It's still pretty chilly in the morning, down around freezing. But, right on cue, spring has arrived. And it's OK. I put the snow shovel away with just a tiny stab of regret. Can't be missing winter too much when there are daffodils everywhere, many trees are either blazing white or intensely pink, and Cadbury Creme Eggs are back in stock. Come on.
I've planted a bunch of bulbs, of many kinds all over the place. The crocus, daffs and muscari are all up, and there should be several others coming into bloom in some kind of sequence, though it will be a surprise, since I can't remember what or where I planted anything. With a brain like mine, one can keep secrets from one's self and continue down the strange path of rediscovery over and over again. Not always pleasantly so.
The seedlings are mostly up, and I'll plant a new batch this afternoon, maybe. Looking good, as long as I can remember to bring them in at night so they don't freeze their little tusches off. Can't get the stevia to sprout, again, though.
And it's time to cut the cover crop! Tom did the honors with the weedeater, but I'll need a few sessions with a shovel to turn it all under. Not the fun part.
I do appreciate spring in a more visceral way since living up here. The robins are back, fat little things. The geese are on the move, again. Trees, even the evergreens, are budding bright green tips. And, as soon as I finish the current sweater, I'll toggle back to baskets as evening TV work. It's just in the air, I don't know.
Recently, I was Googling Julian Beever. You know, the guy who does the amazing 3-D chalk drawings on the sidewalks all over the world. He's got some cool new stuff which you can see at this site (I've recommended it before) http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm. But I also found this site that shows the work of some other urban artists. Seriously. Go to http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/29/top-10-3d-graffiti-artists-in-the-world/
Scroll down to see some amazing trompe l'oeil and graffiti!
So, breathe it in! Plant a seed! Eat a Cadbury Creme Egg! It's spring!
Here's a pictorial representation of Tom's birthday, yesterday. He effectively took the day off to do the stuff he likes to do, much of which is illustrated here. 
There he is reading inside. 
And reading outside. A little music. A few puzzles. A movie at one of our big-time theaters (Gran Torino--two thumbs up!). Some food (PB 'n' J-his favorite-at lunch and dinner at, appropriately, Lefty's in NC). Cake, of course (I made a chocolate/chocolate) and a bit of TV (Castle and Mentalist happened to be in the queue). 
He received nice gifts and wonderful greetings in person, by email, by phone, Facebook and even a card or two delivered by the US Postal Service. He deserved it all and more, of course. 
A mini-vacation. Low-key. Restful. Just the kind of day he would have at a nice resort, somewhere. In the mountains. Or the foothills.
Fun weekend! Dylan and Emi came out for a couple of days. It was a big deal for us to have a chance to get better acquainted with with the gifted and charming Emi (and, yes, that's naturally curly hair, too--sheesh!). Somehow our timing has been flawed heretofore and we hadn't yet had the pleasure of spending more than a few minutes a couple of times to exchange greetings. It was time she faced the music (and the art, and anything else we could throw at her).
A storm fresh from the Gulf of Alaska took us all back from the brink of spring back into winter territory on Saturday morning, complete with snow on Sunday. It was a little sad to see all the daffodils bending under the weight, beautiful though it was. Therefore, we stayed indoors more than we wanted to, though we splashed into Grass Valley for some Thai and Dylan and Emi did get out for a hike through Empire Mine SHP.
Otherwise, we watched movies, ate (a lot of lemon meringue pie), and talked our heads off. We'll save Trial by Games (she'd probably clean our clocks) and The Andy Goldsworthy Appreciation Test until next time. It all went by rather quickly! One find for Dylan was our costume collection, from which he selected a fine blue leisure suit with white belt and shoes to wear at his next special occasion. I'm sure you'll agree that he chose well.
Meanwhile, Rachel spent much of her birthday on Friday traveling to Chicago to spend some time with friends. And, of course, Tom's is still scheduled for tomorrow, as usual.
At what point do you finally say to yourself, "There's just no way my pathetic life can keep up with the fast-paced, thrill-a-minute, super-charged life the Golds are living--I'm not even going to try anymore!"?
At this point.
Here are actual, exclusive photos of the odometer in our Outback turning from 99999 to 100000 miles Saturday night. That's right! Actual photos! Bask in the glory!
The circumstances surrounding this auspicious occasion were that we were returning from a All Hallows Church in Sacramento where the Music in the Mountains Festival Chorus (of which I'm a member in good standing-tenor I) performed "Requiem" by Maurice Durufle accompanied by orchestra and pipe organ. It's a piece performed in Latin drawing from traditional monastery chants, using contemporary chordal and rhythmic forms. Quite beautiful! Tom enjoyed it quite a bit! The trickiest part of learning it, for me, was counting. The time signature seemed to change every other measure.
Our part of the evening occupied the second half of the program. The first half was the performance of Beethoven's 6th Symphony, "Pastoral", which neither of us had ever heard straight through. Stunning piece beautifully played! The entire evening was so crammed with amazing music!
All Hallows parish runs a school and a music academy in an economically-challenged neighborhood of Sacramento. It's a place where no kid is ever turned away for lack of ability to pay and the arts will never be cut to save money. Period. The orchestra and small chorus (with whom we sang) are a combination of seasoned musicians and younger, but quite gifted, musicians who take music very seriously. The performance quality is very high! Our director, Ryan, also directs and trains the choral group at All Hallows, which is how our connection with them is made. It was with this same group that we performed Beethoven's Fifth in the big cathedral downtown last fall.
Such great music to accompany the understandably-high anticipation of the Odometer Event we knew would be happening later that evening!
Tom's a coffee guy. I have come rather recently in my life to appreciate tea and herbal infusions. That's right. I have learned that purists will insist that the only kind of drink that can be correctly called "tea" is made from the camellia sinensis plant from which black, white, green, and yellow teas are made. SO picky! I do not currently aspire to being able to distinguish darjeeling from oolong in a blindfolded test (and I contend that there are plenty of coffee snobs out there who can't tell unlabeled Starbucks from Maxwell House, either).
One reason drinking a cup of tea is a newer development for me is that I've never liked hot liquids in my mouth. What's up with that? People put HOT, SCALDING liquids IN THEIR MOUTHS all the time! I don't get it! My "hot" tea is only warm, thank you, which seems so much more sensible. Seriously. Of course, I don't like iced drinks, either. People put FREEZING COLD liquids IN THEIR MOUTHS all the time! How can they do that? I like room temp. I like iced tea--hold the ice, please.
Meanwhile, a few years ago, I learned that when I was with someone who wanted some Starbucks (not a regular routine, mind you), I could get some chai (never having acquired a taste for coffee) which made me look a little more a part of the cool coffee scene. So, I bought some chai at the market and also some mint herbal. Just to sip a little when company came over. I began to discover other delights, as well, such as white pear and various greens (having enjoyed them only with Asian food for years). And, well, now I've gone over the edge.
You can see (in our continuing tour of the contents of our cupboards begun with the fascinating exploration of our breakfast cereal) that I clearly have no sense about how much tea is enough. So, I have a little menu of the current selections posted inside the cupboard door so as to better ascertain the 30-40 choices at any given time. Green, black or white for morning, herbals in the evening. And I always drink from a huge 16-ounce cup. Always.
What's that? You want to know if I use sweetener and/or milk? Well. Yes and yes. Rachel was the corrupting influence. She encouraged me to try sweetener and milk. Never for herbals or greens, for me, but always with blacks and whites, now. And my sweetener of choice is stevia powder. It's easier to find, now that the FDA finally got around to approving it (don't get me started!). And usually, it's soy milk, but cow's will do.
Tom supports my habit. He's bought me a couple of lovely tea pots. One is a nice orange (to match my kettle) and the other is a beautiful Japanese-style iron set with the cute little cups. So pretty, I think you'll agree! And my tea faves? Well, in the winter I love the goo-gah teas, one of which is Bigelow's Egg Noggin (the "flavored instant coffee" of tea--definitely low-brow) And, anytime, I love Yogi Green Goji Berry with Green Kombucha and Green Pomegranate as runner-ups. By the by, Bigelow Perfect Peach is the favorite for iced tea, no question.
There! Can you think of any better way to have spent the last few minutes? Oh, and as a little bonus, here's Tom sitting in the kitchen doing (what else?) crossword puzzles after lunch, today. Such great blog value!
I couldn't decide which to write about, this afternoon: weather or tea. Each so rich, so deep and cram-packed with intrinsic humor. Closing my eyes and picking...
You know we love stormy weather (though Tom has some reservations where strong winds are concerned--something about trees). We don't usually have to drive around in it, most days--unless we want to. That's nice perk, working at home as we do, though losing power (light/heat/water) can get to be tedious, for sure (in which case, having someplace else to go during the day can be, uh, useful). Of course, January was very disappointing this year, precipitation-wise. I'm sure you've heard. Dire predictions for a thirsty state, and all. So we never learn?
But the sky has been working overtime to make up for the dryness, lately. We got big snow in the first part of February, and big rain ever since. Almost every day. We are soggy! Today, it has rained, snowed and hailed, though it's pretty quiet at the moment. A short drive from here, four feet of snow has fallen in the last 24 hours. Still, here in the foothills, we're about 9 inches behind average, which is roughly 75% of normal. I think we'll get close.
And I thought I'd make just one more hat. Just one. You see, there was this yarn on sale and I bought a little more than I needed. It has an interesting property, which I will try to exploit with other yarns, sometime. It's a "painted" yarn, with several colors, which usually turns out all mixed and tweedy-looking, as in the scarf. But the same yarn used in the hat turns out to make a swirly-sort of design that I like. I discovered it inadvertently while making a ski cowl with the same circumference. Fun, huh? Oh, stop--I can hear the oohing and ahhing from here...
For no particular reason, I thought I'd also include a picture of my little counter-top flower garden in the kitchen. It's about spent, now, but this is how it looked in its prime a couple of weeks ago. Now I have a couple of orchids ready to bloom, fortunately. And it's nearly time for my annual garden-seed planting ritual, full of hope, at first, only to be dashed on the rocks of despair in late spring when I haven't gotten the soil ready in time. Jiffy pots are reporting for duty!
So, happy weather-watching wherever you are (unless you're in SoCal where weather is too polite to make much of a fuss)...
