Spring is noisy! If you step outside on our property in the early morning hours, there are disputes galore. Yelling, squawking, dive-bombing, mid-air fights - you name it, then it's probably happening. That's just the bird kingdom. Throw in the yapping squirrels and the dogs all around the countryside getting revved up from the noises and you can barely hear yourself think. I don't really enjoy it. The bluebird is, hands down, my favorite. Those tiny, precious, beautiful birds are so gentle and so quiet. I'm always glad when summer arrives. Everything is much more hashed out and settled down.
I've never been a person who enjoys an overly-busy household. The trafficked comings and goings of large families would probably do me in. I think if that's what you're used to, it's simply a matter of habit and is expected and does not bother people in those environments. But if you're like me and your world has always been small-ish by choice, an overabundance of noise makes every nerve in the body pucker. I'm happy to let the busyness and noise of work take over my day since that's expected with most jobs, isn't it? But when I get home, the "you can hear a pin drop" quiet is absolutely wonderful.
Quiet doesn't always mean you're on the couch relaxing, though. With all of our precious rescues and house projects underway, there's not a lot of sitting or lying around that gets done. One project gets knocked out and the next one follows right on its heels. We've begun a rather large one that will require an excavator and a concrete business in the near future. I don't look forward to the project, but I do want to get it over with. On the heels of that are a couple of indoor paint/moving stuff around projects. Once that gets done, I'm really hoping to take a break from that type of thing. Hopefully, things will be situated again for a while by the time the holidays roll around.
We are smack-dab in the middle of our varied and plentiful winters. It was beautiful for a few days, all warm-ish with lots of good sun. We're back to cloudy and cool again with showers and drizzle thrown in there. It's only just turned spring, so I know we're in this for a while, but I'd sure love to wear shorts and a tank top in the morning hours soon. There is nothing like going outside before the sun comes up, dressed that way so that the early-day warmth can brush your shoulders. It feels like what I imagine cashmere would feel like if cashmere could be perfect weather.
The babies turned one this past week. Where did the time go? I'm hoping that we can get some birthday pictures today in their little birthday hats. They're still fairly wiggly babies, so we'll see how those turn out. I wanted to do them yesterday, but the sun was not out, and it made for terrible lighting for the pictures, all that gloom and drizzle and cloudiness.
Brace yourself. Things are getting planted in the garden! I'm so excited. The tomato plants go in soon, and everything else will follow. Also in bloom are our cherry trees for the first time! You have to be patient with cherry trees. They do not get blooms or fruit for at least the first 4 to 6 years of being planted. So if you're looking for instant gratification, these aren't it! But several years have passed since they got planted, and here we are. The cherry blooms are pictured below. We won't get a lot of cherries this year, but we will get some. Then, next year, we should really have a nice crop!
The apple trees have bloomed, as well, and everything else like the blueberry bushes, the old grapevine, the butterfly bushes, knockout roses, etc., are finally showing signs of waking up. I couldn't be more excited. The gobs of flower seeds will go in either on Mother's Day weekend or the following weekend. I cannot wait! It signals the ability to sit on the porch comfortably in the morning sun and enjoy the breeze, the buzzing of the bees, and everything else in between without having to be bundled and wrapped up! On a less encouraging note, we do have two nights were we will have frost this coming week. That IS normal for this time of year around here, but it always makes me feel like we are farther away from my shorts-and-tank-top weather than I'd like to be! But it will be here soon enough, and I'll eventually being ranting that "it's too hot!!" So, there you have it.
I need to make my summer stockpile list soon. Scary movies, favorite Sonic drinks as well as favorite Frosty brand drinks (blue cream soda or root beer, please, in that brand; that's the best), extra Dukes mayo for fresh salads and tomato sandwiches, Lipton tea bags for ice tea so cold that your teeth hurt, fruit fluff salads, corn in a cup, pea salad . . . the list is huge, and it strikes me that, over the years, my largest list of favorite seasonal foods gradually shifted from Autumn to Summer. I would have never dreamed that, but it's true. Throw Peggy Ann bakery goods in there at the weekends, and it's sheer heaven.
I can let the news and the nay-saying and the media sensationalism all fall away simply by turning off the TV or putting down my phone and going out on my front porch to watch the mountains on my right and the gardens in front and to the left of me. It's a beautiful thing and not a luxury that everyone has. I don't take it for granted, and I'm very grateful for it all. The simplest thing - a Frosty blue cream soda and a tomato sandwich with Dukes mayo, heavy salt and heavy pepper eaten in your favorite place - can make you feel like the richest person earth. These are the best moments in life.
Blessed Sunday to you. The days are long, the years are short, and the special moments can be felt more easily and more often if we just tweak our efforts a tiny bit to that end. Love to you, wherever you are.
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