Spring

I remarked today as we were driving along that I have loved the "greening" of our little area of the world. It has been eye candy for me whenever I'm out and see the trees, bushes, grass all turning that beautiful shade of spring green - such a refreshing change from the dull brown of winter.  I am a big fan of winter (though I wish we'd had one this year) as well as spring and fall.  Summer?  Not a fan at all.  But spring this year for some reason feels especially pretty.  And I need some pretty. I took a couple pictures.  

falling flowers

The one is just to illustrate how odd the seasons are this year.  It is barely March, I took that picture a few days ago on my morning walk a couple streets away to show how many of the trees are already losing their blooms.  W-a-y early.  I'd rather the blooms stay on the trees for a few more days - even better a few more weeks - so we can enjoy their loveliness a bit longer.  It even feels strange to drive down the street and see the spent blooms drifting like snow down to the ground. Again, w-a-y too early.

Our little sargent crabapple in the front will be in full bloom soon, I love how the buds start out pink then turn white as they open.  I love that little tree.  The newest maple in the front only has very tight buds, but the mature maples in the back are beginning to sprout leaves.  I love that proof they weathered the "winter" and are ready to provide beauty and shade to our back yard. If they get enough leaves we'll be able to leave the light blocking devices out of our windows at night - the streetlight from the next street over shines right at our bedroom window keeping me awake when I want to be sleeping, I've become aware I need it pretty dark to sleep well.  All this is to say I'm loving the spring.  I've joked in the past that our spring needs to last longer than two weeks.  We'll see what happens this year since we already experienced two weeks of summer in March.  The world is changing for sure.

crabapple blooms

Went to lunch today with a friend.  Had such a good laugh.  Her face turned beet red when she told me this, while laughing at herself.  We all do such dumb things.  She'd taken her garage door opener out when she was with friends to easily access the house on her return.  Had tossed it back in the car.  Went out next day to run some errands, hit the wall mounted garage door button to open the door while she got in,  started the car and began to back out.  Only to run smack into the garage door.  She had sat on the opener which triggered the door to close as she was exiting the garage.  Big repair bill there.  She's such a sweetheart and cute and funny.  Just a delightful 79 year old to spend time with today and commiserate about spending all our money on only two things:  our bodies and our homes. 

maple leaves

FedEx lost our blind.  The company rushed through another blind build and it arrived the other day.  Soonest install date was a week out.  Then a cancellation occurred so they're coming tomorrow to replace the broken blind.  Took just shy of a month.  I think I've mentioned before that if I ever have a choice I will never ship FedEx.  They just lose too many items.  It has happened to us on multiple occasions.  Am anxious to see how the new faux wood (he wouldn't even quote me a price for a wood blind, it would have been so high) blind looks next to our original real wood blinds.  Hopefully it won't be so bad that having a working blind will outweigh any aesthetic concern. I'm also hoping that I've matured some.  I remember a time when all the fuss and delays would have cost me much frustration and maybe even a bit of anger.  This time I was able to just laugh it off.  Wow, that's quite an accomplishment for me.  Tightly wound is my natural state.  :^)

I'm so grateful for our good furnaces that can be turned on with just a touch of a button when the world can't decide if it's time for heat or air conditioning.  I'm grateful for a kind friend who wanted to go to lunch with me.  I'm grateful for good books to read.  I'm hoping for something fun to look forward to, grateful for hope.