Sweet box

Here we are at the mid-week. Today is supposed to be the first of our two exceptionally warm days. 76 is the predicted high here in Lynden, 25 for you metric types. I'll be in my office with a fan on. My co-workers often feel cold, whether because of cold weather or the air conditioning in hot weather. They even will run little space heaters at their work stations. Meanwhile, I tend to feel too warm at work, so I have a fan to run.

Yesterday I planted some baby bushes called sarcococca ruscifolia, also known as "sweet box." I planted them near the property line between my neighbors and me. One mature bush of this variety is already there, and I added the others to make a line of them. The new ones are quite small. There used to be a fence right there, but over the years it deteriorated, and a while back the current residents and I pulled it down. But it's a place that calls for some kind of partition, so I got these.

They are nice bushes with shiny dark green leaves that don't fall off in the winter, and they get tiny white flowers that smell very sweet. When I first moved up here from California, I thought the bushes were a variety of jasmine.

Spring lullaby

We're expecting some days of very warm weather, culminating on Wednesday with a high of 78! That's almost too warm. Anyway, since it's spring and I'm sleepy I found this "Lullaby of Spring," by Donovan. Boring visual but pretty song.

Hi Noe!

Yesterday I went to my favorite plant nursery, Hi Hoe. I took a friend with me to show her how great it was. Well, there weren't as many plants there as I expected, and the secret garden was unmowed with most of the plants dug up. Guess what? The owners are selling off what they have in stock and after the end of May they're closing down and moving to another town.

Last year, another good nursery, Bakerview Nursery in Bellingham, also closed down due to the owners retiring.

On the up side, Vander Giessen Nursery right in Lynden is expanding.

And so it begins

Yesterday I made my first flower purchases of this spring. After work, I went to the Garden Spot Nursery and bought black petunias, white bacopa, and creeping jenny, which may bear yellow flowers in the future.

The petunias and bacopa are for the same barrel as my honeysuckle. I have planted many colors of petunias in there in years past, generally tending to opt for purple. I was planning on buying purple again when I saw this black variety. Last year I had a small pot of black petunias, and they are gorgeous. A change this year for this barrel is that I am adding white bacopa to mix in with the black petunias. They should look very pretty cascading out of the barrel together. Right now, of course, they are tiny starter plants.

The creeping jenny is for around the edges of the two barrels by my water feature. I always put in double impatiens in the center and creeping jenny around the edge, again with the idea that it will trail over the edge of the barrel. Some years it does. Some years I have only been able to find "golden" creeping jenny, with yellowish leaves, but yesterday I found the basic plant, with dark green leaves.

I did not find any double impatiens, so I will have to keep looking for that. In recent years I've had a hard time finding that, but each year I finally have found it somewhere. Impatiens is a flat, five-petal flower, but double impatiens is fuller, with petals more like a mini-carnation.

I did make one earlier plant purchase last weekend, but not flowers for my deck. It was some starters for a shrub called fragrant sarcococca, or sweetbox. That is for a hedge along a certain edge of the property.

Morning routine

My favorable jet lag is wearing off. Today I woke up nice and early, but not easily. I could tell by how dark the windows were that was overcast outside and now I can hear it raining hard. I'm not excited for the dog's walk in a little while. I hope it lets up.

I have been sitting here with my light thing that's supposed to help my sleep patterns. I have it working on a timer, and when it automatically shut off, I thought for a moment that I was losing power. Thankfully, no.

I'm having a cup of coffee. Oh, the bliss of that first warm sip. When I'm done with it, I will get dressed and walk the dog, no matter what the weather. When we get home, I'll change into my work clothes, then fix myself some breakfast -- probably toast with peanut butter and another cup of coffee. I will read from my Kindle while I eat.

I've found a method that helps me get out the door on time to go to work. I get fully dressed, shoes and all, before eating breakfast, and also put necessary items (cell phone, lunch) in my pockets and purse before eating breakfast. That way when I suddenly realize that it's time to go I just have to put the poor little dog in his box, pick up my keys and purse, and go. Previously, I ate, then put on my socks and shoes and got my phone and lunch together, put the dog in his box, and left. I always underestimated the time that would take me, especially finding a pair of matching socks, and consistently left the house five minutes later than I wanted to. No amount of getting up earlier fixed that last-minute delay. The sense of running late added stress to my commute. The new way is a distinct improvement.

Well, I've finished my coffee, and I don't hear the rain pelting as hard. It's probably an opportune moment to walk the dog. Good day to you, whoever you are.

Good morning

Since I have come back from "back east," I find that jet lag is working in my favor, in that I am easily waking up early in the morning. The fact that it's getting lighter in the morning helps, too. We're heading into the time of year that makes atonement to us for the dark winter mornings that feel like the middle of the night.

Yesterday was Easter, Resurrection Sunday. The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed.

While I was gone, spring made advances here in Western Washington. Azaleas and rhododendrons are blooming. Trees have their sweet, tender little early leaves. Magnolias and fruit trees are blooming. Tulips are up. It's a beautiful time of year.

Soon I'll put on my dog-walking clothes and walk the dog. Then I'll get dressed for work and eat some breakfast before heading into Bellingham for a day of useful toil.

Reunited

My bunkie was glad to have me home again.

He spent the time I was away boarding at the vet's office. They know and like him there, and I know they took good care of him, but he still was ecstatically happy when I picked him up. And I was happy, too.

So far his only sign of PTSD is a tendency to lick me more than usual -- which is a lot. Oh, well. He'll soon regain what level of sanity he's capable of.

Enjoying the comforts of home

Out and about

Well, I'm back. I've been away from home for almost two weeks. I visited my brother and his wife in Toronto, Ontario,



and from there I drove in a rental car



to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to attend the Festival of Faith &Writing at my alma mater, Calvin College.

My sister was at the Festival;



she came from California, and we stayed with our aunt and uncle who live in Grand Rapids. Our aunt also attended the Festival. Then I drove back to Toronto and came home from there.

My sister wrote a blog entry about the festival and did such a fine job that I don't need to repeat her effort: Festival of Faith & Writing 2014.

I reserved an extra day of vacation after my return, so I could have one day at home relaxing, recovering from jet lag, and doing a bit of laundry and/or housework before going back to work.

Two books

I have been reading two books in the last few days, turning to one or the other as the mood strikes me. One is Life, God, and Other Small Topics: Conversations from Socrates in the City, edited by Eric Metaxas, and the other is The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The Metaxas book is a collection of talks given at the "Socrates in the City" forum he organized in New York City. Each speaker's chapter includes the introduction Metaxas gave, the talk, and the questions and answers following. Chuck Colson and N.T. Wright are two of the names I could recognize right off the bat, as well as Metaxas himself whose biography of Bonhoeffer (Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy) I've read.

The other is a childhood favorite that I still like to revisit. I think of it when I go to Hi Hoe Nursery in the spring because they have a secluded area called a "secret garden."

Branches, cages, cars, and coffee

It seems like I blog on weekends. The weeks go by quickly.

In the late afternoon today, I worked more on clearing up the back yard. The branches I've been cutting off have been lying around, and I'm trying to pile them near the creek. There's so much brush and so many thick blackberry stalks that it's all quite a lot of work. I got some aerobic exercise out there.

This morning I went to the DOL (in Washington, we have a DOL: Department of Licensing; when I lived in California, it was the DMV: Department of Motor Vehicles) to renew my driver's license. Before I left, I imprisoned my dog in a cage.

Is this the saddest picture ever?

I have to lock him up because if he has free range of the house when he's alone, he wreaks havoc (or "reeks havoc," as a student of mine once wrote in an essay). Solitude makes him insane.

In between the DOL and the yard work, I visited with my folks. We had coffee, looked at pictures, and spoke on the phone with both of my out-of-state siblings.

Automation

Today I did manage to accomplish that great deed, the taking out of garbage.

Yesterday was a good but a long busy day. I knew my afternoon would be free today, so I planned to do some yard work, weather permitting. In the morning, when I walked the dog, the weather was beautiful. Through the morning hours taken up by church and some family tasks, it clouded over, but by the time I had eaten a little lunch it was sunny and beautiful. Perfect weather for yard work.

But I felt so, so tired. I tried to whip up my energy to get out there and work, but I couldn't. So I said to myself, Why not take Sunday as a day of rest? What a concept. So I sat in my recliner and I slept for close to three hours.

I woke up slowly. I was tempted to have a cup of coffee, but I thought that would give me such a boost I might not get to sleep at a normal hour tonight, setting myself up for a difficult Monday morning. So I resisted that urge and am doing the fairly non-demanding task of sticking a few loads of laundry in the wash. I hope to have a good night's rest.

I am so glad that washing clothes is so simple and no longer involves boiling water, standing and rubbing everything up and down a washboard, dipping, twisting, wringing, and the like. It used to be one of the worst household tasks. I read that when pre-industrial women had any household money to command, the first job they would hire out was always washing clothes. Now, throw it in the washing machine, twist a dial, push a button, and go away and do something else for while. Come back, throw it in the dryer, twist a dial, push a button, and go away again. Yay for modern civilization and the comforts of a mechanized society!

Tea

Saturday morning. Today, my sister-in-law and I are going to help my mom host a "sisters-in-law tea" in honor of my mom's birthday, which was last week. It will be her sisters-in-law mainly. I need to put some things in my car and go pick a few things up from the store, but first I am having a leisurely morning.

It is chilly and overcast, but not raining, this morning. I have already walked the dog, so he is settled down. I have a lovely cup of coffee. Too cold yet to sit outside on the deck.

Since the time change, when I get home from work, I take the dog on a little walk around the back yard, and almost every afternoon I pause in the walk and saw one or two of the lower branches off trees. That is how I am getting my pruning done.

Aaoooo

Monday. Maandag. Montag. Måndag. Lundi. Lunes. Lunedi. Dé Luain.

At 22:10:25 PDT on Monday, 17 March 2014 the waning moon's phase was 97.72% full.

I went and found a video of wolves howling, but my dog didn't like it.

Like spring

We've had a couple of spring-like days. I'm glad. I feel sorry for people in the Midwest and East who are still getting winter weather.

Spring is the Period
by Emily Dickinson

Spring is the Period
Express from God.
Among the other seasons
Himself abide,

But during March and April
None stir abroad
Without a cordial interview
With God.

His bow

Last week Thursday when I was driving home I saw a rainbow. I tried to drive correctly while digging out my phone to take a picture. By the time I got the phone situated over the driving wheel, the rainbow was fading.

But if you look closely, perhaps you can see it in this picture looking across the fields:



And when I got to the stoplight at Hannegan and Pole Road, I took this picture that has the non-picturesque SeaMar Clinic in the foreground:



It's a wee little rainbow, but I'll take it.

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:13

Yay me

Because the evenings are longer now with Daylight Savings Time, I determined to do something constructive after I got home from work. That is why I ... drum roll ... took out the garbage! Not just insignificant garbage, but garbage that had been piling up a tad. A bit. Okay, a lot. But it's all in the garage now, waiting for garbage day.

Like Whitman, I celebrate myself. The sound of the belch'd words of my voice loos'd to the eddies of the wind .... I am silent, and go bathe and admire myself .... The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer.

Maybe not.

Well, at least I don't have too much garbage in my kitchen.

Toil

I worked in the back yard for several hours this afternoon, ruthlessly cutting back blackberry bushes and trimming branches off some trees. I hope to work my way around the yard trimming trees and bushes. One of my goals is to drive the lawn mower this summer without getting slapped in the face by any low-hanging branches.

Yesterday and today

In February, I mentioned it had been a dry winter. It has rained since then, and it rained a lot last night, so that there is a noticeable difference in the creek level between yesterday and today.

Yesterday:



Today:



Movie of yesterday:



Movie of today:

Loss

Today I lost a cousin to the same dreadful disease that took my brother.

I know that my Redeemer lives.

Silver thaw

This evening, all the branches, twigs, and every surface were coated with ice as it rained and froze. This is a "silver thaw," which is a prettier name than "crud." I do hope the roads are drivable tomorrow.