Mystery

Sometimes I like to read a mystery series. It spares me wondering what to read next; just get the next book. A year or so ago, I read all the Miss Marple books, in the order in which they were published. Now I'm doing the same with the Inspector Lynley books, by Elizabeth George. I'm on the second book, Payment in Blood.

In a mystery novel, they have to introduce a lot of characters early on, so that you have a good line-up of suspects. My trouble is, I'm bad with names. So, as I read, I often confuse one character with another. Now is this the victim's brother-in-law or the detective's ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend? So today during lunch I went back to the beginning and paged through (on my Kindle) writing down each character's name, key facts, their age if mentioned, and their relationship to other characters. I didn't quite get them all, but I've got a start, and when I'm done then I can quickly check who's who as each character shows up with their alibi or lack thereof.

Sidetracked

My out-of-doors goal for today was to sweep the steps that lead down from the driveway to my deck and to rake up all the wind-blown branches, twigs, and leaves from underneath the Noble Fir next to the steps.

These were going to be my "before" pictures:

"Before" sweeping the steps.

"Before" raking under the Noble Fir.

I did a rough sweep of the steps, and then I needed to get a rake and also a pair of clippers from one of my sheds. (Thanks to my dad, there are three sheds in our yard.) The shed door had blackberry vines growing over it. Blackberries are very, very prickery. The vines had also intertwined with a rose bush by the shed, and an unwanted pair of holly bushes were growing under the rose. Everything with prickers.

The Distraction

I did have one pruner with me that we used in December to take the lower branches off my Christmas tree. I used it to cut at the vines until I could open the door, then I pulled out a rake. I raked up the prickery vines and used the rake and pruner like tongs to pick them up and put them in a wheelbarrow.

Spring thoughts

March comes in like a lion and goes out like lamb, so the saying goes. It kind of did roar in. We've been having unseasonably wintry weather at a time when we should be seeing signs of spring, as February ended and March began. Days on end of northeastern winds from that darn Fraser Valley, and repeated snowfalls. Significant snowfalls, too, not just the "dusting" we might typically get in late winter.

Significant February snowfall

Today, there is still snow on parts of the yard. It's melting slowly because temperatures have stayed quite cold, freezing overnight.

But we've had a few sunny days now, and surely spring is on the way. I looked back a few years in my Facebook feed and saw that my forsythia has bloomed in mid- to late March before. Here's a picture I took on March 14, 2015:



I purposely planted that forsythia where I could see it from my living room window. It's one of the earliest plants to bloom in spring, and I am color-starved by the time winter ends and want to feast my eyes on the yellow flowers. The 14th may be particularly early; elsewhere, I have a photo from March 25, 2017, where it's just starting to bloom.

Bellingham, where I work, is oceanside and has a milder micro-climate than Lynden, where I live, which is about 15 miles inland. Every spring, as I drive to work, I see forsythia blooming in Bellingham and then along the road to Bellingham before my own finally blooms.

This year, I am resolved to return to container gardening on my deck. For the past few years, with my parents' decline and deaths and my post-water-damage remodel, I haven't had the energy. Last year, I bought some plants, planted a few, then left the rest in their little store pots, where they still are now. This year, I want to make the effort to once again make my deck a beautiful, fragrant place to spend time.