MiD WinTeR CrAZy WeAtHeR

Today the news was all about

 the blizzard

of 2011 hitting Chicago.

Now I know from experience

in one of the California earthquakes

 that the weather persons

e x a g g e r a t e

in order to create news. 

I guess a worried public

is more likely to watch and listen to them. 

Or

 are they just in the business of spreading fear?

It did strike me as

 crazy

that there was a blizzard in Chicago

and we were having

66 degree temperatures

HERE

 in FEBRUARY. 

YIPPEE!!

 But that’s what this day is

MIDWINTER

  half way between

winter and spring 

between

Winter Solstice

and

Spring Equinox.

 

It’s an ancient Pagan Holiday

known under many names

(Imbolc, Candlemas)

until it was turned into

Groundhog Day here

where that poor furry critter

gets rudely awakened

and dangled around

by his rough. 

(Where is PITA in all this??)

That’s how most folks know MidWinter now.

 

But I digress…….

under whatever name,

the days are getting longer

the

is rising earlier

there is just

more light

and today the temperatures are down right

WARM

Time to

CELEBRATE!!!

I am SO ready for spring.  

Besides,

I don’t need much of an excuse to

CELEBRATE!!!

and this gorgeous day was a good one. 

Especially since just

4 days ago

this is what it looked like around here.

 

Crazy Weather…..

Snow on the 28^th of January

and 66 degrees on the 2^nd of February

To start my celebration,

I had…..

YOU guessed it

 

Choc chip pancakes

And then

time to GET OUTside

and enjoy these temperatures

So I spent time outside

cutting back my poor ferns.

Their foster mother had taken

not so good care

of them for 9 weeks. 

When I gave them to her

they would hardly fit in the car they

were so BIG and full.

NOW look!

Pretty certain she managed to

 kill one

and severely wound the other.  

I’ve had these ferns for 30 years mind you

and they were cuttings taken from ferns

in my great aunt’s house

since the 1930’s

so they are pretty special to me.    

 

BUT

one appears to be going to make

it after 2 months of

loving care and attention

Take a look at those little shoots just giving it

 their all.
Look closely, there is a fiddle head in the back.

 

There will definitely not be an adoption in the future

Will I be the only one with

a fern

in her rig?

Winnona will love it!!.

Although

what I really needed to be doing

was sorting and packing inside,

it was just too beautiful outside

and besides

I was celebrating RIGHT?  

So I also pruned back the huge hydrangeas

now

they will bloom like crazy

as they do every year

Even though I will NOT be here to see them. 

I’ll enjoy the thoughts of them.

I got the home made Danish

from Foods of All Nations

 

that is always

part of the

 Midwinter Day

joys. 

It’s a great tradition

BELIEVE YOU ME!! 

Mother Nature

out did herself

the entire day

with such glorious temperatures

and this wonderful sunset.

 

It was just the up lift I needed

to get me back on track

and banish those winter blues.

Hope your Midwinter Day was worth celebrating

even if it brought you a blizzard. 

Snow is beautiful if you only have to

look

 

 at it

so do just that.

 

Celebrate

By staying off the roads

and leaving the shoveling

 until later!!

What can it hurt?

 Right??

Just curious,

do any of you bring plants

or only animal pets

along with you on the road??

What did you do to celebrate this

Exact half way point between

Winter and Spring?

DoG DaYs

And I’m nOt TaLkInG  weather.

It’s still COLDER than a………

Here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains

But in addition to all the tossing and sorting and packing and

Well you know…….

I’m still running every other day

(even in 26 degree weather)

 

and on a

PARTICULARLY COLD DAY

I went on a LONG walk

with my friend Helen

and her two lovely golden labs

Here’s Helen and Piatt and Paxton

(LOVE that hat Helen)

 

While we were walking and walking and walking and…..

TrYiNg tO kEEp WaRm

we talked about the trip she is taking

to hike around the Ring of Kerry in

 Ireland!!!

Boy does all that GrEEn look GrEaT and WaRmmmmm

I don’t think Piatt and Paxton get to go

(Shhhh don’t tell)

but

WOWSIE!

I absolutely

Y loved Y

Ireland

when I was there

and the west coast in particular.

I would love to hike for a week

or 10 days or 2 weeks or….

around the Ring of Anything

in Ireland

but……

there’s always those FUND$$$ in the way.

I can’t see the USA in my Chevrolet Winnebago

AND

hike the Ring of Kerry.

More of life’s choices…

I’m particularly lucky to have so many!!

The very next day

my friend Pam brought over

the latest addition to her family to introduce us.

Zach is the elevendybillionth golden retriever

she has had in the 25 years I have known her.

Currently there are Abby 9, Jasmine 6, Caleb 3 and now Zach 1.

Nice spacing for children I told her.

Although

it has actually taken 4 goldens

to fill in

for her 2 grown children Kate and Peter.

But she was and is a wonderful mother to them all.

Now I was AmiSS (shame on me)

 in not getting a pic of the 2

when they were here but

thanks to the

long suffering doggie-daddy

I have this great one of

Pam and her GOLDEN gang.

 

Hmmm where does doggie daddy sleep???

Now I ask myself

why

am I

not

getting enough done

around here?

My life is going to the dogs

That’s why!

Choices

You ask.....

(didn’t you??)

What HAVE I been doing

in the wonderful

peace and calm

following my narrow escape

from the Arch Villain Malware?  

Mostly

practicing making choices.

I have finally  managed to make

all the choices in what to

Toss

 and what to

 keep

in the clothing department. 

Keeping all shorts and bathing suits –ocean here I come

And my favorite polar fleece (just in case Florida acts up next winter too)

 

Sure I hope I have weeded out enough. 

Took a  l o n g  time

but wasn’t nearly as hard for me

as packing boxes of books

to be either donated to the local library book sale

or to be stored

depending on how near and dear they are to my 

 

Donate or store??

Donate or Store??

This is taking FORever!

I know I know….can’t take them all with me….too heavy

but I can’t bring myself to toss them all either. 

And I’m having a hard time with the choices. 

I have a huge personal library that I also

Here’s one of the twenty bookcases that have to be emptied.

Some built in, some stand alone……..

Lots of them really do have empty shelves, just not this one YET

HONEST!!

So the moral of the story is I’ll

 take my best and leave the rest

for my daughter to do.

As you can see from this picture taken on the day she was sworn in to the Maryland Bar,

She won’t have nearly as

much trouble as I’m having.  

Actually She won’t have

any trouble at all……..

and anyway

isn’t that why we have children

to ultimately pick up after us

for a change???