The first day of Spring surprised a few folks with frost on the windshield this morning. It has been a while since it got down to freezing here in Seattle.
But by the time Spring officially started here sometime around 9:45 this morning, the sun was warming things up.
We worked over at Jill's house this morning, moving some shrubs, digging out other stuff, and clearing a place for her vegetable patch.
Two rhododendrons came out of here ↓and were moved to a better location, as shown above.↑
Then Tom tackled the sucker growth cherry tree that had been growing in the old fire pit. As he excavated, he found the archaeological remains - charcoal.
I was about as much help as old Tiger cat here, who knows how to enjoy the sun while the work is being done.
Conquered!
Tom had put in three hours of hard labor and it was time to go home for a late lunch and a slower pace.
After lunch Tom worked in the garage on another bonsai tree and I went for a walk.
Yes, it really is spring here in Seattle, and to prove it, the cherry blossoms popped today.
And the daffodils are nodding, much preferring the sun to the rain that had them bowing down a day ago.
Happy spring, everyone. Yes, even those of you who are enduring yet another snow storm. Buy yourself some flowers at the grocery store, put them on your kitchen table, and pretend. Whatever it takes to endure until your Spring comes too.
This is a photo of me looking good!
That's because I just returned from seeing my surgeon for my six week check back. My x-rays are good, the corrections in my spine have held, the apparatus (screws and rods) have not shifted, the incision has healed, and I can keep on walking as much as I want to! Dr. Gala says I am way ahead of schedule. Yay me!
I am still restricted from lifting more than 10 pounds, I can't go out and garden yet, and I can't take my anti-inflamatory drugs for my arthritis for a long time yet, but I might be able to tie my own shoes!
The gardening part is a bummer, but I knew that was the case. Hopefully I will be able to do yard work by May.
I will start physical therapy now, as soon as something gets set up. I guess that will give me something to do anyway.
I confess I was worried that I had been doing too much, but nope, all is good. I'm relieved.
I took more photos of Tom working today. Well, actually, by the time I frittered the day away and then got back from my walk, I found him resting after his day's work.
The pile awaiting an empty yard waste bin has grown. Today was the day to trim the salal. Salal is a native broad leaf evergreen shrub that was growing here on the property when we bought it. We have "tamed' it a bit to be where we want it to be. In the native forests it will grow to ten feet. We don't want it to do that here, so just before it starts to bud out, we cut it back.
Yesterday I transplanted seedlings of tomatoes, marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, asters, and sunflowers, while Tom organized the greenhouse and worked on his geranium cuttings. I checked in the greenhouse this afternoon to see how they all looked.
Yay. They survived! It was a tedious job transplanting all those delicate little seedlings and you wonder if they will even make it, but Tom assured me that I was doing a good job, better than he usually does. When you give a perfectionist a tedious, painstaking job, it involves some slow deliberate work, and a bit of grumbling, but if they actually grow, I'm happy to help.
While I was out with my camera I found a few more things that are emerging or have come into bloom.
Choinodoxa
More clumps of trillium.
Hosta emerging.
a red Corydalis
Violets
Tulip buds!
Bergenia buds
There was time for Tom to have a nap before dinner. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I prepared Bangers and Mash.
That's cider steeped brats, Yukon gold potatoes mashed with sharp white cheddar cheese, cabbage with caraway seeds, and a salad of herb greens, fresh pear, dried cranberries and blue cheese. (My plate was smaller, since I didn't work very hard.)
I hope you all had a pleasant St. Patrick's Day, with no pinching. For those of you not yet living in a green world, may the ice and snow soon depart and leave you with a spring in your step and warmth in your heart.
Each Friday morning Tom and I join the other members of the Breakfast Club for breakfast, always at the same place, Des Moines Creek Restaurant, at the same time. (This Des Moines is a suburb south of Seattle)
The number varies according to what's going on in our lives: travel, illness, surgery, death of a loved one. As we get older, stuff happens.
The core of this group is made up of retired teachers who all worked with Tom at Des Moines Elementary. They adopted me when I retired. They have been going to breakfast on Fridays for many years, long before most of them retired.
Today was a special day because it marked the return of our friend Jeanne, who has been in fragile health. Today she was feeling up to it and her son Brad was able to bring her.
That's the lovely Jeanne in the center, with her handsome son at her side.
Because it was a special day we had a larger group than usual and there was lots of lively conversation.
Down there at the end of the table is our server Talley, who takes such good care of us each Friday.
From left to right: Linda, Lela, LaRae, Colleen, Tom, Brad, Jeanne, Mavis, Jan. Hurray, the gang's all here!
There's a lot of gardening to do in March. I can't do it. So while I would usually be out there working along side Tom, this year I am relegated to watching him work. I did prune the roses yesterday, but my back was not too happy with me.
Yesterday he trimmed the juniper hedge along the driveway.
Then he got started on cutting back all the sword fern fronds. He finished that job today.
Partly done, but a lot more to go.
I think maybe this is the last one!
New frond fiddle heads are getting ready to unfurl.
A pile of old fronds awaits the next round of the yard waste bin pick up.
I went for a walk this afternoon and when I go back Tom was just finishing up, and said he had been visited by a pair of wrens. I had my camera, but no zoom, but sure, enough, the wrens stopped by to say "Hi" to me too.
That little stone house is just decorative, but the Bewicks Wrens are nesting in the bird bottle on the side of the house. They have nested here before and in the last week I have seen them bringing nesting materials. So exciting!
I went grocery shopping this morning and bought new flowers to arrange for the kitchen table.
Outside things are blooming too - the first trilliums.
And the marsh marigolds.
It's easy to go through life not paying much attention to the plight of others. I know. I do it very successfully.
We hear about suffering on the news every day, and unless we have a personal connection, we tend to just move on and not let it affect us. The problems are so big, so insurmountable, that what can we do anyway?
I just finished reading Never Fall Down, by Patricia McCormick, who tells the true story of Arn, who is just a kid when the Khmer Rouge overruns his world and his life in Cambodia, and plunges him into the middle of the Killing Fields.
I knew a little about this horrific period of genocide, but really a very little, because I was busy with my own life, and just didn't pay much attention. This book sort of slapped me up the side of the head.
I have just started my next book, another one recommended by fellow bloggers, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. This is not going to be light reading either - more unimaginable suffering, I'm sure. Hopefully it will add to my awareness of the hardships of others. In turn, I should be flooded with gratitude at my good fortune to be born in my time and place and circumstances.
On the NBC Nightly News this week, a series on the plight of the children of Syria is being featured. Syria's brutal civil war has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world right now, as children and families suffer unimaginably.
I'm paying attention. I'm trying to catch up to what's really going on there. As always when adults resort to war, the children suffer. I paid attention to the "How you can help" information, followed the links at NBCNEWS.com/Nightly News. and made a donation to Mercy Corp.
It's the least I can do.
It's getting dark now, but not long ago I was out taking an evening stroll.
A robin high in a tree sang to the setting sun.
While at the same time the moon was already high in the clear sky.
There were glimpses of the Mountain in alpenglow over the housetops.
And the playground at the school was full of kids playing and happy voices.
This is what I love about Daylight Saving Time.
Because of my issues with sleep, I am never in a hurry to actually turn off the light and try to sleep. We have been reading well after midnight, which means we are not rising early enough to notice the darker mornings.
I did go for a 2.5 mile walk this morning over at the park.
And then this afternoon Tom found a few gardening jobs I could do, trimming pots out on the patio. It was great to be even a little bit useful, and soak up some sunshine at the same time.
Tom was busy digging. moving, and transplanting plants, trying to find places where they might be happier in the garden. He finished off the afternoon by mowing the lawn.
The good weather is expected to last through tomorrow. I'm going to try to prune the roses.
