Welcome Spring!

These are from my yard. In Central Illinois. Today. March 5. But climate change isn't a real thing.

Dreaming of Warmer Days

I'm stuck inside today, loads of snow coming down. It's beautiful and the temperature is hoovering right at freezing with no wind. It would be a great time to go for a walk, before the arctic cold moves in. The son has already been out once already. It's been years since I've taken a walk in the snow. But... I tend to fall and break things, so the best thing for me to do is stay inside and admire it through the window. I did go stand on my deck and bask in the peace of it earlier. Anyway, as pretty as it is, I'm already looking forward to Spring. I planned on planting an herb garden last Summer but that didn't happen. My resolution (for lack of a better word) is to make it happen this year. I love fresh herbs, and saving bees is an added plus!

Garden Blahs

Somehow, after all of the cold weather and rain we've had this Spring, warm weather finally popped. And so has the flowers, and the grass, and the trees. My allergies haven't hit as hard this year, at least not yet. My worst time is usually when the cottonwoods start dropping their little cotton wads. That should be soon. I'm having a hard time getting interested in gardening this year. Maybe because it's just so late. I usually have my flower beds cleaned up by now, and new plants in the ground. We did manage to get the garden tilled and I got most of it planted over the weekend, but again, I'm not really interested in it. I was about 6 weeks ago, when I normally would have started. Some how, during the delay, I mentally just moved on! Maybe, when the seedlings start coming up, I'll get interested again. I had every intention of cleaning out one of the flower beds and making it into an herb garden, but it's so overgrown now (it's full of perennials)  that I think it'll wait until next year. On the up side, my daughter got home over the weekend and she doesn't know how long she is staying, so I guess I just want to spend my time with her!

Spring Fever!

The first of the week the weather was so nice- high in the 70s. Every Spring I get this feeling, like I want to jump out of my skin. I feel like I'm 20, not amost 50. Actually it's kind of painful. Tuesday was really bad. I was in a manic good mood. If I could have found someone to go "road-tripping" with me, I  might have called work during my lunch hour and told them I got suddenly sick and wasn't coming back. (as if they would have believed me!) Even though it got cold and wet at the end of the week, I've stayed in this good mood. I wish I felt like this all of the time.

Bird on a Ladder

We have several trees in the yard and during the last few weeks, since it's been warm enough to have the windows open, the noise the baby birds have been making has just about driven us crazy! It's amazing how loud they can be! Now, they are all leaving the nests and there are baby birds all over the place. I'm afraid the neighborhood cats have decided our yard is Cat Central and the babies that don't learn to fly quickly are probably short lived. This baby Robin found a perch yesterday evening on the ladder my husband left outside after cleaning gutters. He spent quite awhile there, just looking around, until an adult showed up with a worm. Then he got very excited, started making lots of noise and flapping he little wings around. Last I saw of him, he very wobbly flew over to the fence and, very proud of himself, looked around to see if anyone noticed. I think he is safe from the cats!

Down Wind

Spring is here! The forsythia and crocus have done their things and already are starting to fade. The daffodils and tulips are making their appearance. And the ornamental pear trees are blooming out. They are beautiful in the early spring covered with their bundles of petite white flowers. They are popular in our town--the streets are lined with gorgeous white trees right now. The ornamental pear is well shaped and grows quickly, which I thought was a good choice when we moved into this house 10 years ago and realized the only tree in the yard was a blue spruce by the garage. Something I didn't know about them, tho, was the smell. While they are blooming they put off a horrible smell that reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what. Then it came to me Thursday at the park. My husband and I had gone to Subway and gotten sandwiches and stopped at the park to eat. As I took my first bite I got a whiff of rotten tomato. Only I could tell by the taste that the tomato on my sandwich wasn't bad. Looking over my shoulder, I realized we were downwind of a pear tree! And it hit me--they smell like rotten tomatoes! Thank goodness they only bloom for a couple of weeks!

Winter Blahs

Things have been dreary. It's that "end of winter" that everyone seems to feel. A few of us at work decided our bodies want to hibernate, and we just keep trying to push ourselves forward by sheer force of will. The result is we are barely there--we are like puppets going through the motions. The last few days have been Spring Preview days--today got up to 71! Makes me want to be 22 again, no responsibilities. Just get off work and meet my friends at the bar and party all night! My Glory days! But that's not my life now. And like I said, it's just a preview. It's supposed to be back down in the 40s again by the middle of next week! It's just not fair!