Was watching the weather on tv last night - the weatherperson reminded everyone that March 1 is when spring begins for the purposes of weather forecasting. It is currently 71 degrees outside right now and stunningly beautiful. Also IMO a bit scary because it's really still winter and shouldn't be this warm. Flower bulb shoots are several inches above the ground, every walk we take we see buds on the trees and even the grass has begun to green.
That means the busier outdoor season will be here soon: grass fertilizing, rose pruning and feeding, garden planning and planting not to mention the lawn edging, mowing and blowing.
The Husband put his leaf blower to good use the other day. We had a couple mornings of snow: barely there, light fluffy flakes that hardly drifted down because there was virtually no moisture in them. So, out came the blower and it did a right fine job of clearing the walks. Quick and fun for The Husband. He was pretty pleased.
We had a couple cold nights. Saturday morning I walked alone - 7 degrees is just too cold for the perpetually freezing hands of The Husband. I layer up and move briskly and I love it - mostly because I'm generally the only one out and about in that kind of weather. Just a bit down the trail I saw a couple red foxes go streaking across a field. I did get a couple pictures, but they were so far away that by the time it was zoomed in (or cropped) it was so blurry it was pretty hard to distinguish the foxes. One fox came out and ran along the backs of yards by the fences lining the trail. I followed along for quite some way until the fence that is solid, which meant I could no longer see him. He would run along, then stop and wait a minute. As soon as he could see me again he was off. So very fun and a great way to begin my day,
Sunday was the singing of the quartet in Sacrament meeting. I'm so very relieved that one is over. I spent more than a few hours (probably between 15 and 20) at the piano practicing (learning, refining, and polishing) so that I'd be fully prepared. I never want (though I know I do) to disappoint our Heavenly Father and church is one place I can pretty much count on His attendance. The group I played for: one 20 minute practice and then another 40 minute practice the day before. Without any practice for any of them on their parts in between. I can't subscribe to the perspective that my attendance is enough. That I'm good enough on my own that I don't need practice. I always want to do my best and that requires focus and attention. I wasn't thrilled with the song's presentation in church. But I have to remain steadfast in my opinion that I did my best.
My best was nowhere apparent yesterday at the funeral. The mortuary called my friend Robert to sing, and he invited me to play for him. It wasn't a super tough song (except for the middle third that was written in 5 (yes, 5!) sharps) to master and I worked on it. Again spending multiple hours doing my best and I felt like I really had it down. At the funeral, I got a bit flustered even before I touched a single key. Played about 5 measures of the introduction (so I'm playing alone, and the room is seriously quiet) and totally flubbed it. Which flustered me even more. It wasn't my finest few minutes. People are kind and will say they didn't notice any mistakes. But this one couldn't have escaped anyone. And yes, I did shed a few embarrassed and frustrated tears over that. I know I disappointed someone. Then during the funeral it came out that the deceased was very musical. Which means the family was also exposed to lots of music. Which made it worse because I couldn't try to slip the blunder under the blanket of someone being music illiterate. Sigh....
But today is a new day. We managed a quick walk, yoga was one of her better classes (in spite of the fact that the room was crowded), and I've a couple good books in the queue to start. I only have one more musical number for Sacrament meeting to prepare for (late in March) and it will be easier to master so I can give my very sore and complaining wrist and hands time to calm down. I like the lessening of pressure and stress, that causes me such anxiety! We'll be meeting with the tax lady so that'll be one more thing to check off the list.
I pray daily for Ukraine. I hope we all are. So grateful for hope that things will improve.
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