Sylvia's Simple Shots

 The trees are starting to leaf out.  Beautiful spring green colors appearing in many places.  The Fiddlehead Ferns in the small garden are ready to unfurl into wonderful textures. The American Robins are back and looking to make nests I am sure.

The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard is a book I finished this week.  

A young man, Stefan, is in prison for murder of his girlfriend. Thea Demetriou, his mother continues to love him despite now knowing how this happened.  Stefan does not remember. 

After his serving his sentence, he comes home to a town which will not let him move on. The mother of Belinda the girlfriend has set up a movement to bring awareness to dating violence. They are always on their doorstep.

Slowly, he begins to start a new life.  He decides to start a program where people can reach out to ones they have wronged and help to make things right.  It is a soul saving project for him. It provides an avenue for several people in his circle.

The book was surprisingly very positive and uplifting.

Another week of medical procedures. A Pulmonary Function Test for my coughing and shortness of breath in March.   The root canal to save one of my front teeth finally was done, now that I could sit for over an hour and not cough.  The prep was very involved but finally the dental specialist came in and it was a bit tricky he said but went well.

In my search for Pelicans this spring I headed to a large city park on the east side of town.  Someone mentioned that sometimes the pelicans are there.  It has 3 water ponds, picnic tables, lots of parking, woodland trails and biking.  I saw canoes on the water but no pelicans. Where the heck are they?  I know they are here because other photographers are posting pics.

The Journey by Josephine Cox was a gripping read.  I finished it in a couple of days.

The book relates two time periods 1930s then the 1950s with Lucy Baker in her old age.  Lucy and her daughter, Mary visit the cemetery regularly and Ben Morris has seen them before as he walks his dog. One day Lucy falls and Ben comes to help the women and they leave in a chauffeured car.  Lucy has dropped her purse and Ben, later that evening, delivers it to this large Edwardian house.  He is invited in.

The time shifts to Lucy's early life. The man she loved from afar, the one she was seduced by and resulted in a child. How the unwed mother was rejected by her family and taken in by warm hearted souls. How Barney Davidson came to her rescue in a time of need, how he was seperated from his family and how he came to be in the cemetary that Lucy and Mary visit regularly. There is a 2nd book so I will have to keep an eye out for Journey's End.

This week's Macro Mondays Challenge was the onion family.

I chose spring green onions for my close up shot.

You can check out my Flicker Photostream (SMDPics).

Have a great week!

Sylvia Simple Shots

I booked my 4th COVID Booster shot with health services and was given a pharmacy I had not been to before. I needed it done so I agreed.  I carefully walked the block and entered into a space with no one else in there.  Different for sure. I was quickly given my shot and waited my fifteen minutes. 

I limped home and all I had was a sore arm for a day.

I had been limping since the 6th of January but managing but not getting any better. 

After a urgent care doctor visit on January 12th, I headed for an ultrasound on my right knee/leg to check for blood clots the next day.

At home, on my way up the stairs I felt a pop in the back of my knee and the pain got 10X worse.

I spent the day waiting for ultrasound results, having a nurse assessment, a Zoom Medical Doctor visit and at last a call from my own doctor.  She confirmed no blood clots! Wonderful but what is wrong. After answering another ton of questions she had an idea what it might be. She did not a feel a visit to emergency was necessary and suggested icing and elevating and she would see me Monday, Jan 16th. 

In the meantime, I borrowed a walker and a cane from my sister who delivered it that afternoon. After icing the knee felt a lot better.

I have kept the cane, as physiotherapy has been prescribed but more about that later.

With some down time I finished this book - Sutton by J.R. Moehringer.

This story is centered around a real figure of Willie "The Actor" Sutton who was an American bank robber. So named for the disguises he used while committing his crimes.  During his forty-year robbery career he stole an estimated $2 million, and he eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison and escaped three times. He did not kill a single person during these many robberies. 

He is pardoned Christmas Eve 1969 and he spends Christmas Day with a reporter and a photographer while they revisit the scenes of his crimes and other key events/crossroads of his life. I believe there were 17 marks on the map and they would have to be visited in chronological order.  

This book is very well written and a joy to read. 

Flickr Macro Mondays challenge was "shadows" this week. 

I took quite a few shots of several different things.  I was not able to decide and ran out of energy to actually post an image.

Here's one of the shots.

A glass bowl vase with a ripple edge. 

I am having trouble keeping track of all the stuff that has happened, no wonder I am exhausted.