Spring adventures

 It has been a busy spring around here. There has been tennis, of course, and I ran the Little Rock half marathon for the third year in a row (it was cold and wet and not my best day, but I finished).

In March I completed the requirements to become a Notary Public. At the library, we get a lot of people seeking a notary, and we only had one other librarian certified, and he is often off on other business, so I figured it would be a good idea to get certified myself. So far, it has been a good investment - I've notarized something every day I have been at the office since I got my stamp.

Malcolm and his award certificates

Malcolm has been enjoying kindergarten and is learning so much. Every day I am impressed by how much he has grown in the last year. He is beginning to read (which means we can no longer spell in front of him to hide what we are saying!) and add and subtract. But the most exciting thing has been watching him on his new bike. At the beginning of spring break we bought new bikes for him and for me, to replace his outgrown balance bike and my old, heavy mountain bike. Hands down the best purchase we have made in a long while. Thanks to all his experience on the balance bike, Malcolm didn't need training wheels and was riding without any assistance after just a few minutes. It took a few more practice rides to get the hang of starting by himself, but now he is riding like a pro.

Family bike ride!

 It has been wonderful to have a new outdoor activity to do together. And again, I am so impressed with Malcolm. He has had a couple of crashes, but always gets back on the bike and keeps going. And he has stamina! For my birthday, he and I went on a bike ride together on the River Trail, and ended up going SEVEN miles in an hour. It was cold and windy that day, and I hadn't planned to go that far, but every time I suggested heading back to the car, he wanted to keep going. So we did. He was tired by the end, but he never complained or gave up. It was a great birthday gift.

Birthday bike ride!

Grandma Candi came to visit over spring break, and one day we took a family trip down to Garvan Gardens to see the tulips. So many tulips! Unlike the tulip fields in Washington or the Netherlands, the tulips at the gardens are planted among the trees, so you don't get huge stretches of colors, but you do get some lovely groupings and an idyllic stroll through a blooming forest.

It was a lovely day and the flowers were at their peak. We spent several hours just wandering, taking pictures and admiring the flowers.

Malcolm is skeptical about the paparazzi

Weather-wise, this has been an odd spring, with freezing temperatures followed by an 80 degree day, followed by rain and more rain. On repeat. But it is finally feeling like real spring (and the pollen is coating everything in yellow), and it is lovely.

Blackberry blossom

Spring is here, too busy to post

Now that spring is truly here, I have even more excuses for not posting much. It is simply too nice most days to stay in the house, in front of a computer. There are the regular household chores that have to be done, and some days those barely get completed, because who wants to sit inside folding laundry and cleaning the kitchen when it is 73, sunny, and oh so green outside? Malcolm certainly doesn't. If it is not raining, and sometimes even when it is, he is out in the yard as soon as he has had some breakfast. In his pajamas. I have managed to get him to the point where he puts his boots on without being told first, but that is sort of Pyrrhic victory, since he just pulls them off as soon as he gets to the sand box. Then he runs around without them, and I have to go collect the boots and, if he had them on, socks. He is certainly living up to the stereotype of the little boy who loves to play in the dirt! So much laundry from such a small person!

The vegetable garden is a bit behind - we had to shore up one of the beds, and the weather has been a bit erratic, so the tomatoes aren't in yet - but the lettuce, carrots, peas and kale are all growing apace. Iris are blooming all over our neighborhood, and our roses are starting to shine as well. If it weren't for the occasional severe thunderstorms that threaten us with golf-ball sized hail and the chance of tornadoes, April would be absolutely perfect.

Today

Soaking up the sun

Today is a complete contrast to my last post. The sun is out and it is warm. Not hot, not warm as in "it has been so cold that anything above freezing counts as warm," but genuinely springtime warm. Malcolm and I went to the park this morning to watch geese and play on the playground; this week I've been trimming the crepe myrtles, and the first seeds of the vegetable garden have been planted.

Last night before bed I was reading Aimless Love, the new collection of poetry by Billy Collins (one of my absolute favorite poets) when I rediscovered this poem, which completely captures my feelings about our spring weather:


Today

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden sprouting tulips

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

(Also available online from Poetry Magazine)

April Flowers

Spring is, finally, in full bloom around here. The daffodils finished up a couple of weeks ago, but everything else is taking its time. The jessamine is fully covered in fragrant yellow blooms, and bees.

There are three iris in the front garden, doing their best to add some color. I am still waiting for the other iris planted in the same bed to show some spirit. Maybe next year.

My favorite, the lilac. I checked my blog for the last couple of years in an informal bloom date survey - they are at least two weeks behind last year. The vegetable garden is also getting a slower start this year. I read somewhere that last year the temperatures for March were around 10 degrees above normal, while this year they were 10 degrees below normal. Seems about right. We've had an awful lot of cold, wet weather this year - I thought I was just noticing it more since I am at home all the time, but it was actually colder.

We've had some lovely sunrises lately. And since the trees are still mostly bare, we get a great view from our deck.

Daffodils!

These are actually from a couple of weeks ago. Our spring is far enough along now that all the trees are blooming, and the daffodils around us have definitely passed their peak. That's too bad - I always wish daffodils would stick around longer. In college, I used to go to the store and buy several bunches at a time when they were on sale and put them all over my dorm room.

 However, spring also means it is time to start planting the garden. The lettuce seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago are up, and the carrots are about to sprout and the peas are in (although, they and the carrots probably should have been in a couple of weeks earlier). I have collards, onions and beans to plant too, and of course we will have tomatoes and jalapenos. Probably broccoli too, if we can find good starts. Ooh, spring!

Spring flowers at the end of spring break

Ajuga

 Here are some of the flowers that are in my yard right now, post-daffodil, pre-rose. The warm weather has prompted everything to really get growing!

Jessamine, trying to escape the yard.

This week has had lovely weather, although it has reverted to more seasonal cold and gray today.

LILACS

Benjamin has been on Spring Break all this week, and has been busy showing his mom around Little Rock, and grading mid-term exams. Whee.

Lily-like flower that I decided was something last year and now I can't remember

But he also took some time to build another raised bed for our vegetable garden, which we will be filling soon with tomatoes and other scrumptious things to eat. So spring is well under way here in Little Rock.

Spring interlude

Mini-daffodils in our front yard.

 For my friends and family in more northern climes, here are some pictures of spring that I took this weekend.

Magnolias at the capital, after the union rally

So cute, so cheerful!

When Benjamin had his interview at UCA, we were living in Brockport NY, and we had just had 3 feet of snow.  He called from Arkansas, and told me that the daffodils were blooming, and all the trees had new leaves. I was so sick of snow at that point that it sounded close to heaven.

Spring in leaps and bounds

Yikes! It is Friday already! Once spring gets started here, it doesn't stop does it? This is the garden almost two weekends ago. (Yes, I did already post this, but I am trying to keep it in your mind until I get around to showing its current state.) Now, there are plants all through it - collards, lettuce, beans, peas, carrots, and basil. I promise to take more pictures, and get them off the camera, before the end of this coming weekend. It has been so nice out lately, and I have been so busy doing other things, that blogging has fallen behind, again.

Anyhoo, spring is here, and spring is springing. Baseball has started, the hockey playoffs have started, I have to wear sunblock any time I go out now, and the heater is off and the A/C is on. Phew...

Bulbs, tomatoes, and jessamine, oh my!

I have so many pictures to share, I don't know where to start. This unknown plant is in my backyard. It must be a bulb of some kind, but I haven't a clue as to its name.

Miikka has been helping us around the yard a lot lately. He loves it when I weed, or pick up sticks, or mow the lawn, or dig a hole. Or water the plants, or put up fences to keep him away from the newly-planted plants... On Sunday, I had to lock him in the house while I mowed, because he thought it was so incredibly fun to bark constantly while dancing around the mower.  Now, we have a reel-type push mower, so he wasn't in any danger, well, no danger from the mowing machine at least... And we have had to erect yet another fence, this one around the vegetable garden, to keep him off the lovely dirt and the seeds we planted.

On Saturday, we finally got a chance to go to a garden center and pick out some plants. So far, we have three tomato plants (plus two cherry tomato plants in pots on the deck), and Benjamin planted seeds for lettuce, collard greens, carrots, beans, basil and snow peas. In addition, we have two large pots of potatoes.  Whew. We have so much lovely dirt left that we might just start another garden bed.

In addition to the vegetables, we bought a lime tree, (no pictures of that at the moment), several geraniums, two kinds of peppers, and a small planter of lettuce. They are all in pots on the deck.  I also have mint, lemon balm, oregano, and parsley.  I planted seeds for can nip and sweet peas.

And to cap it off, we have Swamp Jessamine (isn't it a lot prettier than its name?) and a lilac bush. Both smell heavenly and are buzzing with bees and butterflies.

I do love spring!

Spring Surprises

One of the lovely things about spring is the way the blooms sort of sneak up on you. I mean, a week before, there was nothing but brown sticks, or bare earth, then *boom* you have quince blossoms and daffodils.

The surprise is even great for us this year, since it is our first spring in our new house. We don't know what-all was planted for spring, and it has been fun discovering the miniature daffodils and the crocus. But best of all, I discovered yesterday that we have a LILAC BUSH! One of my great sorrows in Texas was that lilacs just don't grow there - it is too hot in the summer and not cold enough in the winter. But lilacs, at least certain varieties, do grow in Arkansas. I have been planning to plant one, maybe for next year, and now I don't have to. It turns out that a rather undistinguished looking bush on the side of our house is actually a lilac. It isn't blooming yet, but there are buds. I can't wait!

Spring moves fast too - this picture is from a couple of weeks ago, and by now, these trees have leaves and the flowers are gone. I am sure the grass is turning green as well. We went away for the weekend, and when we came back, a clematis that I had hacked down to the ground a month ago (well, it was all dead and brown, and I was putting a rose next to it) had resprouted and is already almost a foot tall. More surprises await, I am sure.

Spring Today!

It is finally, officially spring today (even though we sprung forward two weeks ago). The daffodils are about done, but the tulips and hyacinths are blooming. Trees are starting to get leaves, and the sun is shining. Next week, Benjamin is on Spring Break. Since I have to work, we won't be able to go on any long trips, but we are going to go for an overnight excursion and hike. Ah, wilderness!

Daffodils

I hinted at a daffodil post last week, and now that my new camera is here, I can finally follow up. The daffodils are blooming here in Arkansas. I love daffodils. Don't get me wrong, I love tulips and hyacinths and paperwhites and all those other blooming harbingers of the season, but daffodils have a special place in my affections. I am not sure when they first became my favorite sign of spring, but it may have been college. First of all, the Whitman College campus is covered with daffodils, so much so that you can hardly get away from them. They are so bright and cheerful in the gray of a northwestern spring. Secondly, the Safeway store just down the street from my dorm used to carry (may still , for all I know) daffodils, 2 bunches for $5. This was a great bargain for a poor college student, and a wonderful way to brighten up a dorm room. I bought a vase for a dollar from the thrift store, and filled it with daffodils every week for as long as they were on sale. When we moved to Texas, flowers of all kinds became an indulgence, a luxury - I guess spring flowers just don't like the short winter and hot spring - $10 or more for 6 sad little tulips or daffys. And they don't like being transported half-way across the country. In New York last year, I planted some of my own daffodils, and was pleased to discover additional bulbs sprouting from the previous owners. This year, I am back in an apartment and have no daffodils of my own, but like college, there are daffodils everywhere for me to enjoy. And, in the garden of the empty house next to our building, there is a row of daffodils, waiting to be admired.

Griffey's back!

After 9 years away, Ken Griffey Jr. is coming back to Seattle to play baseball. Griffey was just getting started when I began watching baseball, and during those years when the Mariners were so bad, he was the show. Dad and I would go to the Kingdome and sit in the 300 level, in the cheap seats, each with our own walkman so we could listen to Dave Neihaus, and watch Griffey patrol center field and hit homeruns. You had to have Dave, or the game wasn't the same. Mom always thought it was anti-social of us to both have headphones on, but we were sharing the same moment that way. I was sad when Griffey left, but it wasn't as bad as when A-rod left, because he didn't make it seem like a rejection (and it wasn't a money thing, it was a family thing). Benjamin asked me the other day if I would be excited to have Griffey back. Benjamin doesn't feel anything one way or the other about it, since Griffey had just left when he started watching the M's, and he has more loyalty to Mike Cameron, who replaced Griffey. Out of nostalgia, I am glad Griffey is coming back. But will he help the team? I hope so. Anyway, baseball spring training is starting up, another sign of spring!

Spring Fever

Spring seems to be coming along here in Arkansas. The daffodils are emerging, the magnolias on the capitol grounds have started to bloom, the sun is out (today anyway - it was cold and drizzly all day yesterday). On the ride in to work (G's day to drive) I saw a Great Blue Heron, a kingfisher of some sort, an egret, and a red-wing black bird. I can hear birds chirping as I eat my breakfast.

Along with spring, comes spring fever. I am feeling restless - eager to be out of our apartment and into a house (still several months away, at least), tired of being at a job all day (although the money is good, and necessary for restless symptom #1). I want to start a garden, I want to cook and eat interesting things that don't involve root vegetables, lentils, and long simmering times. I want to travel...

As usual, any attempts I make to soothe these feelings only ends up making them more acute. Today I found my way to a new (to me) food blog out of Seattle, Orangette, and it is exquisite torture to sit here and read it at the reference desk. Food, Seattle, traveling - all things I cannot have at the moment, but all things I love. Sigh.

I suppose I ought to enjoy these feelings while I can; soon enough it will be summer - hot and humid and life-draining. Then, I won't want anything, and daffodils will only be a memory.

Woodchuck redux

Winter is truly on its way out - the woodchucks are out in force. We have two (or maybe more by now) living under the front stoop. I have spotted several more on the canal berm in the back yard. They are thinner than in the fall, but that will probably swiftly be remedied. As I type, one is sitting on the steps up to the canal, sunning itself and munching away on something. I can see it, because it is warm enough to sit out on the porch again, for the first time since October. The cats are very pleased about this - I think they were suffering from cabin fever! Neither Cleo nor Oliver are allowed in the actual outdoors unchaperoned (Cleo doesn't have claws, Oliver is agoraphobic, and both are big sissies), but they sure do enjoy having the larger vista provided by all the windows. Creamsicle, who is allowed outside, seems pleased with her renewed ability to go exploring without freezing her tail off (must remember to get a collar for her soon). I don't know how long this lovely weather will last - it is supposed to be cold and rainy by the end of the week, or how long it will take to return again, but I sure like it!

In other news, my mom is visiting for a few days. I am taking a couple of days off from my new job so we can spend time together. She has seen her first woodchuck, and spoiled us with too much chocolate...

Melting, I'm melting...

Although, unlike for the wicked witch, it is a good thing. A week after being buried in snow, we are now melting. Well, the snow is anyway - it is only 40 after all, not the 95 it was in Austin yesterday. Spring is truly on its way now, even if winter has a couple more storms to throw at us (not that I would be disappointed if it didn't). The soundtrack to my walk yesterday was the steady drip of melting snow and the twittering of birds. This afternoon on our now-weekly walk to the library we saw a small flock of waxwings in a fruit tree, eating the berries that still hung on the branches. Hooray!

Yo yo weather

As I type it is 62 and sunny here. The mailman is wearing shorts and a short-sleeved polo shirt. Oliver took a field trip out onto the front porch to enjoy the sun (but not the remains of the snow on the lawn - that was too much). I have windows open, OPEN WINDOWS people! I took a walk without a jacket. Bliss...

Tomorrow at this time, it is supposed to be 30 and sleeting. Ditto for the rest of the week, minus the sleet. Sigh.

Spring is springing (part 2)

Despite the snow and bitter cold that are predicted for the rest of the week, there are signs that spring is really coming. We have had lovely, sunny weather for the last few days - the snow and ice on the sidewalks is decreasing, roofs are clear - and this morning, I saw three more signs. (1) The first woodchuck of the new year! I was on my way out to fill the bird feeders in the backyard when I heard a crashing and rustling in the dried grass and weeds along the fence, too loud to be a squirrel and they run up the power pole anyway. When it emerged near the corner of the yard, heading for the mini-wilderness of the canal berm, it was revealed as a woodchuck. Hooray! (2) Also while I was out filling the bird feeders, I heard rapid tapping, and discovered a woodpecker drilling away at the top of a tree in the neighbor's yard. (3) I saw a couple of birds (starlings?) either starting a nest, or feeding babies in the hole in the side of the neighbor's house. This is an interesting hole - during the late fall and early winter, it was occupied by a pair of squirrels. Don't know if it is a purpose built squirrel hidey hole, or an accidental one, but they certainly made it there own. Haven't seen them in a while, and now it appears to be a bird hole.

Surely true spring can't be too far behind!

Spring is springing!

Well, not here it isn't, not really. The beautiful, small, pink buds I saw on a tree yesterday are a sign that the end is in sight (even if it is 2 or 3 months away), but it started snowing again yesterday afternoon, and is still at it. However, Mariners pitchers and catchers report to spring training today, and the rest of the team can't be far behind! Three cheers for baseball - even with the acrimony surrounding the semi-controversial Bedard-Jones trade, and with the Rocket on the Hill denying he (or his wife - who cares if she used it, is she in line for the hall of fame?) ever used rocket fuel, baseball is starting again. Spring and summer are just around the corner. Soon these days of cold and snow will be just a memory, and we will be eating fresh produce and listening to J.J. Putz strike out the side in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. Hooray!

And tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I am celebrating by baking an Orange Cardamom bundt cake - any excuse for yummy baking works for me!