…..April, June, and November. Except in 2013 when Mother Nature decided to skip the month of April altogether and put a super long extension on to the end of March instead. By my calculations it is now March 61st. We had a lovely little blizzard on Monday. I have a funny feeling March may continue to hold on for another couple of weeks. I don’t know what month it’s going to be next. Hope we don’t jump straight into October.
This is the scene that greeted us from our kitchen window on Monday morning. Where has all the green grass gone? Ah well, no point in obsessing about the weather, right? Might as well make a pretty picture and carry on.
2. The snow has all but disappeared where I live. All that’s left is what remains of our backyard snow mountain. And it’s looking pretty pathetic.
3. Today it rained! You might even say poured! For roughly 45 seconds. Hey, it’s a start.
4. The wind picked up and blew stuff everywhere. Sorry, I can’t remember why I think that’s good news.
5. I now have two days off in a row. Be still my heart.
Spring-ing (Photo credit: mountain_doo2)
The bad news is:
1. My eyes are itchy and weepy.
2. My sinuses are giving me grief and we will soon be out of kleenex if this keeps up.
3. I am trying to sneeze my face off.
4. My throat feels all scratchy.
5. Snow mold is brutal.
It seems like such a shame to have to close all the windows when the weather is finally getting nice. I go through this to some degree every spring. I look a mess for several days and then suddenly, as fast as it comes, it goes.
Allergic rhinitis – harbinger of spring. I would prefer birds, actually. But whatever heralds spring this year is fine with me - I’ll take it and be glad.
This reminds me of the suggestion to change my password to ‘incorrect‘ so that when I can’t remember it, the prompt will say ‘your password is incorrect’.
No, I don’t know why two such dissimilar things seem to me to be connected but there you go.
We spent an excellent weekend with kids and grandkids, and although I hate to say so and jinx it, the weather was BEAUTIFUL! It’s actually still beautiful today. We were sitting outside on lawn chairs beside our snow mountain watching the kids try to pummel it into submission, but it’s a pretty hard packed hill that will be around for a while yet. There was also a dog catching snowballs. Entertainment like that is hard to find.
When I got home from work today there were three messages with gorgeous artwork sitting on the pillows of my bed, and another one on top of my computer. See how well these kids know me? Those are the two places I would be certain to find stuff, that’s for sure. And my fridge is completely papered over once again with delightful works of art.
I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and a fun April Fools Day. Think Spring.
Yesterday was a bright sunshiny day. It was also day 5 of a 6 day work week for me, and about -17 Celsius with a brisk wind. I looked outside in the morning and said EFF THIS, or words to that effect. This is March for the love of all that’s holy, not January. It wouldn’t have been so disappointing to get all this snow if we hadn’t been seeing bare roads and snowless walkways and little tiny hints of spring. Now they’ve disappeared again.
Looking down our driveway. Wanting to run back inside and sleep for about six weeks.
The front of my house.
My neighbors front lawn.
I know I should not be saying bad words, not only because they don’t sound very nice, but also because they have no power to change the weather.
I will blame being tired of working, and maybe also the fact that muttering ‘oh dearie me’ like a proper grandmother just doesn’t cut it sometimes.
So for future reference, I have strung a few Eff words together and tried them out for effect:
Efface yourself you effete efficacious effigy of effusive effluvium!
Nope, it doesn’t make any sense, but neither does the real F word in about 99% of the ways in which it gets used.
So if I can just remember to repeat that little sentence with a lot of feeling, maybe kicking something at the same time, and without having my top front teeth go through my bottom lip, somehow I think the situation will seem ever so much better. And as an extra bonus, I won’t have to be so careful about what comes out of my mouth when there are small children about.
I want to wear my effing effusively fun spring coat. Really, is that too much to ask for the middle of March for crying out loud? I promise I will be in a better mood once I’ve had a couple of effectual days off. But right now, if it’s spring where you are, I effortlessly don’t like you very much.
How about some Josh Groban on a cold and overcast February Sunday morning?
Where has that old friend gone
Lost in a February song
Tell him it won’t be long
Til he opens his eyes, opens his eyes
Where is that simple day
Before colors broke into shades
And how did I ever fade
Into this life, into this life
And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
When all that I’ve known is lost and found
I promise you I, I’ll come back to you one day
Morning is waking up
And sometimes it’s more than just enough
When all that you need to love
Is in front of your eyes
It’s in front of your eyes
And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
Sometimes it’s hard to find the ground
Cause I keep on falling as I try to get away
From this crazy world
And I never want to let you down
Forgive me if I slip away
When all that I’ve known is lost and found
I promise you I, I’ll come back to you one day
Where has that old friend gone
Lost in a February song
Tell him it won’t be long
Til he opens his eyes
Opens his eyes
Our backyard mountain of snow is melting. Sort of how a glacier melts or recedes, taking about 40 years. Or so it seems. But look at that lovely sunshine at the top of the mountain! And those patches of blue sky! And, ummm…. that’s maybe all the positive things I can think of to say about our February backyard. Except that it’s no longer a January backyard.
The real purpose of these pictures is to prove that I actually left my house and ventured outside for five minutes longer than normal on my way to the car and work. I didn’t want to tempt fate by breathing in that winter air any longer than that, just in case it’s toxic, like everything else about winter seems to be for me. I like it just fine from the inside looking out where I’m much less likely to slip on the ice and break important bones.
The green grass of spring is coming – I can feel it in all my important unbroken bones.
English: Mayan calendar created by a modern craftsman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’ve gotten a little distracted from my December 2012 book of days adventure in which I was supposed to be summarizing my daily preparations for the last day on the Mayan Calendar. Although since there was never any really firm plan, I suppose I can say I haven’t gotten too far off track yet. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s pretty much impossible to be lost.
We got a ridiculous amount of snow today, and there’s more on the way. The roads are crap, there’s ice everywhere, and intersections can be treacherous. There are minor and major accidents happening all over the place, sometimes despite how careful we all think we’re being. I wish someone would declare the month of December one big long snow day so we could all stay home until the new year. Maybe I was a hibernating bear in a past life.
But hey! What can we do except make the best of it? Every day is a perfect day for something, and I think today was custom made for singing along with Kay Starr to this Irving Berlin song! All together now – one, two, three….
The snow is snowing, the wind is blowing,
but I can weather the storm!
What do I care how much it may storm?
I’ve got my love to keep me warm.
I can’t remember a worse December
Just watch those icicles form!
What do I care if icicles form?
I’ve got my love to keep me warm.
Off with my overcoat, off with my glove.
I need no overcoat, I’m burning with love.
My heart’s on fire, the flame grows higher,
so I will weather the storm.
What do I care how much it may storm?
I’ve got my love to keep me warm.
Summer this year has been a study in extremes. Scorching hot sunshine one minute, black skies and pouring rain in a wild thunderstorm the next. Hail gets thrown in once in a while just to keep us interested. Last night there was yet another storm, followed by a cool overcast morning, custom-made for sleeping in.
Next door (and close to my bedroom window) the neighbors have a tin roofed storage shed. When the rain is pounding down on that it’s easy to imagine I’m safe and warm and living inside a giant steel drum. The sounds are musical.
Of all the songs written about rain, these two are my favourites. I guess deep down I will always and forever be a child of the ’60′s.
You and me and rain on the roof Caught up in a summer shower Drying while it soaks the flowers Maybe we’ll be caught for hours Waiting out the sun You and me were gabbing away Dreamy conversation sitting in the hay Honey, how long was I laughing in the rain with you ‘Cause I didn’t feel a drop ’til the thunder brought us to You and me underneath a roof of tin Pretty comfy feeling how the rain ain’t leaking in We can sit and dry just as long as it can pour ‘Cause the way it makes you look makes me hope it rains some more
Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain Telling me just what a fool I’ve been I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain And let me be alone again
The only girl I care about has gone away Looking for a brand new start But little does she know that when she left that day Along with her she took my heart
Rain please tell me now does that seem fair For her to steal my heart away when she don’t care I can’t love another when my heart’s somewhere far away Rain won’t you tell her that I love her so Please ask the sun to set her heart aglow Rain in her heart and let the love we knew start to grow
Latte wine color (Photo credit: Majiscup - The Papercup & Sleeve Log)
1 pot coffee brewed from fresh ground beans
1 hot shower including apricot almond (or other) aroma therapy
1 head of hair so short you couldn’t do anything with it if you tried, so don’t even try
1 lazy little dog who is going to sulk and not eat today because he’s been left with you, but that’s okay because he’ll perk up and like you just fine tomorrow
6 or more unread or half-read books and the joy of being able to choose which one you’ll read today
unlimited ice-cold crystal clear water (for yourself and your moody dog)
unlimited brilliant people and things to fire up your imagination right there on your computer screen
12 or more hours of sunny warm weather
1 quiet neighborhood in which to walk a sulking dog
Test_only.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
1 opened bottle of red wine you forgot you had which needs to be used up right away because OMG, what were you thinking, you can’t waste red wine
2 or 3 leftover things in your fridge to go with the wine, no cooking required
Stir in the delicious fact that there’s
- nowhere you have to go
- nothing you have to do
- an entire day ahead of you and all the time you need to get there and to do it.
With pretty weeds all in a row? Picture number (what?) of my bucket of random plants over which I exercise no control. I promise this will be the last one. But look how interesting it’s all become! Weeds bloom!
Blooming weeds close up.
Blooming weeds not so close up.
Okay, THAT is the last one, I swear. To me it’s breathtaking, all things considered, covered in raindrops and growing tall. Also my bush in the background is now covered in strange little yellow flowers which make it look slightly less bush-ugly.
And at last the tiger lilies have started to bloom. Finally, something beautiful that I actually meant to have growing in my backyard.
The rain has been falling continuously since the storm and it’s still overcast and drizzling this morning. Temperatures inside and out are back to something much closer to normal. So now we can all stop complaining about the heat and start moaning about the rain instead.
Follow the rainbow..they say this wordpress.com site is ENDLESS..but who knows, you may find a bag of skittles, Neil Gaiman, or that greedy little leprechauns stash o'lucky charms.
