Inertia

I seem to be lethargic.

Looking out

When I put the dog on his leash this morning to walk around our backyard, I asked myself if I should take my camera with. At first myself answered no because I have many, many pictures of my back yard, countless shots of the creek at high and low water, and even quite a series of shots of the forsythia bush I only planted last fall. But then I said to myself that if I saw a duck or heron I would want to take a picture, although myself reminded me that usually by the time I get my camera out of my pocket and switched on the bird has flown. I took the camera with anyway, but I didn't take any pictures outside.

It is cold and windy out, and the wind throws tiny drops of cold rain at one. Usually I am sheltered from the wind in our backyard because it is a declivity, but this morning it's blowing even there. I imagine, then, that up at street level it's an even colder, harder wind. So I got damp and chilly on the walk.

When I got inside, I took a picture through a living room window, since that is the kind of day it is--a day to stay inside and look out the window at the wind and rain.



You can still see the forsythia in bloom. I made sure to plant it where I can see it from the living room windows so that in springs where the cold lingers and most flowers delay their blooming, when I am color-starved, I can look out and see that yellow bush. This has been an early spring, so that lots of fruit trees have bloomed already, but some years the forsythia is a lonely advance guard.

Westering

This is kind of a cool picture I took a couple weeks ago.



It's looking west (where the sun sets) along the creek. I was walking the dog after work. It was before Daylight Saving Time kicked in and two or three weeks further back toward last winter's solstice so the sun was already close to the horizon before 6:00 p.m.

Workaday

Today was Tuesday, and I went to work again.

I've started reading a book called The Pleasures and Sorrows of Workby Alain de Botton. It's enjoyable--good writing, interesting thoughts.

Monday, Monday

Today was Monday. I went to work. (Tries to think of something interesting to say.) I guess a highlight was that a co-worker brought in some homemade chili so I had some for lunch.

I have the following comment to make about Daylight Savings Time:

Firsts

We are still enjoying our extraordinarily early spring here in the Pacific Northwest. Yesterday in the morning I pottered on my deck, pulling old dead plants out of pots and watering the honeysuckle, which already is leafing out. It was my first potter of the year. Today I mowed the lawn for the first time.

Time Marches on

I found this poem on the web. I don't know who Susan Reiner is; I couldn't find a poet of such name anywhere, just the one poem attributed to her. Happy March 1st.

Spring Cleaning
by Susan Reiner

March bustles in on windy feet
And sweeps my doorstep and my street.
She washes and cleans with pounding rains,
Scrubbing the earth of winter stains.
She shakes the grime from carpet green
Till naught but fresh new blades are seen.
Then, house in order, all neat as a pin,
She ushers gentle springtime in.

Apparently, March 1st is St. David's Day in Wales--St. David being the patron saint of Wales. I had not quite realized that. I knew that St. George was for England, St. James for Scotland, and St. Patrick for Ireland. I believe St. Teresa of Avila is one of two patron saints of Spain, and I think St. Joan of Arc is the patron saint of France. I wonder who is the patron saint of the United States? I just searched online, and the U.S. patron saint is Mary, the Immaculate Conception. I like better when someone local is the saint. I'm sure there must be saints from the U.S. that could become patron saints for us. A number of countries have more than one.

Actually, I'm not even a Roman Catholic, although of course I am a "catholic" as in "the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints."