January 21, 2014

Just a Normal Day

January 21, 2014

Just as I typed that title it occurred to me that having a normal day is pretty nice!  So few of our days over the last year have been "normal".  I went to the office earlier than I have been recently.  Ron was out for a little while this morning.  The rest of the day, we both waited on customers off and on.  There was a good bit of customer traffic in the shop.  I did some cleaning in my office - not enough, but it was a start. I had some emails to answer this morning and worked on some accounting chores. 

My brother-in-law Jim had a large shipment of his new books sent to our office and those arrived today.  This is his second book on birding.  The title is Birding Trails Texas Gulf Coast.  The previous was Birding Trails Texas Prairies and Pineywoods - Panhandle.  They are both available through Amazon.com or he will be doing a book signing at South Padre Island this weekend.  I was given a signed copy today while he was at the office to pick them up and I know it will get used a lot.  Jim and I are trying to plan a birding outing in the next few days, but it is supposed to get cold Friday night, so we will have to see what the weekend brings.  He will also be leading some walks and talks at the island Friday and Saturday.  After a few book signings over the next few weeks he will be starting the next book in the series and this one will be Birding Trails New Mexico. 

Jim's books tell you where to look for birds in Texas.  A couple of pages are used for each site, and it tells you how to get there, what you might expect to see, how much it may cost if there is an entry fee, and contact information.  This new book also gives the GPS coordinates to each location. 

Ron and I went to supper with Jim and my mom.  Mom is heading to my sister's tomorrow and Jim will be staying at her house while she is gone.  She hopes to see some snow in Idaho as she spends time with my sister (Jim's wife) in Salmon, Idaho.  We chose a restaurant that would be rather quiet and had a nice visit.  I find myself asking for a lot of things to be repeated, but I am trying to do that instead of just acting like I understood what was said.  It is always fun to talk to Jim.  He has lots of stories to share and tonight I was able to hear most of them.

Mom will be at my sister's when her birthday comes, so I told her tonight's dinner would have to be her birthday dinner.  She will be 91 next month.  Can you believe it??  We are so blessed to have her so healthy and active at her age.

When I got ready to leave the office this evening, the sky was lovely.  The photo at the top was taken in front of our office.  Then as I drove down the street I pulled off a couple of times to take more photos.  This is one I liked. 

This past weekend, someone asked me if I thought it would be harder on a person to lose their sight or their hearing.  I think for me the loss of sight would be the hardest.  I miss music and a few other things, but I could have friends write notes to tell me what was going on when I couldn't hear, but there is no way to adequately describe the beauty of God's creation to a person who can not see.