When last we “spoke”, I felt compelled to share a wonderful day in photos. Since then, we have had lots of planting days, with a few days of mama nature taking care of my watering.  The veggies and annuals are all in…I have a final few perennials to pop into the ground today and then I will be done until it is time for the second sowing of things. Well, now that I think about it, that’s not quite true…I’m expecting a yard of garden soil tomorrow so I can fill my 2 x 8 raised bed and then plant our asparagus! Excited to get that in.

We have a digital picture frame in our bedroom that contains every photo I have of my favorite granddaughter (ummm…ONLY granddaughter)…shhhh, don’t tell anyone, but I spend a lot of time in or on my bed…it is comfy, I have a little nest for my computer on my lap, and it is where I often blog and share photos…more importantly, it is where I always have the baby with me…we live far away and I’ve only visited in person twice. However, my daughter and son-in-law are INCREDIBLY generous when it comes to sharing with me, supplying me with endless photos and frequent hangouts, so I never feel deprived. Love me some baby girl.

When I moved up here to my heaven, I left behind a lot of friends in a lot of places. Yesterday I had the chance to catch up with four dear friends in Portland…we brunched, we walked, we shopped, we sat on benches, we had snacks and libations onboard a vessel and then we left each other for our respective long drives home. It was wonderful! Aren’t friends refilling/refueling/refreshing? Can’t wait to try it again with other friends!

I get in food ruts. I am currently in a HUGE food rut. For breakfast, lunch or dinner these days, you might see on my plate a tomato, salt, pepper and mayo sandwich on good bread OR chicken and avocado with salt, pepper and mayo on good bread…as a matter of fact, I am going to use the last of the chicken I roasted a few days ago and the last half of an avocado for my breakfast in a few. I wonder what my next food rut will be?

Today got off to a milky start…

And then came the flowers, weeks behind last year, if I remember correctly…

And then there was this…oh, my…here comes summer!

May I just say that depression sucks? I am a lifelong sufferer. Since medication entered my life, in my thirties, I have felt better…most of the time. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a “magic” pill that works all the time. I did well on one medication for years, and then it stopped working. That pattern has continued for each med I have tried. After a few years on my latest med, I am finding myself sliding slowly but surely into the murkiness. So, as soon as I can gather myself, I will go back to the doctor and try once again to find something that will allow me to return to my preferred cheery and optimistic state.

In the meantime, I try to focus on things that I love and that brighten my world. One new thing that has enriched my life is a mobile app called Happier. It encourages me to post quick, but meaningful things that make me happy, through words and/or photos. Even as I was weeping over the devastation and lives lost (especially those of the children) in Moore, Oklahoma yesterday, I was able to reach deep and share. Thank you to the folks who created this application…it makes me very happy!

Speaking of things that make me happy…

And then there are…

Lots of reasons to be happy!

I don’t know if I am feeling it more because this May has brought beautiful weather, daffodils and the smell of new mown lawns earlier than usual or if it is just the aftereffects of a long, snowy winter, but I’m feeling quite giddy…

My wonderful husband has been working on opening up a woodsy area into a fairy garden for me, a horseshoe pit for him and raised garden beds for us…buzzing down trees and shrubs, clearing brush and letting the sunshine in! My fairy garden gets little sun, so I get to look for shade plants.

After some minor tweaking and fiddling, our cool new/old Raleigh RetroGlides are on the road…and we are in love! Boo LOVES to run with us up and down the 1/2 miles driveway and we are really psyched to feel the warming breezes on our faces.

I have started moving some of my many geranium plants outside during daylight hours so that they might harden up a bit and be planted in barrels around the deck. I planted tomato seeds in a hanging pot arrangement; they haven’t sprouted, so I think I may need to replant, and it is still quite early for tomatoes, but at least my hands are in dirt!

We have a few buds bursting into flower on our new apricot tree…first blooms of the season in our new little orchard (apples, pears, an apricot and a nectarine)…oh, and the newest additions to the orchard are the blueberries, blackberries and grapes.

Birds are back to our feeder…nuthatches, finches and chickadees, with the occasional sparrow cleaning up spills…also back to our feeder is the occasional squirrel, helping provide amusement for Boo and the cats. We have been slow adding back feeders this year, as we don’t want to attract rats (as happened at the end of the season last year…UGH…not much difference in looks between rats and squirrels, but I’ll take squirrels any day!).

And, finally, the lobster pots are back out in full force, with many-colored buoys bobbing merrily…we have managed to identify a few of the boats which fish in our neighborhood…they don’t see me, but I see them!

Just because this week has been full of hunting and gathering and planning with not much time to sit and ponder…

Just because it is spring and time to start working on all the projects we dreamed up over the snowy winter…

Just because I have added reading back into my life and that requires time and that time has to come from somewhere and for me it is coming from my thinking time…

Just because…it took almost no effort to share these photos that show what greeted me when I got out of bed this morning…taken over the space of an hour…

Ain’t mama nature something wonderful?

I’m lucky, though…I have this to help take my mind off things, even if only for a few minutes at a time…please feel free to breathe in some peace, soak up some serenity and pass it along…

A long, long time ago, we rescued a black and white springer spaniel named Molly. She was 4 months old when she came to us, and we figured that she would eventually outgrow her puppy, mouthy ways…um, no, she was a springer spaniel…springers tend to remain puppyish until they are 10, then they are old…no inbetween. In those days, my in-laws lived half a year in Maine and half in Arizona. So, twice a year, they would come stay with us overnight as they passed through our area.

Now I need to go back a little…my mum-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a radical mastectomy when she was, if I remember correctly, in her late 60s. As a result, she had a breast prosthesis that she wore in her bra when she was out in public…and visits to us were deemed to be public.

OK, back to one of their twice-yearly visits…we had a wonderful weekend together and waved the in-laws off on their journey back home to Maine. After they left, we were returning the house to its normal state when we caught Molly happily pulling the filling out of what looked like a fluff-stuffed bean bag. We were absolutely baffled as to what the thing was, gathered up all the pieces and put them aside for later consideration. That evening, when my mum-in-law called to tell us they had gotten home safely, she asked me if I had found the breast prosthesis that she had inadvertently left it behind. I told her I would look for it, hung up, and BAM! The lightbulb went off…Molly had found the missing prosthesis and that was what she had de-fluffed.  The hus and I frantically stuffed all the fluff back in, I painstakingly stitched it back together and we sent it off to my mum-in-law with fulsome apologies and offers of replacement…included in the package was a hus-drawn cartoon of a penitent Molly holding an eviscerated prosthesis in her mouth. This became a family joke, and just the mention of Molly’s name in mum-in-law’s presence elicited fits of giggling.

I loved my mum-in-law’s ability to laugh…I think of her so often and cherish all the memories that make us all smile.

A shout out to my very brave dad, who, at age 88, went under the knife yesterday to have his hip replaced. The surgery went well and we are all hoping for as pain-free a rehab as possible. Dad has promised to take his pain pills when needed and to be diligent with his physical therapy. We are all looking forward to hearing stories of him back on the golf course and able to walk without pain. YOU GO, DAD!

One whole week of this stupid, weird cold…it started last Thursday, when I awoke with a slight sore throat and a little sinus pressure…that continued for days, so I chalked it up to seasonal allergies (I don’t have allergies, but everyone said that they can come on at any time). But then, on Monday, I started having to blow my nose frequently…Tuesday, the cough and sore chest started. Today, more of the same…I am very tired of this, thank you, and will be happy when it is gone.

Boo, the mighty mouse hunter, found a mouse huddled under my boot this morning…he pointed and pointed and wagged and wagged until I moved the boot. Boo dove in, picked up the mouse and started carrying it around in his mouth…I opened the front door, let them both out and watched Boo drop it…I wooed Boo back inside and went out and flung the dead mouse into the woods. It is usually the cats who do my mouse-patrolling; my smart doggie must have been studying them…way to go, Boo!

I worked on income taxes last month, then left it for later…I think it is now later…I know what I’ll be doing today after I get back from working at the library…

Finally, I think we have seen the last of real snow for the winter…it has been cold overnight and in the early mornings, but the temps have gotten up into the upper 40s and 50s during the day…I am even sleeping with the sliding door open to the ocean…I will miss winter, but oh…I do love spring!

Dreaming of spring

Well, it is time for spring cleaning and I am in trouble. I have been scouring the internet for tips on how to methodically clean a house. If I had my druthers, I would hire someone to clean for me, but my house isn’t big enough to allow me to do that with a clear conscience…if they can do it, I should be able to do it.

My biggest bugaboos are:

• All hardwood floors (which I adore)  that accumulate piles of dust and cat fur at the most alarming rate – We vacuum daily with the Dyson stick and/or the minivac and there are more piles by the time we finish
• Beautiful, high ceilings throughout – Back to that dust? We have a fluffy duster on a long stick for corners, but there is no way to reach all the way up
• Our collections…I have collected, variously, over the years, Mexican-style glass pitchers, fish, cats, tea pots and Mark Switzer figurines – they now adorn the tops of all the tall kitchen cabinets and any extra shelf in the house and require dusting and/or running through the dish washer

Does anyone have any surefire, can’t miss organizational tips for spring cleaning they would like to share with this challenged ditz? I would be MOST appreciative…