EXCUSE ME... A Correction!!!

Daylight Savings is on MARCH 14th!!!  Spring begins on the 20th.  More LIGHT ~ it's all good!!!!!

14 Days 'til Spring

We can do it... wait for Spring... but almost all of us would like to see her pretty face now!  Let us begin the rituals of  preparation: clean out the house, air the rooms, get the dogs groomed, plan a summer trip, think about feeling the warmth of sun on human skin...ah Spring!  In the mean time, we wait...

Brenda's Photo Challenge! Anything wooden ~ waiting for Spring!

Today caught me off guard and I am posting just a bit late.   Took these photos on Fox Island (Puget Sound) at the community center there.  Almost every object seemed to long for the activities of Spring and Summer!  Spring is now just 15 days away...but for some there will have to be a few more snow, sleet or rain storms before the GAMES begin!!!  It can not get here fast enough for me!

 Waiting for camp fire stories to be told...

Waiting for Grandparents and young mothers doting on the family youngster...

Waiting for someone to find the patio furniture and BBQ!

Waiting for Dad or Handy man to apply a fresh coat of paint

Wishing all a good week end and good health!

Go Away Sally Ann...No One Likes You

“Why do you stay in prison

When the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear thinking

Live in silence

Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Persian Port and Mystic 1207-1273

I named her a couple of years ago.  She was back for another unbidden, unwelcome visit.  She is a relentless hitch-hiker and has the annoying habit of arriving whenever it is convenient for her  .It is always in winter. Fundamentally she is a loner yet she insists on silently hanging around people.  She is the uninvited over-night guest that never seems to know that she has over-stayed her visit.  I can no longer remember when I first gave her a ride - except I know it was some long ago frozen New England winter. Now she just sits quietly, some would say, dolefully in the same spot, collecting dust and sadness. .  Sally Anne has horrible food preferences, all sugary junk food and gobs of not so healthy carbohydrates.  We’ve had to come to an agreement on the food thing…whole grains only and NOTHING with white sugar in it.  As I alone do the shopping, the rules are not difficult to follow ~ she is no longer allowed in the grocery store.  Most days she sits on the couch with a pile of unread books next to her and she always rides in the car no matter how short the errand.  I hate commuting with her.  Her presence conjures up all the “would’a, could’a, should’a” scenarios that time cannot erase.    The saving grace is that I know come Spring , the real Spring ~ not the one I simply yearn for, she will disappear.   Sally Ann hates sun light.  I’ve often accused her of being a Vampire.  She does not smile or bark a hostile word back.  She has no sense of humor.  I’ve come to believe she moves to South America in April.  I know her well enough now to know that she is not bilingual.  The Spanish lessons have been collecting dust along with all the other books near her nest of books on the couch..She does not need to know another language.  She lets the host do all the talking.  She simply sits and does a weird imitation of one of those distorted fun house mirrors.

"People with SAD suffer from a lack of sunlight – they are literally ‘in the dark."  ~ Dr. Raymond Crowel, Psy.D.

Certain bright lights create a hostile environment for her ~ even Costco knows this and sells anti-Sally Anne” Verilux” lights  The sun really does the trick but good artificial lights helps…almost makes it seems as though she is not there.  So does exercise.  She hates sweat and shrinks back just a tad to avoid contact the clear stuff.  But all in all, nothing works as well as sunlight.  Bright warm sun light is the only message she will really notice.  ‘Go away Sally Ann’ it silently screams.  Come April she will do just that! 

Brenda's Photo Challenge! The Color RED!

Red: the color of life.   To be organic is to be messy.  No other color expresses that notion as well as RED!  It is the color of passion, war, love, birth, hate, and blood.  It is vibrant and pulses.  It can bring us to tears or romantic sighs.  It represents summer and autumn. 

Red is the color of life…at it’s beginning and it’s end.

Container Gardening in a different key!

Enough said....

recycling at it's best!!!

Living musically?

“In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism and skepticism and humbug and we shall want to live more musically”   ~ Vincent vanGogh

“...living musically” ~ Isn’t that a fascinating thought?   Perhaps that is the way we should proceed with each moment…chose a musical score  and move as though no matter what occurs in day to day life it were all part of an elaborate dance.  Rather than being trapped in memory, listen to the composers, find your rhythm, timing and engage dynamically as if it were the magic of a symphony that propelled you through time.  Perhaps the nation would turn off Fox News or MSNBC or whatever talking head is espousing their particular version of the truth.  Maybe then we could engage more fully in life…in step to music, creative impulse, rather than hate, ideology, or some pressing need to be upset over the ‘news’ of the day.  What if we were looking for dance partners rather than converts? 

My rationale mind is struggling with the notion.  “How would we get anything done if we are all dancing” the little list maker frets.  Living musically does not mean living idly (I reassure myself).  Perhaps the phrase suggests we would live in concert with ourselves ~ with others.  There seems to be a simple honesty implied in the quote…something to ponder.

Hand Blown Glass for the Garden!

Posted this picture on my photo blog (http://romancingthenorthwest.blogspot.com/) but wanted to share it on this blog as well.  Thought the this artist's hand blown glass was/is creative and graceful as well as whimsical.  It would make a delightful surprise in a shade garden ~ as this garden group demonstrated.  So interesting to be able to create a multi-purpose garden of a different sort ~ part landscape, part canvas.

Of course, after thriving most of this winter in record breaking warm weather, the folks of the Northwest are now dealing with heavy fog and chilly nights.  Dang!  I was feeling so certain that Spring was just around the corner.  Of course, I usually have Spring Fever from January to May so I can not be trusted as a barometer of serious weather related events, especially at this time of the year!

Seattle Garden Show 2010 -2

Last night I drove home in thick fog.  That is always a draining commute when one cannot see beyond a few feet in front the car and the folks driving behind you have a perverse need to tailgate.  Reviewing and editing the photos from the week end excursion recycled the peaceful moments of wandering through the gardening examples at the Seattle show.  What a pleasant escape!

Seattle Garden Show 2010

Spring comes to some in the form of the annual Garden show.  After a record warm and mild winter, there is now daily talk of the hard frosts that are about to descend on us.  But we can face it...we've all been to the Garden Show!  The perfect escape into an imaginary May and June and it works for me!!!!

 the  traditional cold frame in stylish colors~

Simple elegance ~

Brought to you by TODAY OUTSIDE!!!

"Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men."

 ~Chinese Proverb

Almost There ...

"It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"                                              ~Mark Twain