ode to spring

Regis took these beautiful pictures of our apple tree yesterday. It seems early for them to be blooming, and the lilacs are not far behind, but we love it. We sat on the patio the other night and soaked in the view. The redbud tree is read to burst into bloom, too.

We looked back at pictures we took of these trees when they were first planted, right after the tornado. They were only six feet tall and very spindly. Now they give good shade and gorgeous flowers.

The piece I posted the other day about exercise and the marathon will be published as the guest column in our local paper next week. The editor was very complimentary of my writing and said not to change a word. My husband, on the other hand, had some suggestions. Ha! Now I have to submit a mug shot.

We have a quiet weekend planned. It's raining hard here right now so that will preclude any outdoor work. I'm glad for that. I don't understand why the minute the weather gets nice, people rush outside and grab their rakes and hoes. Can't we just enjoy a few days before we go to work? I should move to a warmer climate where the pace is slower.

We're probably in the minority but we haven't mowed our grass yet, we haven't raked the grass, and we haven't planted anything. We have done these things: sat and watched the trees bloom, meandered around the yard to see what's growing, watched the chickadees and finches at the feeders.

There are a lot of things I don't do: laundry (Regis does it), car maintenance (Regis does it), buy groceries (Regis does it), clean my house (Jan does it), paint (Don Foster does it). I have parties, I cook, I plan meals, I keep us organized. There you go. I'm lucky to have the husband I have.

I'm taking care of Betty's cat, Bonita, today. She is not a friendly cat, at least to me, so I'll just go up and leave some food for her. She may not even come out while I'm there. I used to like cats, and I like Marie's cat Nick when I go to get my taxes done, but other cats I know are kind of creepy. They always look like they're up to something.

My cousin Deb recently visited our friend Maura in Florida. This is a picture she took of Maura's house, called Dragonfly Cottage. Isn't is the cutest thing you've ever seen? I love the pink picket fence. I wish people here were more imaginative about their colors. Sometimes you'll see a house with bright colors but it's sort of frowned upon. We tend more toward the taupe end of the color spectrum. Ella would love a house like this so Bob and Emily, I think you should consider some new siding.

I got an early Mother's Day present, an iPod nano. It's the red one. Regis ordered it from Apple and it was delivered from China in less than 30 hours. Amazing. It's a teensy little thing but has 16 gigs of memory, a video camera, and a pedometer. Also amazing. I copied my entire iTunes library (including a hundred podcasts) into it and have lots of room left. How many words in this paragraph were not even in the language ten years ago?

I hear thunder...and birds singing.

I told Regis I would take him out for dinner tonight to celebrate the almost end of his semester. He's been chained to his desk for a week as he finishes his big projects. I'll have him write a guest post when he's done, describing what he did, because I don't know. Something about networks and firewalls and pings. I think. Not sure where we'll go. I think Mazatlan won in the straw poll we did last night which means we have to go reasonably early or it will be crazy busy. Mexican seafood...my favorite.

I won't go into too many medical details here but I went to see my doctor yesterday. I've had sore joints and muscles since I had strep throat and yesterday a friend of mine suggested I might have reactive arthritis. That is the danger of the internet. Someone suggests a disease that only 30 out of 10,000 people get, you read the symptoms, and you are convinced you have it. I've had the same doctor for ten years so when I ask if she wants to hear my diagnosis, she laughs and says, "Of course." She doesn't think I do have it and she thinks my symptoms will eventually go away. A conservative course of treatment. I like that.

I'm going to exercise this morning, then pick up the house a bit, take out recycling, go through the week's mail, do the dishes, sort through my clothes, and take a nap. There you go. Happy Saturday and happy spring!