Cold Cold, Bright Bright

Good morning and hoping you all had a loverly mudder's day. I had to work this weekend to do some juggling giving me next weekend off for our trip to Alabama. One of the goals our hospital administration is currently working on is to reduce the amount of weekend/evening/holiday time required of supervisors so this weekend I was able to work short days and turn some of the responsibility over to another nurse. She did a great job and was so generous and sweet about it allowing me to sneak away early with a clear conscience. Thank you Mary! I'm worn out having worked through the weekend without a day off but Monday has arrived, I survived and I'm sitting at my desk looking into my back yard with visions of laundry dancing in my head. Actually this is a good thing! It's one of those tricky Michigan spring mornings, looks like you could sit outside and enjoy your coffee but it's 44 degrees out there and the frost warning doesn't expire for another hour. I'm not exactly a world traveler but to me it is very classical Michigan weather. Bright bright sun, cold cold air. It's the feeling of spring mornings, autumn afternoons and up north. Does that make any sense? I long for warmth and yet, this has its own familiarity that is good. There's a sensory memory attached to these Michigan moments that brings to mind years of goodness experienced in cold cold bright bright moments.

With my April birthday we switch gears unofficially from indoor to outdoor focus around here. So I've received a lilac bush from my parents which is thriving in the corner of my yard. When I saw the first fat purple blossom I looked around hoping for someone, anyone to show it to! Not a neighbor or family member in sight. Donny was not impressed. Speaking of Donny, my parents also gave me a hydrangea for my birthday which he "rescued" from it's corner of the yard to place it gently on the ground until it couldn't be revived. Four times we replanted it, four times he rescued it. He doesn't gnaw on it, just pulls it gently out of the earth and lays it on the grass. Much like his rescue of my swamp garden.

For my birthday I was given, by the Mr., a high top bistro set for the deck and a hammock (which waits in the garage for hammock weather.) Also for spring season the Mr. is adding brick retaining wall accents here and there. My yard is sort of divided in two, directly behind the house is the deck and the smaller part. Across the drive is the second lot which, in my opinion, looks kind of like a park. The park side has large trees and a large expanse of lawn. There's a small patio off of the garage on this side that we will use for our hammock and yard furniture. A small walkway stretches out beyond this patio and that is where our garden will go in the next few weeks. On the house side we are working on sprucing things up. It's a bit of a wasteland. Somewhere along the line, my gramma had the privacy hedges yanked out (why?) and there is no landscaping beyond the deck. Hence the retaining walls around my lilac bush in the corner, around the utility pole (where my garden was last year) and along the edge of the garage on the house side. I've put a blue ceramic bird bath around in what is now the bird garden at the utility pole. A few shepherd's hooks support bird feeders and just to be silly I pulled out the blue (yes blue) ceramic cat rescued from my Grandma's house last year. It's a hodge podge at the moment with my goal being to get my bird feeders hung and with intent to hang some flower baskets and do some serious landscaping over the next month. The Mr. added the bricks as a step toward the real plans of flowers around the pole. Well, we have a very sweet elderly neighbor catty corner behind us named Ann. Ann's elderly aunt lived with Ann and her husband and passed away in the fall. When we met over the fence Ann told me her husband, Ed, had died in February. Then Ann pointed to my bird garden...unmatched shepherd hooks with three bird feeders, blue ceramic bird bath and blue ceramic cat surrounded by landscape bricks; my little joke. After telling me of Ed's death and her lonely winter she says, "And then I walked outside and saw your yard! It's just so pretty and bright and it made me ready to plant some flowers and get a fresh start. I just come out here and look into your yard and I feel better." Now I feel bad about disbanding the bird garden! Maybe I'll give her the blue cat?

On Mother's Day my parents, sister and her family and daboyz came over for grilled flat iron steaks, pilaf, green beans, salad and dump cake courtesy of Amy. Oh, and jello mash. At least that's what we call the jello/cottage cheese/pineapple dessert. A family favorite. We had a good time just sitting around and eating and enjoying one another's company. I'd have liked to spend some time outside but it was too cold and frankly, I have a sore throat as it is. Don't tell anybody. We watched "...Benjamin Button." Insert raspberry here. Still a great day especially with the promise of being outside and more trips to Lowe's, Home Depot and Block's!

I'm going to hop in the shower and start my laundry. Probably bundle up with a cup of joe and sit on the deck even if it is cold cold bright bright.

I'll take in the bird garden and let life roll over me, past present and future. Actually the cold cold bright bright is the ribbon that ties it all together on some days, like today. And I think I'll hang on to that blue cat for a while longer.