Just for you, Nick

There it is. I thought maybe I had taken a picture of it already. This is from March 10th. It is right below the kitchen window right by the concrete. The garlic in the front yard is over towards Mrs. Scotto's driveway.

And.........I knew you would love this picture......

Spring!

March 15, 2009

Spring is ready to burst open! The left is the hydrangea bush and the right is the lilac tree. I am on my way to Michigan for two weeks and when I get back these will all be green leaves. I hate to miss it but I will get to see buds coming out in Michigan, hopefully, as I think they are a little behind.

At last

March 10, 2009

I don't hate winter. Arguably, I don't live in a place where we have terrible winters. I am retired so the pressure of getting to work, mandating nurses to stay at work for 24 hours, trying to figure out what to do after that, is all gone. I have found Vinnie, the snow man, who will shovel all that I need shoveled for a reasonable cost. And I really don't have to go anywhere that I can't change to another time. So what is to hate about winter? Sometimes the brown, gray, drabby landscape gets depressing. That's about it.

But today--today I was very excited to get out in the yard and get a jump start to yard work.

Daffodils, garlic, chrysanthemums and hyacinths have all broken through!

Erratic

February 1, 2009

There are a few blogs that I read that people write every single day. I am amazed at how they can write every day without fail. It doesn't seem that their lives are especially more exciting than mine but they write about it in a more interesting manner. Well, Martha's days are jam-packed with exciting everything. Hers were so full that I stopped reading them because it is a little hard to relate to someone who always is up to amazing things, even if there are 45 people arranging everything for her.

Sylvia is enjoying her sweater keeping her very warm and cozy out in the cold, in addition to looking very chic.

Asa was born last night. Asa is the son of Liz's friend, Kelli. She was texting Liz in the morning while she was having contrctions and then we heard nothing until about 11PM last night telling us that Asa made his entry around 10PM. That is all that we know at this point. His sweater has been waiting for him for a couple of weeks.

Janet sent me a picture of a hat she wanted about a month ago. I got as close as I could. Not too bad.

I looked at my book list yesterday and figured out that I have read exactly 175 books since I retired in July of 2005. That is almost exactly one/week. It is nice.

"Eclipse", number three of the Stephenie Meyers' series. It was pretty good, as good as the first two. Am going to wait to read the last one. Well, the last one for now since the author seems to be pouting now about the next book.

This book, oh, this book. One of my neighbors gave this to me a week ago to read and it is fascinating. It is the story of the author's experience with bipolar disease. She is so so sick, so sick. There is a lot of discussion in the field of psychiatry about whether or not kids can really be bipolar but she definitely was. By the time she was nine years old she was bulimic. Pure madness in her brain all the time. I find myself having to stop reading it because it is so exhausting. When working in psych I always thought about how awful it must be to live with the demons that some of these people live with. This book absolutely demonstrates that. I can only think that she will eventually manage it as she was able to write this book as well as a book about her bulimia.

So cold

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Oh, goodness. It is all anyone is talking about but it is soooo cold. Just so cold.

And then this story. I just was so cold even thinking about the experience. I just couldn't imagine...... Sometimes when I get on a plane and I look at the pilot I think that maybe I would be more comfortable with a younger pilot. It is a stupid thought but it happens. I don't think it I will ever have that thought again.

Bagels

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009

I was at the IGA down the street this morning and got my two Bell & Evans chickens and was very good--no candy, no chips, no pastries, no nothing. Then I got up to the check-out and there were the bagels. They just looked so good. OK. One bagel. I actually took it to the deli guy and asked him to lightly butter it (which I have never done before). 50 cent bagels at the market. Always a good deal.

I got home and looked at the receipt. $1.25. What? Are you kidding me? This is nuts. What? I should have told him to go heavy on the butter for that price. 75 cents for the butter???? So much for stupid impulse buying. Well, until the next time but it won't be a buttered bagel. I have six bagels in the freezer and lots of the spray on, no fat, yellow chemicals.

The cold it is a comin'

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Dentist this morning. I just can't get past the anxiety that an appointment with the dentist always triggers. This morning was particularly anxiety ridden as I was going for a filling in my front tooth and I knew that meant the injection up into the roof of my mouth. I have to admit she was pretty good and it all went pretty well. Not fun, mind you, but OK.

-37 degrees in the midwest??? Without the chill factor??? I have been complaining that the high on Friday is only supposed to be 14 degrees. But all the critters are ready.

Yesterday morning I woke up about 5:30 or so and I realized that I was once again laying in the yellow light but the demon lamp wasn't on. I looked out the window and the moon was full and huge. I read in the paper that yesterday's full moon was supposed to be the biggest full moon for all of 2009. I am guessing that the moon is probably always the same size but it would appear the largest that it would in all of 2009.

Here we go. Book #3.