I LOVE Spring!

We are badly in need of rain right now, but I have to admit that I’ve really enjoyed the warm, dry Spring we’ve had.

Everything that makes plants flourish and bloom must have happened at just the right times this year, because all the flowers and bushes are beautiful.

Here are some pictures I took out across the lake last month.  It always intrigues me when the beauty of the colors is doubled by their reflection in the water.

I love …

Love …

LOVE … Spring!

a temporary treat …

Is it obvious what this is?  (btw, the spoon is a large serving spoon, for perspective)  I think it looks like the largest pearl tapioca I’ve ever seen or maybe albino caviar on steroids!

But it’s neither … it’s hail that I really took a close look at when it fell last week.  And I was totally charmed by the small perfect pellets.

I’m reminded that it’s always interesting when I take the time to “smell the roses” … or in this case, “study the hail”.

Not “Art Deco”, “Ice Deck-o”

The small deck outside our bedroom is still wooden, so the wood itself is much more interesting than the large deck off the sunroom which we replaced a year ago with the new (supposedly) wears-forever decking.

In the Winter, the door to the bedroom deck doesn’t get opened very often.  But the other day I opened it to look at something in the yard (probably snow because that’s just about all there has been in the yard recently), and noticed these leaves on and holes in the icy snow covering the deck.  There is a pergola over it so I imagine the holes were made by water dripping from it.

There were a few leaves on top of the icy snow.

I like this picture because the ice looks lacy and almost transparent and the green discoloration on the wood adds a little color.

Angles, textures, a little color.

And the hole on the left is the reason I went to get my camera in the first place.  I just happened to glance down and saw this perfectly shaped heart.

When we had an ice storm a couple years ago, the interest on that deck was when you looked up!

Random Winter

This Amish buggy horse ran out to meet us as we drove by.  Hmm.  Makes me wonder if his experience has been that “English” cars driving by sometimes stop and offer apples!

Triumph Over the Elements

 

A lone hydrangea bloom that dried naturally on the plant.  I have enjoyed watching and photographing it as it has withstood the elements.

Does he ever say, “I’m going to go out and warm up my car.”?

Maybe.  But if he says that in February, it probably isn’t accomplished until at least March!

I noticed this Jeep parked in front of a house on a street that I go down once a week.  The first time I noticed it, I didn’t have my camera with me (believe me, if I’d had time, I would have gone home and got it!) so I just thought, “What a shame … a missed opportunity.”  But, lo and behold, the next week, it was parked there again.  The guy must live there.

It gives new meaning to a “cool ride”, doesn’t it.

Fashionista Winter

Just like a fashionable person, Winter creates great lines and wears “winter white” and its accessories well.

I usually go out for the newspaper about 5:30 in the morning.  On a Winter morning when there is snow on the ground, it is beautifully silent and almost cozy feeling.  And there is something so fascinating about untouched snow, as on this walk to our front door.

In the Summer, I put red geraniums in this pot and its partner on the other side of the driveway.  But in the Winter it’s always a challenge to keep them from looking drab.  So I now put artificial evergreen wreaths on top of them with a little black filigree lantern in the middle.  It’ll do, but it’ll never match the pretty geraniums.

We have these door mats outside a couple of doors, and they are sooo not able to do their job when there is this much snow!

The untouched snow on the driveway early in the morning with just the first inkling of sunrise in the distance.

In no time at all, we will be done with Winter.  I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Provisions Paranoia … A Blizzard’s Coming!

We are supposed to be in the path of the big blizzard that is predicted to move across the country today and Wednesday.

I first heard about it on Saturday in an e-mail from a friend who has connections to the National Weather Service.  So, I went to the grocery to get some blizzard food that afternoon.  Business at the grocery was pretty normal; I guess most people hadn’t heard about the storm yet.  I admit I felt slightly superior that I had prepared before the milk-and-bread-before-the-storm masses descended.

Well, best laid plans (and pride cometh before the fall!) …  Yesterday afternoon as I heard more and more about the storm that was coming, I thought of just a couple more things that we really ought to have.  I guess my memories of being low on staples during the Blizzard of ’78  may have lead to a little bit of provision paranoia.  So, I made just one more quick trip to the grocery.

Holy cow!  It was packed!   But the upside of shopping shoulder-to-shoulder in a crowded grocery is that I ran into a couple of people I knew.  (“And actually it was a very courteous crowd, so not at all unpleasant.”, said the retiree who admittedly doesn’t have all the pressures that most of the shoppers probably have.)

First I ran into a young father from our church who has four teens at his house, including three boys.  I immediately noticed that compared to the overflowing carts all around us, Kevin was just carrying a loaf of bread and some lunch meat.  I couldn’t resist teasing him saying that knowing the size of his family I didn’t think he was buying quite enough.  He fell right in with the joke.  He said he decided it was time to toughen those guys up.  A couple days of bread and water would do alot of good for their toughness.  Kevin is always fun to talk to.  And I’m guessing his wife had already stocked their cupboards earlier.

Then I ran into my friend Marilyn in the produce section.  She was hurrying to finish her shopping and said she was so glad to see me because she was in a hurry and was picking up the ingredients for the salad I had posted last week, so where the heck was the broccoli slaw?  I pointed out the rainbow slaw that I had used because an employee had told me that is what the broccoli slaw they sell is called.  It’s always nice to feel needed.  Hope you got everything you need for the salad, Marilyn!

Okay.  I didn’t manage to avoid the last minute, hurried grocery shopping after all.  But actually my last minute trip was kind of fun.  That’s one of the advantages of retirement … having time to stop to smell the roses, or in this case, actually see the fun in a before-the-storm trip to the crowded grocery store.

For everyone else in the path of the storm, I hope you’re able to do as we will do … stay in, stay warm, stay safe and stay fed!

A beautiful Fall tradition

One of my favorite experiences of Fall is sitting around a bonfire.

Beautiful any time, but such a “sign of the season” in the Fall.

Welcome, Spring!

When I went to the end of the driveway at 5: 30 this morning to get the paper, it was pre-sunrise, but already balmy, with just a light breeze and lots of birds chirping  — what I imagined was a “happy spring” song!  Beautiful.

We received an e-mail from our neighborhood association over the weekend that our neighborhood’s every-spring garage sale is May 7-8.  When Candy and I had a garage sale in her neighborhood two years ago, we said, “This is the LAST garage sales for us”!  But, gosh, I still have things to get rid of!  Soooo I called Candy and asked if she wanted to do just one more garage sale with me, and she agreed.  That means that for the next month I will be in “collect garage sale stuff” mode.  And, to that end, I am going to start cleaning closets today.  It’s always kind of exciting to think about weeding out unused stuff and actually getting a few bucks for it!

I played my first round of golf on my favorite “par three” last Friday and was just invited to play my first round on a regulation course this afternoon with a couple of friends.  I love golf and am so ready to get started playing again.

Welcome, Spring … it’s wonderful to get re-acquainted with you!