spring cleaning

from the top shelf of the medicine cabinet, a veritable plethora of toothbrushes. is it possible, do you suppose, to have too many spares? the irony here is this: i use an electric toothbrush.

first green

one fine sunny morning, you're driving to work and you notice that lawns and fields are beginning to show signs of life. tinges of green brighten the drab browns and greys of post-winter snow melt. grassy blades stand straight and tall through last year's soggy tangles. finally you know for certain - this is indeed spring.

balloon 09

yes, the easter balloon was delivered last night, this time in a trash bag tied to the back of my car with not carrots, but kale weighing it down. a lovely gesture that touches me still. thanks, easter bunny!!

risen

spring comes slowly to northern new england, but eventually, it gets here.
happy easter!

remembrance

perhaps because it's holy week, perhaps because baseball season has just opened, perhaps because these both coincide with the one year anniversary of her death, i am missing my friend pat. she carved this diminutive duck, one of the first things i see when i wake in the morning. and each day, i think of her.

beach plum jelly

last night at a party, i met a friend of a friend, an interesting woman who nurses sick infants, weaves on an antique loom, and grows beach plums in the middle of the state. beach plums a hundred miles from the ocean. i told her about my ongoing quest to replicate the beach plum jelly i had on the cape in the early 80s. about the jars and jars of disappointing jelly i had purchased over the years. the more she and i talked about beach plum jelly, the more my eyes glazed at the thought of its unattainable ruby-jeweled goodness. when our conversation ended, she excused herself, only to return to my side soon after bearing a squat jar of beach plum jelly, homemade, from a recipe that wins awards on nantucket. how it materialized so quickly i do not know. how much i plan to savor it - that i know. many thanks to my friend's friend lorraine, who, in addition to all her other talents, must be a bit of a beach plum fairy.

gone!

driving down the highway just a few miles south of here, i realize it for the first time: there's no snow! it's gone!
aging snow slips away
baring matted leaves of gray.
finally, new buds arrive
to bring us hope - the earth's ALIVE!
(by my creative friend, mary!)

uh-oh!

i could be wrong, but i'm pretty sure i just ate the fruit sticker on this apple. it's been a looooong day.

my own march madness

at a break in the npr programming this morning, the announcer mentioned the date: march 28th. it caught me by surprise to hear that march is that close to being over. but it's fine by me. of all the months of the year, march is my least favorite. truth be told, i just don't like it. it's long. it's bleak. it's messy with mud. signs of spring appear in march but at a sluggish pace that makes me even more anxious for the month to end and april to begin. save st. patrick's day, which is not a big deal around here, there is little cause for celebration. march teases - extended daylight but wind chill temperatures, spring training but no major league games, pussy willows in snow still too deep to get through. making it to the end of march always feels like a major accomplishment. yet with a bittersweet twist, the days spent passing through it seem to fly by faster as each year cycles.

lollipops

while waiting for the bank teller to complete my transactions, i paw through the lollipop cup and read the dum-dum flavors: root beer, bubblegum, cotton candy, butterscotch. every flavor you could think of. it makes me wonder what the "mystery flavor" must be.

springing

i love this robin williams quote!
"spring is nature's way of saying 'let's party!'"

afternoon sunlight

spring sunlight streaming through the windows later and later each afternoon is making it increasingly difficult to stay inside and work. and it makes this conch by the window beautifully translucent, don't you think?

hark!

what light through yonder window breaks?
it is my solar light,
protruding through the receding snow in the sitting spot!

connemara

just in time for st patrick's day, my irish perfume arrives in the mail. i'm pretty fussy about fragrance and, when i wear perfume, this is the only one i'll wear. i discovered it when i was in ireland about ten years ago and have been ordering it online ever since. this bottle will last me about eighteen months and is one of those small luxuries that i easily convinced myself i deserve. but this time the purchase feels particularly frivolous and indulgent given the fact that so many people in this country are in such financial straits right now.

may the road rise up to meet you - and them, too.

middlemarch

a second day of playtime with the baby girl - walks and blocks and shadow play, goldfish in cups, and naps on quilts. even a lovely bowl of soup with the girl, who has just this weekend moved her family back closer to home. at the end of the day, i notice that the ides of march were again nothing to beware of this year.

one more (real) oldie

walkin my baby back home
on a fine late winter afternoon.

old lps

browsing in a store over the weekend, i came upon this display. the sign says "picture frames" and i'm sure some someone would look lovely (albeit a little weird) in the middle. but really, i want to know what songs these frames play. rock around the clock, in the still of the nite, sh-boom... if i'd had the money to blow, i'd have bought one to put on the old turntable to find out! then would i have used it for a frame? that'll be the day.

springing ahead late

all clocks turned ahead late last night except for this one - and, of course, it's the one i first see in the morning. changing it in daylight made me wonder - who selected the 2am time to change and why? because if we "spring ahead" during the daytime instead of at night, we could gracefully excuse ourselves from chores or situations we don't want to be in:

"no, i don't think i do have time to finish that report because, look - i just had to 'spring ahead'. sorry!!"
"oops, i can't finish cleaning the house because i just turned the clocks to eastern daylight time and now it's time to leave for the movies! too bad!"
"wow! would you look at the time now that i've turned my watch ahead? gotta go!"

makes sense to me!

springing up & springing ahead

probably you can't even notice this, but i spotted it and was encouraged by its appearance. there, just outside the coffee shop window, green sprouting up from the earth! and on the turn-your-clocks-ahead day.

square root day

see? the number of day of the month (3) and the number of the month (3) are the square root of the last two digits of the year (09). so today was square root day! there's more here if you want to find out all about it. i was really going to let the day pass, not do a post on it. but the next square root day will be 4-4-2016. who knows if i'll even still be blogging by then. 

but then, pi day is fast approaching...

early bird, no worm

and here he is, back again for the third day in a row. note the snowstorm, in which he is sitting, and the string of cranberries, which he is artfully ignoring. he eats no seed, no suet. he just perches, with feathers ruffled against the cold wind, and then after a bit, he flies. march is once again beginning lion-like. for this little robin's sake, i hope it ends like the lamb it's supposed to.

right on time

easter displays are abundant in the stores and they're right on time. today is ash wednesday and there are only six more weeks until easter. six more weeks. who can think about bunnies and duckies yet - with all this snow, all this cold, and all of march to still get through?

far from home II

this fat tuesday morning i am greeted by a fat robin at the feeder. there is easily three feet of snow on the ground in this neck of the woods and i have no idea why he'd choose to be here. a quick look through the fridge yields cranberries from the holidays but by the time i string a few on a length of jute, he is gone. off to some place with earthworms and fruit, i pray, and not hanging around here waiting for a spring that will take weeks and weeks to arrive.

far from home

looks like i will probably not be seeing the ocean this winter vacation. i took poor (and funny!) comfort in seeing this flock of seagulls - well inland, perhaps because of a coastal storm.

snowy night on campus

a streetlight glows through ice-ladened branches as i leave my office after class and head home in the snow. it's a good night for slippers and tea.

lost & found

lost a week ago: the woolen half belt to the back of my red winter coat. found today, probably right where it came off, at the edge of the parking area at work. after looking everywhere, fishing through several lost & founds, and tearing the car apart, i was very happy to see it lying there, bright red against the drab winter landscape. i didn't even mind that it smelled like a dog slobbered all over it - or worse. the coat needs a good midwinter cleaning anyway.

valentines day 09

the roses were great
the chocolates were fine
but this heart from the baby girl
was my best valentine.

flowers in february

this is a flowering maple, a plant i bought in may because i loved the deep green and was captivated by the flowers, both red and white on the same plant. keep it outside, the plant man said. in the fall, bring it inside and treat it as a houseplant. sure thing, i thought, knowing full well that it would die the minute it entered the house. but it has thrived at work and, look, it even flowers still - like a flowering maple is wont to do!

holiday remnants

when i bought these stamps at christmastime, it struck me that these nutcrackers, however decorative they looked, were not wearing very festive expressions. but it was christmas, and christmas is for nutcrackers! however, in the light of february, these nutcrackers now look downright sinister. i've been mailing bills and sending out random greeting cards, trying to use them up. only a few left now - just enough to mail valentines.

scrabble in winter

a high point of the cold dark winter has been playing online scrabble with the girl. neither of us is particularly skilled at the game but we continue to play, night after night, she forming a word one night, i making one the next. she takes the triple word score spot, i place a k in a double letter score square. we make two and three letter words we've never heard of. she plays off my x, i play off her q. sometimes we chat as we play, sometimes not. certainly it's not the same as sitting together over a gameboard. but it's a quiet connection across the distance to someone i love at a very quiet, still, contemplative time of the year.

cross quarter

today is groundhog day and candlemas. both special days seemingly evolved from the fact that today is a cross quarter day, or a date midway between a solstice and an equinox. the winter solstice was 45 days ago and the vernal equinox is 46 days hence. if you want to read more about its complex celtic origins, it's here. all i know for certain is this: the amount of daylight is beginning to noticeably lengthen.

supermarket

what happens when you shop for groceries without having first had breakfast...

dress boots

a solemn event on campus dictates professional dress, so i purchase a cheap pair of boots - with heels. my first heels since a foot surgery many years ago after which the podiatrist recommended running shoes only (!) or at the very least flat shoes. but in these boots i click when i walk, i am much taller, and i even feel pretty stylish. i start to remember why i like heels so much. but soon enough my bunions start to scream, my instep aches, and shooting pains course up my foot. i rush to remove the offending footwear. and finally i find blessed relief in my big old clunky sensible shoes. you know, the flat ones.

snowstorm/snowday

the view to my left as i sit at my desk and glance out the window. and it's still snowing. a few more snowstorms like this one and i may be looking out at a wall of white.

found money

discovered in a pocket of a garment that obviously has not been worn in six-plus years - this receipt and all the change from a $20, save the penny. wish i'd realized it was there all those payday mornings when i scrounged around for loose change to buy a coffee.

newfangled dolls

my first doll had a hole in her mouth and another one in her bottom. when you fed her from her pink tipped plastic bottle, she promptly wet out the other side whatever it was that you put into her. today's dolls have motion sensors so they can giggle and coo and wriggle and crawl as they are approached by their tiny owners. and also by older folks who are mindlessly passing by their shelves in the store on their way to buy shampoo and toothpaste. folks who scare easily when they can't figure out where those odd noises are coming from. believe me when i tell you the din of their collective chattering sounded like a chorus of crazed chipmunks. i didn't even stick around to see if they still drink from their bottles. 

a new day

and what a day it was, full of unity and pride, emotion and awe, inspiration and hope. i go to bed, not wanting the day to end - but so eager to see what's to come.

forecast for january 20th

"red sun at night,  sailors' delight."

a grey afternoon, with this unexpected burst of red-orange as the setting sun emerges from clouds.

sailors aren't the only ones who are going to be delighted tomorrow...

re: birdseed

see that feeder? i filled it three hours ago. i really do go through a lot of seed!

helvetica

looking at techno-friends, i see some of them as real geeks but have never particularly thought of myself as one. but i wonder now, because in a few minutes, our local pbs station is airing a mini-documentary that i've been dying to see. it's called helvetica and it's about typeface. yes, fonts.  the impact they have on advertising. the way they've affected business. their place in our culture. i can't wait. 

now here's a quiz for you: what font are you? take it - it's fun! then leave a comment and let me know what font you are. btw, i'm times new roman. 

brrrrr

mighty chilly this morning according to the thermometer in the car. so cold that the pipes froze at work and they closed the building. how odd to have a day off when we aren't even having any snow!

evening "star"

on my way home these cold dark nights, venus shines brilliantly in the west. as i drive, i consider our system of planets, the stars beyond, and the galaxies farther still, unfathomable distances from our own huge milky way. i wonder about space travel and light years and try to rationalize the ways such great distances affect time. i imagine the possibilities of other worlds. on nights such a these, i just can't help but wonder what's out there.

out of sync

sitting here tonight, engrossed in work, i found myself suddenly buzzed by a mosquito. in the house. on the coldest night in january. here he lies, poor unfortunate fellow. had he emerged as nature intended, outside in the warmth of a lush july night, he might have lived a longer life. then again, he might have gotten smacked with the fly swatter that would no longer be tucked away in a closet somewhere, waiting for spring. 

an early morning muse

as i dry my ears this morning, i wonder about q-tips. where did they come from and why were they made? and most importantly, what's the "q" for? why not c-tips or w-tips? coffee cup in hand, i do a little early morning sleuthing. and come up with -- copyrighted information from the manufacturer! it's too early to read the terms of use and there's no time to do any more research. so if you're curious, too,  just google q-tips for yourself to find  the answers to these and other pressing questions. 

birdseed

when i am an old lady and it's time for presents, do not give me perfume or house coats or baskets of teas. give me birdseed. because the older i get, the more i enjoy birds. and the more i enjoy birds, the more i feed them.  the more i feed them, the more they eat. and the more they eat, the more i have to buy. the more i have to buy, the more expensive it becomes. and at this rate, bird seed purchases will be eating into my meager monthly social security check. so remember, dear readers, at gift-giving times, please - just send seed. thank you. 

cozy spot

just in case anyone wants to sit outside and read on a frigid new england saturday at the dump.

perigee moonlight

january moonlight, bright enough to make night look like day, 

with setting saturn glowing brilliantly through the trees. 

last january this moon was so bright 

i tore down bedroom curtains to let in the light. 

luckily for me tonight, the windows are still bare. 

before the sun

a glance out the window just before dawn showed a hint of blue where grey had been and white would soon be. a mad rush in slippers to get the camera and get outside for a shot before the light changed, which it quickly did. the day dawned crisp and cold and calm, with a hint of birdsong. a lovely start to the day.

the earth at perihelion

this is the day the earth is the closest to the sun in its yearly orbit - earth's perihelion. from the greek, peri- meaning around and helios, sun. how odd that the planet is as close to the sun as it could possibly be when the weather is so very cold. and when will earth be the farthest from the sun, you ask? on the 4th of july. doesn't it figure?

a spectacle

finding new glasses is such a trying experience. so many styles to choose from and decisions to make. plastic frames or metal? silver or gold? round or rectangular or oval? bejeweled or understated? try a pair, put them down - but where? if you put them back in the correct tray, you run the risk of getting them confused with others you've tried on and dismissed. if you put them on the counter, you soon have a small but confusingly jumbled collection. find a pair that at least looks promising only to be told the lenses are too small for your prescription. there are far too many details for me. i'll just wear my old specs for a while longer  until i muster more patience with the process of buying new ones.