Saturday, April 19, 2008

Spring Musings

No great finds at yard sales this morning! I'm on the lookout for a crock pot, clothes for Han (and good finds for Abi), suspenders for Hannah, musical instruments and...well, I can't tell you what else. My list is in the car. I've made a "wish list" so if I see things in yard sales, thrift stores, sale ads, etc., then I don't forget and pick it up on the cheap. Today: I spent $3. The finds: 2 t-shirts (Han), 2 animal videos, 1 pair of dress shoes (Han) for next fall, 1 pair of dress-up shoes (Han), 1 pair of shorts (Han). Sounds good, right? Add $3.43/gallon for gas and we drove maybe 1 gallons' worth, so it was really about $6.50 for all of that. Not the worst, not the best.

We're in Full Spring here in the Highlands. I think both of my girls have allergies - and their Daddy-o's allergies are kickin' too. We each have a different allergy medicine: they all make us a little grumpier than usual, so we are cutting each other a LOT of slack.

On the plus side, the weather has been beautiful. The trees are in their first blush of green. After the sun dips behind a ridge, green orbs glow on the hillside; they could have been painted by an impressionist's brush. Every minute there is change here. Driving down an undulating, curving road, the views change from one direction to the next. The ridges seem to shift with the turns. I wonder if I'll ever stop noticing that. I wonder, too, of folks who have lived their whole lives here - do they see the beauty that surrounds us here? Do they know that when the peepers begin in late March that surely warmer days can't be far off? Its like nature has taken a deep breath and slowly exhaling after a long winter. Exhaling the cloudy, rainy and icy days out and allowing the greens and the purples of the redbuds to take over. Daffodils are just about spent; tulips are in their prime. Dogwoods are blooming, and on some mountain forest patches, white-flowered trees stand out starkly against a pale green and pine background.

Well, the dishes aren't going to wash themselves. Han and Daddyo just got back from the autoparts store. They're putting shocks and rear brakes on my truck.

How are you spending this lovely weekend?

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