The Weather Forecast

I love Mondays that are quiet, and thoughtful days. Today was simply time for me to plod through paperwork and actually have time to do some reading as well. In fact this whole week should be nice, no meetings, or major appointments scheduled which means I can work outside and get the backyard and garden back into shape before things start actually coming up.

Of course my garden beside the house has daffodil greens coming up already, but that's a warm spot because of the warmth from the house so it really doesn't count. Still, when I think of spring this year and see those bits of green by my backdoor I am so excited! Winter this year seems to be so unwilling to leave the area! The beginning of next month will be cold again and they're talking snowflakes in April which will be a bummer, but I hope no snow storms are coming our way at least! Light snow showers I can deal with, but the idea of another snow storm would be more than a little frightening!

The Obstacle Course Called Butternut Drive

I live on five lanes of fast and this winter has been hard on all area roads, but our long stretch of road has been especially hard hit. Don't get me wrong, there are small sections of smooth, but they are definitely punctuated by huge sections of the dreaded deep crevasses we call the Michigan pothole.

This year some have become deep car eating, transmission destroying holes. The best way to help a car survive this mess is to drive like you're ducking between cones on an obstacle course and believe me if you hit one of those suckers your suspension gets rocked - at the least!

The most deadly time is of course after sunset when the holes and canyons can meld into the darkness and unless you know the street well it can be a nightmare that can include considerable damage to the car, and to your pride.

You see we who traverse this section of road consider ourselves the very best of drivers and to successfully maneuver around the many chasms that dot the tarmac has given many of us a real sense of pride.

So if you live in the state of Michigan watch out for we few who love the obstacles course created by the ice and snows of winter. Who knows you might catch some of your own speed demons and enjoy some really wonderful magic on the road we call Butternut.

Quiet...It Is Never Overrated!

I'm writing tonight, but not about much. Today has been crazy with meetings, picking up grandkids from school, more meetings and there was a haircut thrown in for good measure as well. Days like this are a total pain and I'm looking forward to a quiet Friday with a few hours at the end of the day with one of my granddaughters.

In fact the weekend looks good too. I am really looking forward to a measure of quiet and time for thought this weekend too. That is something that is in short supply these days.

Hope

Another day, but certainly NOT another dollar - at least not for me. The writer in me keeps blogging and sending out those written pieces of my life, but at the moment nothing has exploded onto the scene. But, hey the time is still ripe and I can smell that bit of hope rising like spring through those ever present cracks in life. These days I live on hope, and that is a really magical four letter word. In fact I have lived with it for a very long time and through quite a few career twists and turns in my life.

Sometimes, hope can be a real pain to live with when nothing happens and you seem to be left hanging out there with nothing to hold onto but hope's anemic hand. In these days of little or no work it can often seem like I'm holding onto such an undernourished hand sometimes and that makes it hard to continue holding on.

So here I still am, out there still searching for my small place in the world of writing and continuing to hang on to the hand of that four letter word.

Ireland's Call

The end of that once a year green day is upon us. The phenomena which is St. Patrick's Day always amazes me...to many people it is simply a drinking holiday that as an aside is a way to raise a pint to the Saint for whom this day is remembered. But there is so much more to this simple day which is more remembered for the color green, than the country who has survived a painful history.

The 17th of March is a celebration of the saint who returned to Ireland after being held as a slave there during his early life. He thought the peoples of this Ireland were worth the deep dedication he gave them the rest of his life. From then to the push for freedom from 1912 to 1922 this special day became a rallying point for many who stood for the rights of those who were the Irish. The day still gives a sense of pride even today for those of us who share a familial link to the country of Ireland.

From shamrocks that supposedly stood for the way St. Patrick shared the trinity, to the color green that is so intensely a part of the country and the image which has become synonymous with its beautiful land and people.

Here the color green can mean all the newness that is spring, but in the country of Ireland it has always stood for the way the people have look to each new day as a gift of new beginnings...I think we can learn a great deal from this little island that has spread it's most famous holiday all over the world.

The Scent of Spring

It's Monday and it is lovely out! No snow, actually warm temps and I am loving it! I will be leaving my computer screen and heading out to work in the yard so have a lovely day!!

Circles

Coffee rings on table tops

expanding outward like

thoughts that float around for me to grab

and slowly nibble on

until they

vanish.

Concentric circles getting

larger, then smaller

as my mind takes

on another conundrum…

Life - the puzzle

has captured me

again.