We are now officially on daylight savings time. The dogs seemed to know somehow because they were ready to get up at 6:00 a.m. That's 6:00 a.m. old time. Normally they would wake us up at 6:30. It was really 7:00 a.m. Still not sure how they knew.

Yesterday was a beautiful day! It was sunny and in the 50's although snow covered the ground. We had a bad case of Spring Fever. We bought things we can't use for at least a couple of months.

We knew when we took down the curtains from the pool cabana that they were on their last legs. We've had the cabana for five years and by taking the curtains down and packing them up each year we've managed to keep them in pretty good shape. But, their time was done. They were faded and we'd had to tape the screen once when Bella did not see it and stuck her head through. I had seen a cabana at BJ's where we had purchased the old one. So yesterday morning we headed down that way to take a closer look.

We didn't like the one at BJ's so we also stopped at Home Depot and Lowe's. Home Depot didn't have any, but Lowe's had the perfect one! It was love at first sight. Just wait until you see it! We also bought a mat to put down as a flooring. And a cabana chandelier. And some cushions for the outdoor chairs that are wrought iron. Now I am thinking I need a few potted palms to make our outdoor oasis complete. But not just yet. For now the cabana and its accouterments will have to stay in the garage.

We had the dogs with us so we had to take them home and come back and get the larger items. Sheesh. 

Today we took Alex with us to the Warwick Valley Winery for a pizza and a bottle of wine. We were the only ones sitting out on the patio to eat although the place was pretty much packed with people inside. It wasn't quite warm enough--not really--but we sat in the sun by ourselves, ate our pizza, drank our wine, and tossed Alex the pizza "bones." 

Tonight we plan on grilling hamburgers outside and having oven fries. We might even put those new seat cushions on the chairs just for tonight and sit outside with a glass of wine while cooking our dinner. It's supposed to rain heavily on Tuesday so I will have to bring them back inside, but still, progress is being made towards Spring!

(photos:)

Amaryllis  & Ming Aralia Shadow

Too beautiful to resist

A photo just so you can see how truly HUGE this amaryllis is.

I love how you took Alex to Warwick and the winery!! I bet he got a lot of attention. Wish I could have been there with my boy.

Spring fever here, too,—- our first nice weekend in a while after late season snow and sleet. The birds are beginning to sing and nest!

The new stuff for the cabana sounds inviting and I know you just can’t wait to roll it out. Still love those lights!

That IS a huge amaryllis. Ours isn’t that tall—and the flowers aren’t as upright as yours. It IS exciting to have spring on the way, isn’t it? (Though we’ve descended back into winter here…)

Bigsis, we didn’t take Alex to Warwick, just the winery in Warwick. He didn’t quite now what was going on and why we were sitting down at a table outside by ourselves. He liked watching the people coming and going and he certainly liked eating the “bones”. I think he enjoyed himself. Not many birds singing here yet.

Steve, it’s a doozy, that’s for sure. I don’t remember it being so big last year. I think we are going back to winter too later this week.