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Although
I knew it was only a matter of time, I have to admit
that this year I felt that spring would NEVER arrive.
And although the night time temperatures are still
dipping below zero, the day time temperatures are on
the rise. The snow is beginning to melt. There are a few places where the bare earth is peeking out from underneath the white blanket. These are places where the snow has been manually removed, like the deck and the driveway. Elsewhere the blanket is still quite thick, about three feet. But it is diminishing; I can feel it if I cannot really see it. On Thursday last I was so taken with the sunshine and the above freezing temperature (a whole 5 degrees C), that I donned parka and heavy boots, headed out the door and just stood, mesmerized and relieved, in the full sunshine. Life feels a whole lot lighter this week. The new computer is a lot of fun. The built in camera is a wonderful diversion. Every day it is used to record my latest fashion achievement... This photographic epic will not be appearing in Vogue magazine, not in this universe. I find it tremendously amusing though. Attila and I even managed a flying trip to IKEA last Sunday. We had a great time, wandering through the aisles, imagining an unlimited budget. We even bought a stainless steel bread box, an item I had been searching for locally, and on the Internet, for quite some time. Attila treated himself to IKEA's 99 cent hot dogs, while I had a cinnamon bun (well labelled so identifiable as an edible) with a carton of milk (well labelled). This is high dining out for Attila and I. The bread box has been in use since our arrival home, and we are both very, very impressed! A loaf of my bread on a plate fits into it with ease; there is enough room to accommodate an additional smaller plate for quick breads, muffins etc. The bread stays fresh for days, as did the quick loaf baked at home. In my quest to reduce the amount of plastic that comes into contact with our food supply, the bread box is a clear success. Now I am keeping my eyes and ears open for large, wide mouthed jars in which to store dry goods. We continue to search for sources of non-contaminated food (food without my allergen added to it, increasing rare) and it seems we will have to drive fairly far afield to get it at a reasonable price. We will do what we have to do. With the warmer weather comes a reduction in Attila's domestic work load. One fire a day rather than two means half the work splitting and toting wood. Rain rather than snow completely eliminates the task of snow shovelling. Now we are trying to use this new found free time wisely, balancing increased social activity with catching up on neglected home maintenance projects. There is only one potentially large project is on our agenda for this spring and summer. The south deck needs work where it is attached to the house, siding needs to be removed, problems assessed, problems addressed and new siding applied and finished. Depending on what we find when the siding comes off, the project may be quick and easy or require a great deal of repair. We will know soon enough. We enjoyed receiving pictures from Annie, taken on an excursion she and Frank took to the Isle of Wight during March. Lovely landscape. Annie's sense of humour is so dry, she can laugh at herself and thereby others oh so subtly, oh so lovingly; some of the pictures had us guffawing. We were interested to read in our local newspaper that our geographic location had the greatest snow fall in Ontario this past winter. I believe it. I lived the experience and hope that when the weather decides to do that again it will be in the distant future, and that I am going to be watching it from across the River Styx. What a winter that was! We will be unable to get down to Toronto this evening to hear our good friend Steve Paul Simms and John Jackson performing on stage at Gate 403, 403 Roncesvalles, from 5 to 8 p.m. Wish we could make it, and one of these days we will! We always have a good time at Steve's performances. |
RECIPES :: Cast Wordly Distractions  Maggie Figuring it Out Airwaves Adriana written and performed by Steve Paul Simms On The Web My Arrest and the Consequences by Steve Brill (I ran into this while searching for wild blackberry recipes!) Quote "We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over. So in a series of kindnesses there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over." James Boswell, 1740-1795 Weather Condition: Sunny Temperature: 4.5°C Pressure: 101.8 kPa rising Visibility: 14.5 km Humidity: 60 % Dewpoint: -2.51°C Wind: WSW 8 km/h |
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