Because we spend winters away from “home” in Hot Springs Village, we schedule medical appointments in late May and early June, and again in late November and early December. By stacking them together like this, they do not interfere too much with other activities like travel, golf, pickleball, etc. More about this later.

On Wednesday, it was again too wet for golf. Kay and Pam collected Hostas in North Little Rock and strawberries from Holland Bottoms (near Cabot, Arkansas.) The deck beckoned to me in the afternoon; there were a pair of Summer Tanagers I wanted to photograph. They didn’t show up, but a couple of birds landed in nearby trees, and both were experiencing bad hair days—I can sympathize.

With light wind, I decided to check out the lake side of our place. There were Slender Bluet damselflies seemingly everywhere. 

A few more regular dragonflies were observed.

There were also dragonflies not previously observed here in the “backyard.” Two beautiful Pennants were photographed: a Banded Pennant and a Calico Pennant.

A Least Skipper appears on one the sea wall rocks and opened up for a photograph. The Least Skipper is tiny, about the size of one’s little finger fingernail. 

We ate the dinner special at Raffaella Rose at the Cortez Golf Course. The food was good, but the music was so loud that we moved to an outside table; I didn’t even have hearing aids in at a the time.

Thursday was a busy day for the both of us. Kay worked tremendously hard removing gravel from between the hot tub and patio, and planting Hostas—back breaking work! I met with the cardiologist and got a good report. And then it was to the Honda dealership for a key and programming of a key fob (almost $300). And then it was off to Walmart for a few items. And then, finally, I bought gasoline at Sam’s Club and picked up some junk food, one of the important food groups!

Kay and I switched places on Friday, as she had her yearly visit with the pulmonologist NP, and then grocery shopping. Meanwhile, I removed the rest of the gravel and plastic ground sheet from the work area, and planted the remaining Hostas. There was some hickory left over from a broken tree, and I cut it up into pieces for the Big Green Egg. Finally, tools were cleaned and stored, the patio was cleaned, and the plants were watered. Kay then played golf in the afternoon, and I shot a few photographs of damselflies and dragonflies.