Because I opted out of recycling last week on what was a lovely day, I have to do it today, on what is a decidedly un-lovely day. It’s going to be rainy and snowy and all of that stuff. It went down to the twenties last night.
Sometimes it seems as if spring will never come.
If you were here and looked at the landscape, you’d think so, too.
Although, little things like these lilac buds assure me it will come.
I finished my book and am starting on another by the late Wilfred Sheed, The House that George Built, which is all about George Gershwin and fellow songwriters of the Great American Songbook. That’s my favorite era in popular music and when I saw it in a used bookstore (originally published in 2007) I grabbed it, as I faintly remembered glowing reviews when it was published. I’ve just started, but I’m enjoying it so far. Sheed is a charming writer.
This, by the way, is where I overwinter my geranium. We’re short on space here and it seems to do well in this little space between the sofa and the window. Don stuck that wooden frog in there a couple of years ago. At the time, the plant had a lot of leaves and flowers, so I didn’t get the clearest view of it and I thought it was real. I was sure it was real!
Okay. I have to go. It’s begun snowing. Yep. It won’t stick, really, but nonetheless…
Happy Friday.
Hi Claudia, thanks for the book suggestion. I got it into my head this past winter that I wanted to read about music from the Tin Pan Alley era. I see I can download this one onto my Kindle for a mere 5 bucks. We have snow on the ground – again – but our tulips are valiantly pushing up. Crossing my fingers the unusually low temps causing a lack of greenery doesn’t make them look even more delicious to the deer. They’ve been known to daily stop by to nibble them to ground level so we’re just left with just one odd bloom here and there.
My lone tulip is pushing up, as well. Fingers crossed. It’s snowing quite heavily at the moment, though it’s supposed to turn to rain later.
That frog looks very real!
I am betting that we are going to skip Spring in our area and go right to Summer! This is crazy.
Take care, Monica
I know. We had better have a spring!
I have an errand to run today with my Mom or I would stay home all day. My head is killing me. UGH! Allergies be gone. Cute frog!
So sorry about your allergies. Mine are acting up a bit, but all of that will come later as we are still getting snow here!
We have lots of wind today….which gives us a wind chill I’m sure, probably in the 20’s. Your frog reminds me of a turtle we have…actually a leftover from one of my sons. He looks so real….I found him in the yard, one year when I was removing a bush. Now…he has a treasured place in our bath. Turtles need water! ;)
They sure do, Donna! I’m going to say that the frog is a tree frog and, therefore, okay where he is.
He looks very happy! ;)
xo
Oh, love to see the lilac buds; here in SoCalif as you know, we don’t know lilacs.
We thought our bougainvillea was killed by frost but my husband pruned it last weekend after we broke off stems that showed green INside, so fingers crossed it’ll get a second wind.
We have a sunny morning, which is a switch to our, of late, overcast. Just try to hang in there, Claudia. One day soon, your spring will arrive, too.
Funny/peculiar things after an earthquake like we had yesterday – – what happens sometimes afterward. Hours later in the evening we hear a crash and an item which had scooted in the jerk & roll to the end of a shelf, unnoticed by me, suddenly fell. Then I noticed my shoes had shifted where I’d placed them in a row. And a table had moved a couple of inches. I’d given a quick scan at the time, when I still felt like I was (myself) rolling, but you just can’t quite take everything in; and, lucky this time, it could have been a heckuva lot worse of course. We probably were having minor aftershocks not felt; my dog was uneasy the whole rest of the day; they say animals can feel what we don’t in these circumstances.
I haven’t been to the island where the quake happened – – I feel for the frightened campers who were there for spring break! – – but I’ve been to one of its companion islands and it’s quite isolated in this chain, so not like a lot of buildings or anything would fall.
One of the reasons I didn’t handle it well this time was because I was on pins & needles about something else. Over the past four months, I’ve been having a rough time healthwise with irritated airways from the wildfire which left me vulnerable to a few infections and they’ve never been able to kill my low-grade fever. I started having dizzy spells in early February, followed by an unrelenting headache which has now been going on for seven weeks (the dizzy part has improved). It’s not the worst headache of my life, yet it never goes away, is with me from the time I wake til I hit the pillow for bed and sometimes it’s waking me up in the night, or so it seems. Pressure, not throbbing. I’m doing a lot of ice packs. So, I had to have an MRI of my brain this past Tuesday, which was no picnic; this on the heels of two CT scans over the past 19 months since I fell on my face/head on hard concrete/asphalt, and this headache is located RIGHT on that spot where I fell.
But about four hours after the shaky quake, shaky-me got the good call that my cancer from five years ago did not metastasize, I have no tumor or mass or clot or vessel inflammation, only two (apparently not worrisome) ‘unspecifics’ which can be associated with…tah-dah…headache. At least now, we can go forward with some kind of physical therapy or, sigh, more meds without the concern for something else. The doctor will talk more when I see her in person. The relief I’ve felt with this news (the ‘ruling out’) makes me feel like I can tackle anything now, even this (**??!!##&&) aching head. (Special characters as descriptive adjective in lieu of a cuss word in print.) I’ve been SO nervous, post-procedure. Waiting.
Happy Friday indeed and I’ll try to send you some California sun today, Claudia; maybe the snow will be really brief! I’m sure you’re looking to throwing on some jeans and a tee; be outside in shirtsleeves, but it’s coming.
I’m so happy to hear everything is okay, Vicki! What an enormous relief for you! xoxo
I’ve been nervously chattering on your blog for days; anything to keep my mind off ‘possibilities’; thanks for your encouragement and patience, Claudia.
xoxo
hope the headache’s done, that you feel better soon. and no more earhquakes would be nice, too!
glad that awful waiting is over and the news is good.
hoped you have a peace-filled weekend.
kathy in iowa
So glad, Vicky, that you received good news!!!! Those are the scariest times we have to go through ~ the waiting is just awful. I know that feeling of such immense relief that you think you can climb a mountain! Hope the breathing gets better & easier for you, too. This has been a crummy awful winter for so many of us! Here’s to spring!
Oh, Chris, so nice of you to chime in with good thoughts for me. Yes, I wish you Happy Spring as well because I’m sure Wisconsin must still be darn cold. It will be good to put the winter months behind us! On the evening news, the weather person described your Midwest/East (Claudia) winter as ‘endless’, mentioning a place I can’t remember at the moment but shaking his head, “20s in Spring (the temps)”; like, unbelievable. I do remember a friend of mine going to Nantucket (from Calif), thinking they’d be fine in mid-to-late April (was some years ago) only to get hit with a big nor’easter and getting stuck on the island for several days.
kathy, how nice of you to give me such nice words; thank you so much and for cheering me on about better news…
kathy, I replied to you below; I got a little overwhelmed with everyone’s lovely comments including yours and started sticking comments in the wrong places I think! Thanks.
Yay Vicki !!…it’s about time that you had some good news lady! (well not counting the Earthquake that is)…Take care and I hope that they find you help for those headaches!
yes, that’s the thing…good news of course…but I’ve still got the banging headache…however, I just KNOW we can take it from here and get me on a good regimen for pain relief and maybe once the pain is better managed, it’ll heal properly, whatever it is…anyway, thank you Nancy; I really appreciate your good thoughts…I just keep going out and trying to live life although some days I cave to the discomfort depending upon level of intensity; they’re getting very accustomed to seeing me at the garden center almost daily (I’ve told them, ‘you’re my therapy’); my husband says, “you have to stop buying vegetables; we are OUT OF ROOM” but I went back on word-to-self about limiting the garden, buying three very happy and healthy lemon cucumber plants (I seem to be dispensing with seeds this year, going right to plants; this is a newer garden store and their everyday sales events right now [to get known and attract customers] are very appealing)…thanks again…
I LOVE garden centers Vicki!!!…I was at one today!
I share the frustration over the never ending winter and never appearing spring! We have windchill again and are 30 degrees below average temps. Snow is in the forecast for a few days over the coming week. When will this end?
This morning I purchased bulbs of lilies, glads, and peonies. I am leaving the packages out on my sunroom table to enjoy and pretend that spring is upon us.
It’s April 6th, for heaven’s sake! I am over it, Carolyn, and I know you are, too.
We had beautiful weather for our staycation at my parents’ then rain when we got home. It’s going to rain the next couple of days but I hope to get some gardening done afterwards. My dahlias have broken through and I’m sure this rain will be good for them. Tulips, daffodils, crocus….all bloomed and spent. Honeysuckle all of a sudden burst and it’s a mass of light pink and white against that part of my back fence. Spring will come soon for you, Claudia, but I know not soon enough…
So glad you had good weather, Wendy. It’s snowing here right now. My only comfort is that it won’t stick around at this time of year!
hope the chores are done and (snow, rain or whatever) you are enjoying just being home.
took the day off from work and been up since 6:00 am, sorting, cleaning. made five stops to donate and recycle things. feels good. now time for a late lunch.
hope you have a great weekend.
kathy in iowa
Snow – over an inch – and then rain. Thanks, Kathy!
ps: i thought that frog was real!
xo
Spring will be here soon. Then it’ll be hot and the mandatory water bans will start and everyone will be complaining!
I watched the first episode of a new show on BBC America called Killing Eve starring Sandra Oh (on demand). It reminds me of Broadchurch. It’s already been picked up for a second season. Funny, thrilling, great writing and acting. Can’t wait for the next episode.
We never get mandatory water bans here. So that isn’t an issue! (Plus, we have our own well.)
I’ve read about that series but we don’t get BBC America – we recently cut back on our channels – so I’ll have see it in the future!
We went into Madison this morning, and we had snow, too. It wasn’t sticking, but ~~ it was snow for goodness sake. ugh. And it is soooo windy and cold. Just yuk! The sun is out, but that almost seems cruel.
Hope you have a good Friday and remember that we are one day closer to a warm day. I just know it!
We had over an inch and it lasted into the afternoon. Eventually turned to rain and it’s melting now. No sun. Sigh.
Spring will come. When? – is the question.
Those Lilac buds are an encouraging sign for Spring’s arrival. That book you have started sounds interesting. My late father loved that music. We still have his albums he listened to many times.
Marilyn
My favorite era, Marilyn!
It is nice to see your lilac bush has buds on it…I hope they bloom soon and share wonderful scent with you!…My geranium that I brought inside this Winter is doing well also…I can certainly see why you thought that little frog was real..Have a great weekend Claudia!
It will take a while before we see bloom, but to me, lilacs herald spring. Thanks, Nancy!
Spring will come! I posted the stage my lilacs are in on my blog today, I invite you to pop over and see. And my Hosta are coming up like green spears. I can’t wait for the Lily-of-the-Valley to bloom. Then the Rhodies! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
I don’t think I can bear to look, Teresa! (Just kidding.) But the wait around these parts seems to be longer than usual!
I have come to believe that we are doomed with cold weather for eternity. At least that’s what it feels like. We had more snow yesterday and the cold is relentless. Hope it turns soon. Thanks for sharing your pictures.
It sure does seem that way, Audrey. I think we have about 4 more days of temps in the forties and then it’s going to start to warm up.