An evening of relaxation, revelation, and preparation

Ever have those days when you feel mean as a hornet?

Go ahead, admit it.  We all do.

Every now and then a body just needs get a clear head and regain a little perspective.

Everybody's different in how they go about it, and some don't even go about it purposefully or with any sort of routine.  It might take different forms or different activities to clear out all the cobwebs and replace them with something beautiful or productive or happy or enticing.

Yes, it's been one of those days - for about two weeks running, so it seems.

But tonight I ran into one of those cobweb-clearing times head on.  We finished dinner and I headed for the relaxing place.

But I ran into a realization that the relaxing place needs some work.


Serious work.

I'm afraid this is the beginning of the end of one of my treasured relaxing spots.

You see, it ain't gonna be easy to replace this . . .

or this . . .

Because they've been sort of stuck there for many a long year now.

And that first photo . . .

It's supposed to go through here . . .

But, you see, it doesn't any more. 

I have to give the old hammock a little credit though.  It was old when my wife found it at a yard sale.  I wasn't certain it was worth what she paid for it then, and certainly never expected it to last anywhere near as long as it did.



But it has.  And admirably well, I might add.

Lots of Sunday afternoon naps regardless of the season.  Some with a daughter (very few with a son).  Some even with a spouse.  Some without me (usually when the kids claim the spot early on because I have something else to do on a Sunday afternoon).  More than a few Saturday naps and even a few weekday evening ones.

But tonight was just a time to relax and listen to the mellifluous sounds of wrens, Towhees, bluebirds, chickadees, phoebes, flickers and the far-off strains of the mated pair of  Pileated Woodpeckers off in the distance.  Mix those in with a slight breeze to keep away the mosquito noises (and bites) and rustle the newly forming oak and sweet gum leaves.

Of course, noticing the decay of the strands of the hammock (there's another rope about to fray smack in two!!!), I decided to do a little photography to relax the mind and body since the hammock was, obviously, no longer to be trusted to not dump me unceremoniously onto a leaf and gumball-ridden substratum.

But that's OK, because my wife and daughter are going yard-sale-ing tomorrow morning