Early Spring

There have been years when there has still been snow covering the ground well into the first weeks of April so to have daffodils blooming during the third week in March is a first in the 20 years we've lived in our home.  The 70's of last week are gone but the warm temperatures rushed things along and the forsythia have already bloomed. Now that we're back into the 40's Mother nature has reverted back to her usual pace.

I saved some garlic from the farmer's market and planted it last fall; it is up and growing well.  I ordered 3 different types of potatoes which arrived this week and are now chitting on the 3-season porch, to help them grow more quickly once they are placed in the ground. The onions that came with the order are already in the soil. Last year I learned that onions need the cool temps of early spring in order to grow roots. When planted too late they will sprout but not increase in size. Live and learn!

Garlic

I love the blue of the scilla which bloom in large clumps around the yard. I'm fortunate that the previous owner of the home was a wonderful plantswoman; she had quite a number of shrubs, perennials and bulbs planted in the gardens.

Scilla siberica

White peony shoots. I love the way they look like hands reaching for the sky

Another Chair Affair

I found this chair on Craigslist over the winter and thought the lines were pretty in addition to the price being right. I didn't care for the upholstery but planed to change it. Yesterday was that day. 

The worst part, as in the previous chair, was the removal of the old upholstery and staples, which took up most of the morning and early afternoon. First the back and arm pads were replaced:

I thought I might stop there and finish the next day, but once a project is begun I have a difficult time putting it aside. The seat went more quickly, possibly because I had a system down. I'm happy with the finished product and like the colors so much more than the original, which looked very blah in our bedroom. Now we have a perfect reading chair!

Our Bodies, Ourselves

Wherever you go, there you are. - Unknown

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds" - Bob Marley

This post has been a very long time in coming. There is a bottleneck somewhere in my mind and although there is much to say, the words are squeezed together and stuck; some things I'm still figuring out. Maybe if I start the process, whether or not it makes sense, things will start to flow again.

In the past 2 months the foundation of my world has been shaken; I've always thought myself fairly grounded but I felt as though I completely lost my footing and all the coming to terms I'd done with my mortality went out the window. If not for Joe, Wilson, my parents and close friends I wouldn't have had the strength to manage.  In the past, when recovering from  a health decline or crisis I've felt moments of gratitude, a special heightened awareness and appreciation for life, but the times were fleeting and once I was recovered that heightened awareness would dwindle.

Not this time; I feel so thankful and also much more aware of the fragility of life. Everyone who survives a shock says the same thing, "Life can change in a second, you just never know". One moment things are fine, you are going about your day and the next your world is upside down. Yet somehow nothing has changed. It's a trick to incorporate the new information into your world, learn and grow from it, allow it to make you a better person. That's what I'm still working on.

Regardless of what our bodies go through, we are in charge of our minds. We are the only ones who can decide whether we will be prisoners of our physical bodies or if we can break the bonds of our mental slavery and rise above it all.