It's still Spring

Nice day, lots of green and growing things.  Neighbors took another of my fake Daffodils last night.  If I play my cards right I can decorate the whole neighborhood with fake flowers.  I've been trying to think of something that I can put on the stems so they will stain when handled...I can play tricks too LOL.

Test was normal, I would have been very surprised if it wasn't as I am a dairy eater from birth.

Furnace will be installed tomorrow barring anything unforseen.

Looks like rain.  I have the windows open isn't that something.  Seems like a minute ago it was below zero around here.

Wading

Too frail to swim, she nonetheless
Gingerly lifts her cotton dress
Clear of the lake, so she can wade
Where the descending sun has laid
A net of rippling, molten bands
Across the underwater sands.

Her toes dig, curling, in the cool
And fine-grained bottom; minnows school
Before her, tautly unified
In their suspended flash -and-glide;
Blue-brilliantly, a dragonfly
Encounters and skims round her thigh.

Despite age, all this still occurs.
The sun's companionably hers.
Its warmth suffusing blood and flesh,
While its light casts the mobile mesh
Whose glowing cords she swam among
In summertime when she was young.

 

My furnace went out last night.  I am so thankful that it waited until that terrible winter was over.  It's a little cold but I have a room heater and heated mattress pads and was thinking of baking something to warm up the kitchen...but I changed my mind...too drastic LOL.

Have a pneumonia shot and a bone density test tomorrow and thanks to Deb's blog I know what to expect and what the numbers should be.  Hope mine are good.  I wonder if I will know right away what they are.

Going to the boutique tomorrow and toys r us.  Need a blanket for Anne Frank for Spring with a pretty flower design.  Need to get a gift for Ethin's birthday and David's baby shower.

Stopped by work today (old work) to pick up some chocolate eggs I ordered for Easter and everyone was happy to see me.  Nice to see them too.

Friday morning I will be getting a new furnace.

Early to bed.  Didn't sleep too good last night after the furnace went out.

 

Old friends

What a great day.  I met some old friends for lunch. I finished boiling down my Maple sap for syrup (MMMM MMMM).  I used a covered juice bottle to catch it, I figured a pail was too open.  I caught about a gallon so far and boiled it down.  How delicious it is. It's cold so I did some inside cleaning today.  I have two chapters left in my online audio book so I'm off to finish that and maybe play a little of a game.  My refrigerator and freezer are all cleaned out...no more freezer burn, no more blue fuzz LOL!  Have to either mail off my taxes or find a place on line that I can send them.  I used to get my taxes in, in January but now that I have to pay in, I wait.  You should see my yard there are hundreds of Daffodil buds ready to bloom, it must be the perfect spring for them.

 

Tags: Wordsworth, Maple Sugaring, Daffodils, Old friends

First Gardening Day

I uncovered my big raised bed and a couple other raised beds next to the house and garage and Mrs. Cardinal brought all her friends and they sat on one of the clotheslines and watched me.  They looked lovely all dressed up with their pretty orange lipstick.

I downloaded a library book called

Leeway Cottage by Beth Gutcheon

I listened to the first chapter and it is very good.  It's a novel and I can keep it for seven days.  I can get four book at a time but usually only get one. 

 A beautiful warm sunny day today.  I can smell delicious things cooking on grills.  I, myself, had a small Home Run Pizza cooked in the microwave and an orange...10 WW points.  My favorite pizza.

I am so very lucky to be coming into Spring and Summer.  I made it through another winter much to my surprise.  All my tests were not only negative but exceptionally good, so the doctor said. 

Looked forward all winter to getting back to gardening but it is still a darn hard job that produces sore muscles, but firms up the body and makes the heart strong too.

The picture was taken by my daughter of me and Owen when we were at Murphy Park on Saturday. 

Keep on the sunny side!

Tags: Gardening, grandson, grilling out,

Crocus

I'm filing my taxes and looked out the window and there in the feeder are Mama and Daddy Cardinal, a little group of House Finches and two pairs of Mourning Doves.  Over by the Pine tree there is a gathering of Sparrows busy building nests.  The squirrels are busy in the yard and scampering up and down the two story tree trunk playing tag.  Back by last years Christmas tree  in a little ground nest are a couple rabbits...maybe Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter.  Even Anne Frank is outside sleeping in the sun.  A nice warm breeze is coming in the window.  Oh, I just noticed another squirrel asleep on top of the Bluebird house.  I love my yard, wish I could pick it up and move it to the country.  I hope anyone that comes by is having a peaceful and pleasant Sunday.

A perfect Spring day

The Sheets


From breezeway or through front porch screen
You'd see the sheets, wide blocks of white
Defined against a backdrop of
A field whose grasses were a green
Intensity of light.


How fresh they looked there on the line,
Their laundered sweetness through the hours
Gathered richly in the air
While cumulus clouds gathered in
Topheavily piled towers.


We children tightroped the low walls
Along the garden; bush and bough
And the washed sheets moved in the wind
And thinking of this now recalls
Vasari's tale of how


Young Leonardo, charmed of sight
Would buy in the loud marketplace
Caged birds and set them free--thus yielding
Back to the air that gave him light
Lost beauty and lost grace.


So with the sheets; for as they drew
Clear warming sunlight from the sky
They gave to light their rich, clean scent.
And when, the long day nearly through
My cousin Anne and I


Would take the sheets down from the line
We'd fold in baskets their crisp heat
Absorbing , as they had , the fine
Steady exchange of earth and sky,
Material and sweet.

    ...Timothy Steele

It's Spring Again

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

        Robert Frost

commenting on the day

Had some medical test last week which are continuing next week.  It is mind sobering and I feel for others who have gone through it.

I got a little web cam and I can't make the CD start to install the program.

It's cold here, but sunny, I can't seem to get warm.

I started a twelve hour fast at 7, it is now 7:23 and I don't know if I will make it.  I'm as hungry as a lion or a bear or Anakin my cat.

I see they have recalled a cat food but I don't know why and I can't seem to find out which one.

My behind neighbor stopped to tell me that she has enjoyed the birds and squirrels and rabbits all winter.  I thought that was nice.

I have a lot of daffodils, crocus and whatevers starting to grow in the raised bed next to the garage. 

I can't have red meat, broccoli, or cawliflower for two weeks.  I don't like or eat any of these things except they are on my mind because I can't have them. 

I'm going to start taking my Grandson to pre-school story time at the library.  I've noticed he is very shy around children his age.  I will take my granddaughter when they have toddler story time, but it's only once a month. 

I'm going to go play Nintendo DS Lite...keep my mind off food.

 

'Tis a happy day I'm wishin you

Today is the day fer the wearin' o' the green.
Today is the day when the little people are seen.
Today is St. Patrick's Day, so if ye'r Irish me lad,
Join the celebratin' fer the grandest time ta' be had.

Ya' put yer hand up in the air, the other hand on your hip.
Ya' tap yer toe, ya' tap yer heel, ya' bounce yer knee a wee bit.
Ya' prance 'n dance around the room, n' circle one two three.
The saints be praised, I must admit, ya' all look Irish ta' me.

BEGORA!

Paddy was tooling along the road one fine day when the local policeman, a friend of his, pulled him over.

"What's wrong, Seamus?" Paddy asked.

"Well didn't ya know, Paddy, that your wife fell out of the car about five miles back?" said Seamus.

"Ah, praise the Almighty!" Paddy replied with relief. "I thought I'd gone deaf!"

 What's little and green and goes two hundred miles per hour?
 A leprechaun in a blender.

JESUS WAS IRISH

1. He lived at home until he was thirty.
2. Just before he died, he went out drinking with his buddies.
3. His mother thought he was God.
4. He thought his mother was a virgin.

 What would you get if you crossed a leprechaun with a frog?
 A little green man with a croak of gold!

GUNS, MONEY and BLARNEY

An aging man lived alone in Ireland. His only son was in Long Kesh Prison, and he didn't know anyone who would spade up his potato garden.

The old man wrote to his son about it, and received this reply, "For HEAVENS SAKE, don't dig up that garden, that's where I
buried the money and the GUNS!!!!!"

At 4 A.M. the next morning, a dozen British soldiers showed up and dug up the entire garden, but didn't find any money or guns.

Confused, the man wrote to his son telling him what happened and asking him what to do next.

His son's reply was "Just plant your potatoes."

THE STORY Of THE SHAMROCK

The Shamrock (traditional spelling: seamróg, meaning summer plant) is a three-leafed clover that grows in Ireland. A common image in Celtic artwork, the shamrock is found on Irish medieval tombs and on old copper coins, known as St. Patrick's money.

The plant is also reputed to have mystic, even prophetic powers-- for instance the leaves are said to stand upright to warn of an approaching storm.

Legend has it that St. Patrick used the shamrock in the fifth century to symbolize the divine nature of the trinity when he introduced Christianity to Ireland.

The seamróg is a big part of Irish history, as the Shamrock was used as an emblem by the Irish Volunteers in the era of Grattan's Parliament in the 1770's, The Act of Union. When it became an emblem of rebellion in the 19th century, Queen Victoria made wearing a seamrog by member's of her regiments punishable by death by hanging. It was during this dark time that the phrase "the Wearing of the Green" began.

Today the seamróg joins the English Rose and the Scottish Thistle on the British flag and is an integral part of Saint Patrick's Day celebrations.

"The Wearing of the Green" also symbolizes the birth of springtime. Irish legend states that green clothes attract faeries and aid crops.

Tags: Guiness

Welcome Spring on the 21st (Vernal Equinox)...

...with this pretty Sunshine Cake:

1 - 18.25 ounce package yellow cake mix
4 eggs, beaten
11 ounces Mandarin oranges with juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Frosting:
13 ounces crushed pineapple with juice
1 - 5.1 oz. box instant vanilla pudding
1 – 12 oz. container Cool Whip

Instructions

Mix all of the cake ingredients together. Beat for two minutes on medium speed of electric mixer.

Spread in buttered and floured pans – (2) 9” pans or (1) 9” x 13” pan or about 18 cup cakes.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes.

While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl mix together the pineapple, vanilla pudding and Cool Whip.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before topping with the frosting.

If you use low fat and sugar free ingredients this will be a low cal treat.

Tags: Vernal Equinox

Daffodils

The neighbors so loved my fake WalMart Daffodils that they took them last night when I was sleeping...but I bought double and put more out.  It's that kind of 'hood'.  There are real nice people too.

 

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Wordsworth

Tags: Daffodils, poetry,

A good day, but colder

I got my hair cut today so I look good to meet my friends for lunch on Monday.  I look cute...LOL...you'll have to take my word for it...LOL!  I forgot the name of the restaurant...I just know that you take the Velp exit and turn left and go about two blocks...I'm hoping there's only one restaurant there.

I have a good recipe to send Deb, http://journals.aol.com/dbaumgartner/kitchenchatter/ , it's for Irish Scones but it's so long I don't feel like typing it up.

I had the most delicious Sugar Crisp apple today.  I didn't know you could get them this time of year.

 

 

Ravenhurst

Oh my goodness...I found this game on http://www.yahoo.com and really enjoyed playing it.  I used up the free 60 minutes in no time...well I guess in an hour.  Then I purchased the game on line.  It reminds me a little bit of Pandora's Box, but not quite.  Anyway I'm not one to buy games on line but I got this one, just wanted to mention in case anyone out there might enjoy it too.  The cost for purchase is $19.95, about average for on line games I think.

What you're looking at here is my favorite first sign of Spring.  I like the Spring birds better but I'm always the last one to see them, and I can count on my Rhubarb Patch starting to grow.  In a few weeks this will be a wonderful rhubarb tort and some sauce and a pie and some bread and some....I love rhubarb.

My BoxElder that blew over in a storm last year or the year before.  What's left of it is a two story trunk.  When I couldn't find anyone to cut it down for less than a thousand dollars, I decided to leave it up.  It is still alive and has grown little branches.  The squirrel family has made a home in it and there are several bird houses.  The trees name is Walter and I really like how it looks in my yard.

And the last picture today is of my fake plastic daffodils from WalMart.  If I squint my eyes and look at them from a distance I think they are real...LOL.

It was another warm, sunny and wonderful day.  Such a hint of Spring.

This is my sister Patti's new puppy...his name is Joey

 

Way up here in the frozen tundra it got to 52 today officially, but my sister Joan's thermometer read 59.  Tomorrow it will be warm as well.  I have Daffodils Crocus and Dandelions coming up. 

Rain in the forecast

What an amazing thing.  The snow is starting to melt and has come off my solar lights so now they can light up again.  In places where the snow has melted I see green grass.  My gardens are still under snow so I can't tell if the flowers have begun to grow.  I haven't seen a Robin or a Red Winged Blackbird yet, but the finches are showing a little yellow.  I think I'll go to the farm store to see if they have a tap for my Maple tree.

Tags: Spring rain, Robins, Red Winged Blackbirds, Crocus

A sunny day with snow

Here's my backyard after a snowstorm.  Blue skies now though and 50 is in the forcast so it's not so bad. 

Same picture...closer look.  The man that plowed the lot behind me smashed two sections of my fence.  It was just an accident and it is just a fence but...and this is a big but...it was hit and run.  He didn't notify me.  As a result there is a police report from my insurance company.  It's always something isn't it.

Spencer's Birthday (9 years old)...and Alice

Here he is my nephew, the birthday boy. 

 

It's snowing again but I've put some fake Daffodil's in the pots on the porch railings.  They fool no one but add a spot of bright yellow to my winter.

For a long time I've had this pink Cheshire cat smiling on a shelf in my living room.  Recently I found Alice to go with him.  Cute huh...

 

Tags: Alice in Wonderland

Vintage

I pretty much like all things Vintage.  One of my loves are Paint by Number pictures that other people have painted.  I love looking at them, they make me smile thinking of the people painting them.  I have my hall walls filled with them from top to bottom.  Several years ago when I started collecting them, I found them in free boxes at rummage sales.  Then at thrift stores for fifty cents or less.  I make sure I can see at least a little part of the blue lines that let me know it is, indeed, a genuine paint by number.  I look for them all the time but lately...maybe for about a year...I haven't been able to find any.  Today, though, I found one at the treasure store.  At $1.00 it was more expensive than I'm used to but I got it anyway.  I had to really search to find the blue line but eventually I did. 

I also got some vintage clothes for summer.  The book I'm reading is helping me pick out the ones with 'value'. 

Not really a good time to go treasure hunting as I think people are a little more lethargic at this time of year and don't do much cleaning and purging...I know I don't.

I also did some spinning.  I got two bags of wool from my sister and I've been spinning that, reading, and not much else. 

It's so cold out again but it didn't snow today at least.  No Blackbirds or Robins yet in my yard.  A lot of the usuals though. 

 

Tags: vintage, spinning, birds,

Lunar Eclipse

My sky was clear and it was very visible as it peaked right in my bedroom window.

March came in like a...