This is the second post reviewing what happened to me in 2024; this one is focused on my home.
My favorite place is being at home – and I think that is true for my husband as well. The house that we bought a little over 2 years ago suits our needs very well. We have enough room for hobbies we enjoy individually and together.
My husband has enjoyed experimenting with his new telescope from our back yard…pleasantly surprised at what he can photograph even with the amount of extra light from our neighborhood and surrounding suburbs.
My office has windows on 3 sides…all with pleasant views of our back yard. It’s my favorite room of the house and where I create most of my Zentangle tiles, read most of my books, write my blog, and study. Most of my time is at the corner table that contains my Macbook Air and two monitors. I like the mini-kitchen nearby for making popcorn and hot chocolate.
I am beginning to mount some of my Zentangle tiles on old vertical blinds (separated from their frame)…making displays around my office. My mother’s painting of a dogwood flower is in the place I usually put a Christmas wreath; I am leaving the painting there for this year – remembering Thanksgiving – wedding anniversary – Christmas 2024 – which was her last.
We’ve arranged two old rocker recliners that we hadn’t used much since moving from Maryland in front of window for our FeederWatch sessions. The thirty minutes twice a day for 2 consecutive days each week for a ‘count’ has become a new shared endeavor that we both enjoy.
My husband’s office has been tweaked over the past year – a table to support a standing workstation has come and gone. The keyboards/synthesizer have been moved to add the table and then returned to their original spot when his experiment of standing while working at his computer ended (not a success). He has a new monitor – big enough that one is sufficient, and I have his two ‘old’ monitors in my office.
Our three cats enjoy the entirety of the first floor, and we are considering opening up part of the basement to them. They are adept at opening doors with lever knobs; my husband plans to replace 3 lever knobs to keep them out of some parts of the basement….a project for later this month or maybe early 2025.
This is the first post reviewing what happened to me in 2024; I’m starting with the big events.
2024 included a bigger-than-usual event…perhaps even a pivot point in my life: my mother died. We had shared our lives for over 70 years; no one else can fill the gap completely. The months leading up to her death (hospitalization, moving to assisted living, rallying, COVID-19) and the immediate aftermath (the funeral, selling my parents’ house, finalizing her financial affairs, comforting my father) are still fresh in my memory. I’m not completely sure that the pivot is complete even now. My relationship with my siblings (3 sisters) is still changing.
All the other events of 2024 are not as life changing:
Taking the Identifying Wood Plants class at Missouri State University and the Missouri Master Naturalist training were an important step back to pre-COVID times. Both have prompted an uptick in volunteering and discovering ‘favorite places’ close to home.
Attending a funeral for my cousin. She was more than a decade younger than me, and we had not seen each other frequently in recent years. It happened not that long after my mother’s death and the sadness was quite different…for a life that ended early.
I made many short trips (day trips, one or two nights away from home) with my daughter. Sometimes with my husband along too. There are so many new places to explore when one moves to a new part of the country. We have been here in Missouri for 2.5 years and there still seems a lot to see for the first time within the ‘short trip’ range.
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from last month:
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
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