Blog + Rut = Blut

I know I haven't written much lately. Every time you visit you just get more photography. When I look back each day in the On This Day category in the sidebar I am reminded of some of the witty things I used to have to say. It also reminds me that I had more people following me and commenting. I'm not really sure why I don't write much anymore. Maybe because I really don't have much to say. The days go by in a blur of daily chores (grocery, walking the dogs, etc.) and I figure no one wants to read about that, plus how much can you really say about any of those subjects?

I think I've lost my voice. Every time I sit down to blog no words come into my head. My fingers sit listlessly on the keyboard until I hit the "close" tab on my blogging program without writing a word. Am I depressed? No, I don't think so, but maybe. I have no reason to be.

I pick up my knitting and make mistakes, resulting in tinking backwards to undo what I just did that I didn't want to do. Today finds me contemplating ripping the whole project as it exists to this point, (about 1/4 of the way finished)  completely back to nothing and start over again. (sorry, sis!) If I weren't such a perfectionist and instead of trying to fix my little gaffe had kept on going, chances are no one would notice. Except for me that is, and therein lies my problem. I'm going to try again to save it when I'm done here but I don't hold out much hope. Damn.

Same thing happens lately when I start a book. I can't tell you how many books I've checked out of the library in the past few weeks only to take them back with only the first few pages read. None of them grabbed my interest. I pick them up, I put them down. Unread.

We are experiencing re-roofing interruptus at the moment. The roofers came on Tuesday and got the main roof of the house ripped off and back on again. The garage roof and sun room roof have yet to be done. Yesterday they didn't come because we had heavy rain (which we sorely needed). Today it's raining again, so no roofers. Not sure about tomorrow either weather-wise since they need one whole good day without rain to finish. In the meantime they've left all their ladders and assorted paraphernalia  around. They cleaned up as best they could but we still have bits of shingle everywhere. Kind of a mess.

We managed to get our new cabana up this weekend by the pool. Photos coming as soon as the rain and the Blut is over.

Thanks for listening.

Photo: Grape hyacinths and buttercups w/azalea at Skylands (where else??)

This weekend when we went to the grocery store the VFW was selling poppies outside the exit. I have a soft spot in my heart for veterans selling poppies. I can't pass them up. As I slipped my money in the canister and reached out to receive my poppy I saw myself sitting outside the Grand Union supermarket in Hyde Park, New York when I was a child, helping my grandfather (who we called Poppy) sell poppies. 

Poppy fought in World War II and loved every minute of it. He was very involved with his VFW and also marched in the local Veteran's Day parades. In fact, I think we watched the parade from that very same supermarket's parking lot. 

A few years ago on Veteran's Day I did a salute to my grandfather on the blog. I won't repost it here in its entirety, but follow this link to read it. If you missed it the first time I posted it back in 2009 I think you'll find it's worth reading. I have all his medals (including his Purple Heart) and a photo album with old war pics that my grandmother saved and I shared bits and pieces of that album in the post. There are even a couple of photos that put my grandfather somewhere in a crowd of soldiers with arrows written on the photo pointing to General Patton. And, actual postage stamps with Hitler's image on them. I hope you'll take the time to read it. Comments have been disabled on entries that old due to spammers, but you can always leave one under this entry if you so choose to do so.

I'm being followed by a tree's shadow,

tree's shadow, tree's shadow.*

*sing to Cat Steven's "Moonshadow"

I couldn't help but notice the wonderful shadows being cast by different trees.

In a few short weeks their shadows will be completely different, full of leaves and obscuring their graceful limbs and branches.

I've been trying to catch the crabs in bloom. Wednesday I went over but I wasn't happy with my photos. So, yesterday morning I went back again, only a little bit earlier to avoid too many people. And, wouldn't you know it, the allee was being mowed! I bided my time with taking photos of other things until he was done. They aren't quite all  in full bloom yet, but almost.

The freshly mown grass gave off a wonderful odor. The grass only smells this way in spring and in fall. Sweet, like clover. And also like freshly cut scallions! We have so many wild onions all over the place -- in our own yard as well. I didn't have long to wait and Mr. Mower moved on out of my way.

This photo was taken about half-way down the allee, looking toward the statues of the the Four Continents. There are 156 "Pink Spires" in total.

 The statue of Asia looks back the opposite direction towards the lodge. It's her best side since her face is mostly worn away. Do you remember her?

The color of newly sprung green was everywhere. It doesn't last long but it's intoxicating while it's here.

Ahhh, Spring!!

"I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black"

That song by the Rolling Stones kept going through my mind yesterday and I wielded my spray paint can over and over our steel outdoor furniture. Rick and I worked together to get the job done. It's a necessary one that needs to be done every other year or so. Our furniture sits outside in the elements all year long and as time goes by, it starts to rust. Spraying it with good old  Rustoleum™  paint keeps it going. We've had the same two sets of tables and chairs since we moved in to our house in Fort Collins back in 1995. They still look great.

The weekend weather was pretty much perfection. Warm with plenty of sun. We got lots of outside chores done (or maybe I should say Rick got plenty of outside chores done) such as the first mowing of the yard and removing some stray tree limbs. I cleaned out the herb planter on the deck since we didn't want the oregano anymore because it takes over, and the thyme was not coming back as well as it should. Now we have a freshly planted sage plant and two thyme plants. Rosemary will stay in her separate pot for the summer as she needs to be brought inside for the winter. As soon as I can I am going to put tomatoes in pots.

We rolled figgy out in the driveway to soak up some sun. It has the beginning of beautiful big leaves already, and one fig! At least it looks like a fig, but it might me a very large leaf bud. We would have left her outside but our roof is being replaced tomorrow (partly thanks to Super Storm Sandy) and we were afraid that something might get dropped on her delicate branches. We thought it best to leave her inside for a few more days.

Lunch yesterday found us at the Warwick Valley Winery for a pizza. As we were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine, our pizza and a bottle of wine, the people at the table next to us pulled out a cell phone and proceeded to have a conversation with a friend on speaker phone. How annoying is that? I couldn't even hear my own thoughts so we got up and found another table in a different area. Enjoy the moment folks; call later!

We are so looking forward to Rick's mom's visit in late May. We're so glad she's coming! We already have tickets to this food tour in New York City. They are always so much fun and so informative. She has also requested a visit to the Freedom Tower which I have not been to yet.

Our trip to the cabin this year will be in September but I might have the chance to accompany Rick on a business trip in June to Cartagena, Colombia. What do you think, should I go?

P.S. Sorry for all the randomness of this post!