Pretty pictures

First, my sweet girl Ginger. I wish you all could feel how wonderfully soft and luxurious her coat is; everyone remarks on it when they pet her. Our vet says she has the nicest fur if any dog he's ever seen. And she's a sweetheart, too.

Next up: some flowers blooming in my yard.

And last, a couple of photos taken as I drove home yesterday. The first one is beside my house. Spring is my favorite season, and I just love bright sunny days like these!

Easter trees, strawberry fields

A neighbor has decorated her blooming dogwood tree with Easter egg ornaments. I stopped in the middle of a bike ride this morning to take a picture to share here:

It's weird, but kind of cute.

After lunch I paid a visit to one of our local strawberry farms. The berries are ripe a little early this year. Several people were out in the warm sunshine letting little kids pick strawberries. I was in a hurry so I decided not to pick my own. Maybe next time.

I bought a big basket of beautiful berries. They're so sweet and delicious. Just look at them:

I've been eating strawberries all evening!

Bright shiny day

The last few days have been so wonderful for me! I have so many kind and generous friends who made sure I felt special on my birthday. There were dinners out, cards and packages, texts and phone calls, and so much more.  

My birthday gift from Gregg was a bright yellow cruiser style bicycle! It's the perfect bike for riding around the flat, smooth roads in my neighborhood. I love it!

And finally......

March 23, 1976

Mistletoe in Spring

Yesterday I saw something fairly unusual in my backyard. There's a tree with low hanging branches way in the back, and on one of them is a bunch of mistletoe growing only 6 feet off the ground. I could easily have picked it if it was the right season for such things.

Today is the Equinox, and I'm so happy it's Spring! This is my favorite season. I took the dogs for a good walk this morning  (I have to work tonight) and we saw masses of white blooming dogwood trees, irises, and even a couple of bluebirds flying around in the stand of old pine trees behind the corner church. It's a beautiful day!

Have a good one, my friends!

Sunday, Sunday

It's a beautiful sunny day at my house and I'm off work! Yay!!!

I decided against attending this afternoon's meeting of Action Together, a local progressive political group that I belong to. Although it's always heartening to spend time with like-minded community members trying to address issues going on in our government, I feel like today I could use a mental rest day. So I'm staying home. All that's on my agenda for this sunny Sunday afternoon is to go food shopping, do some cooking and maybe baking, and hanging out with this guy:

That sad face behind the fence as I was leaving for work yesterday....!

And Ginger and Marco too, of course.

Have a great Sunday, my friends!

Typical weekend

It's a typical Saturday night for me: a busy closing shift at the mall. Sigh.

Back tomorrow.

Canine compassion

My dental appointment this morning took three hours. I ended up getting three teeth prepped for crowns instead of two, and impressions made for a bridge to fill in the space where one tooth was removed. (I got temporary crowns and a temporary bridge to hold me over for the two weeks it will take to get the permanent ones back).

The work wasn't too painful, but there was a lot of blood because of having three teeth cut down around the gumline.  I have a headache now, too, which is typical for me whenever I get the numbing shots dentists use. Since I knew the work would take hours and I wouldn't feel great afterward, I took the day off work.

When I got home just now, the dogs were thrilled to see me. George was his typical boisterous, good natured self. He jumped up and down and wagged and ran around in circles in his excitement. Ginger reacted much differently.

As soon as I entered the gate she knew something had happened. I kneeled down to pet her, and she sniffed my mouth very, very carefully and then looked into my eyes with warmth and concern. She's been subdued and by my side ever since.

My Ginger is such a good dog! Intelligent, protective, and full of more compassion than most humans I know. She does her best to take care of us. I love her so much.

Flowers for Tom S.

Tom's post this morning reminded me of a funny article I read just last night about how florists in Colorado and California have started to offer "cannabis bouquets" for sale. What better way to say "I love you" to your stoner sweetie than with an arrangement of pretty marijuana flowers and buds?

What's that old song with the line about..."Your love....has lifted me higher....than I've ever....been lifted before....." 

Hahaha!

Winter came back!

So after weeks of crazy warm temperatures and everything blooming a month early, this happened today:

It snowed for about 4 hours this morning--the first snowfall of the year. It melted away almost immediately, though.

This week is supposed to have a few nights that get down to well below freezing.

Crazy weather!

Snow and pollen. Winter in South Carolina!

Probably a really boring post.....

The dogwood tree out back is blooming...

and the violets under the walnut tree.

We have blackberry flowers by the backyard fence....

and the blueberries are in bloom.

Spring is well underway in South Carolina.

Gifts in the mail

I bought myself a little early birthday gift this week. A friend of mine has an Etsy page where he sells homemade jewelry. His "Tree of Life" pendents caught my eye, especially the one made with amethysts. Since he offered me a good "old school friend" discount, I bought two....both the amethyst and rose quartz pendents. 

Aren't they pretty? I wish the picture had turned out a little better, they're much nicer looking than they seem here. 

On the day they arrived in the mail, I also got a birthday card from my grandma with a check for $100 inside! That was so sweet of her. My birthday isn't for another two weeks but she likes to get ahead of things.  My grandma is so good to me! 

I wore the rose quartz necklace to work that day, but I'm saving the amethysts for my actual birthday. 

Book Review: Big Little Lies

It's been a long time since I read a book that I could barely stand to put down. It's always pure pleasure to find something to read that grabs you so hard that you race to the finish despite wanting to slow down and savor the ride. I found a book like that this past weekend: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.




I have to admit that this wasn't something I was ever interested in reading until I saw the first two episodes of the limited HBO series adapted from the book. It's been on the bestseller list at work for ages, but it didn't look at all like the kind of book I would enjoy. It just goes to show that you should never discount something out of hand like that! I'm not much a mystery fan, either, but this mystery had an intriguing twist: from the beginning of the book (and the tv show) you know that someone has been murdered--but you don't know who or how or why. You do know where it takes place, though, and it's the unlikeliest of places--a primary school parents' event, a trivia night/costume party fundraiser.

The plot is told from the point of view of three main characters: Madeline, the 40 year old, sharp mouthed and witty mother of two whose ex husband (and his new younger yoga-loving wife) drives her crazy; Celeste, whose seemingly perfect life and storybook marriage to the handsome, rich Perry is covering up a dark secret; and Jane, a struggling single mother of a little boy named Ziggy who just moved to town. Jane's past is a mystery, as is the identity of her child's father. When little Ziggy
is accused of trying to strangle another child in his kindergarten class (which he denies doing) it
sets off a chain of shocking events among the parents. But could playground bullying between little children really lead the adults to commit a murder? That's the question at the heart of the book.

From the first episode of Big Little Lies I watched, I was intrigued. Who on earth could be dead, and how, and why? And the actors in the show are superb: Nicole Kidman as Celeste, Reece Witherspoon as Madeline, Shailene Woodley as Jane, Alexander Skarsgard as Perry, Adam Scott as Madeline's current husband Ed, and Zoe Kravitz as the new younger wife of Madeline's ex. Since only two episodes have aired so far, I had to know what happened next, so I bought the book the next day at work. And I couldn't put it down!

I read Big Little Lies in 24 hours, that's how enjoyable it was! I had no idea who had been murdered until I started the last chapter, and then it turned out I was wrong. And the threads of the plot are all tied up so skillfully that I wanted to give the author a round of applause at the end! It's about secrets and gossip and the big little lies we sometimes tell ourselves just to get through life.

It's been a while since a book gave me so much pure enjoyment. I still plan to watch the rest of the series, too. Read this book, guys....I think you'll like it too!

In like a lion

This morning I woke up on the first day of March from a dream that my neighbor had adopted two lions and was keeping them in his backyard. I was scared of them and afraid that they were going to jump the fence and hurt my dogs or else a person. I called the police but they refused to do anything about the situation. Weird.

So it's the beginning of my birthday month! I was hoping to plan a small trip to celebrate but guess what? Dental drama strikes again! Remember the tooth I had surgically removed in January?  Now it's time to have the empty spot filled with a porcelain bridge. They're going to attach it to the crown that the tooth behind it needs, and they have to crown one extra tooth for added strength. My out of pocket deposit for all this work will be $800....the week before my birthday. Damn it.

There goes the trip I had hoped to take! But at least I'll be able to smile comfortably again....I've been self conscious about the empty space behind my right eye tooth and have tried not to smile too big for fear of looking like a jack o lantern. Everyone says it's not noticeable but I feel like it's glaringly obvious. So at least my smile will be fixed for my birthday.

Happy March, everyone. Did it come in like a lamb or a lion for you?