperatures in 3-4 day cycles. I don't know if the daffodils will survive.

I found 3 decorating books at Goodwill Tuesday. This is my now-preferred source since Half Price Books raised prices and Ollie's doesn't seem to have much in that area anymore. With the senior discount at Goodwill, the books averaged $1 each. I am going to stop there a few times a month. My folders are starting to bulge again, though, so I should buy at least one more folder.

Going through the pictures as I added the new ones made me hanker to shop at consignment shops and antique stores for some new things. I drove to North Webster this afternoon. In Tangibles I bought a table lamp for $15. Turns out it is a bit large for my sunroom porch table; I may keep looking and eventually transfer this lamp to my bedroom.

At Heart of the  Lakes Antiques I bought a small framed cross-stitch picture. Right now it is hanging in my sunroom. I may try it in a few other places.

I felt like having something different to look at. Less than $7, not too big a splurge. At least the rabbit ties in with Easter/Spring.

I have for the past two weeks been looking at vrbo to find a place to rent in Hilton Head in the winter of 2018. You might think this is way early to do so, but for various reasons, it has taken me 4 tries to get a confirmed booking in my price range. We are going to stay 3 weeks this time. I really liked Hilton Head 4 years ago when we stayed there. The rental I reserved for 2018 is within walking distance of the beach and not far from Coligny Plaza where the shops and restaurants abound. If it is warm enough, we will be making ice cream jaunts. Projecting ahead, we may try Hawaii for 7-10 days in 2019. I think our annual winter outings will be coming to an end after that. We'll see.

Next week we will get help from a tax preparer. This will be the first time not to do the taxes myself. My husband has to take required minimum distributions and the taxable mutual fund he put them into has qualified dividends, capital gains, and other factors I don't feel comfortable dealing with. I managed last year with Turbo Tax, but it spit out many forms I didn't even know existed. Better to let the experts figure out if all the bases are covered.

After next week, I hope to do a project for the Grace Village library. I want to use the donated money to purchase books that fill the gaps in our fiction series; but first I have to identify those gaps (my old desiderata list is very outdated) and then do some weeding to make space. I also have to find places online to buy used copies so the money can be used to its maximum effect. A very involved project and time-consuming. It seems like more and more people are using the library books if the return box is a reliable indicator.

With no regular helper, I spend a lot of time reshelving. My helper has been helping in a family emergency for the past 3 months. Her priorities are in the right place. I probably should recruit someone else for awhile, but so many residents are afraid to get on the stool to reach the higher shelves, finding a willing person might be hard.