March might feel more like
Spring if it didn’t cram four
Seasons into one.
I miss the April
Showers of my youth, but not
The more recent floods.
Will these new April
Showers bring Mayflowers? Or
Will they bring more mud?
I long to witness
Springtime fieldwork once again.
Impossible now.
(c) 2022. All rights reserved.
It’s been rainy today.
Not the kind of steady rain that makes me long to curl up with a book and a blanket and a nice cup of tea, but the kind of deluge that makes me begin a mental inventory of everything in the basement that might possibly be damaged if the sump pump breaks down and the water begins to rise. It’s not been the kind of thunderstorm that me long to sit and watch roll by from the comfort of a swing on my front porch, but the kind of thunderstorm that makes me turn on the TV so I can catch the latest weather updates, even as I compulsively check my phone for the same thing.
The power flashed here, but didn’t completely go out. The wind howled as if a blizzard were on the way. The rain hit my windows with such force that I wondered if it wasn’t hail instead. And in under an hour…
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
It’s not that I haven’t wanted to write. I have. It’s just that, well, I feel like I don’t have the words, or the brain power to form them. I could try to explain it, or you could just go read this post from Rarasaur, which says exactly how I’ve felt the past couple of weeks much better than I could.
So what have I been up to? Well, I’ve been scanning a lot of photos. I’m hoping that the process will be a little less time-intensive from here on out; I’ve finished scanning all the photo albums that my grandparents kept for me when I was growing up. My grandma wrote who was in each picture, the date it was taken, and what the event was (birthday, holiday, concert, etc.) on the back of every photo in those albums. I wanted to keep track of all that info, but…
In addition to French onion soup, I spent a little time in the kitchen last weekend trying to make a strawberry rhubarb pie, which is a family favorite. But I depleted my stash of frozen rhubarb a couple summers ago and I’m not sure I’ll be able to harvest any this year, since we transplanted our rhubarb over the summer and I’m just hoping it’ll come back.
But then one day as I was wandering the aisles of my local grocery store, I happened upon a can of strawberry rhubarb pie filling. I’d never seen such a thing before! Naturally, I had to buy a can to find out what it was like.
I dug a box of pie crust out of my deep freeze and set it on the counter to thaw while I got dinner going. Once the dinner dishes were done, I set out to make my pie, with a little help from Bubbles.
So what do you do when you can’t go out and do the normal things you would do on a Friday night? Well I don’t know about all of you, but I tried out a new recipe, and boy, are my feet sore!
(Tile floors + thin slippers with no support + a long night = very sore feet.)
I absolutely adore Panera’s French onion soup, and there was recently a recipe for said soup included in one of the New York Times newsletters I receive. I bought most of the ingredients earlier in the week, but I didn’t get a chance to try it out until last night.
I think this about sums things up:
I had intended to post this on Monday. It was absolutely fitting after a weekend spent building a bookshelf. I may not have done any of the heavy lifting, but I did spend Sunday cleaning, and for some reason, it wore me out more than normal. Monday morning was rough.
Then I thought I’d post it on Tuesday. That didn’t happen, either. Nor did it happen on Wednesday. Or yesterday. Tuesday we went home early. Yesterday we went home early.
Today we worked from home, but I still didn’t get to sleep in because I had to drive Seymour to work. Today, I needed ALL the coffee.
So I had some. And now I’m sharing this lovely nerdy meme because coffee is the finest organic suspension ever devised (even if I haven’t beaten the Borg with it).
And also because I’m trying a new recipe and something that was supposed to take roughly an hour and a half is proving to be much more labor-intensive than I’d originally thought and now I need more coffee, but it’s getting late and if I have more coffee, I’ll be up all night and that probably wouldn’t be good.
So.
Perhaps tomorrow morning, I’ll indulge in another cup.
How are you all doing? Are you safe? Are you sane? Are you ready for the schools to reopen again? *hugs*
(c) 2020. All rights reserved.
Look! Look! Something new and different for Iowa!
It’s snowing this afternoon. It’s the first snowfall of the year, and maybe the third one of this winter. I’m kind of happy to see it because I’m tired of looking at dead grass, but I’m really not looking forward to driving home in it. The roads’ll be a nightmare.
It’s wet, heavy snow, and it’s warmish outside, so I don’t think it will last long. It’s supposed to be in the mid to upper 30s for most of the next week. But we’re in a winter weather advisory, so who knows?
All I know is that after last winter, I’m ready for some milder weather. I’m not holding my breath on getting it, though.
(c) 2020. All rights reserved.
Last night, I encountered a Midwestern traffic jam. I suppose the phenomenon is not particularly unique to the Midwest – I’m sure if you’re from a rural community, you’ll know what I mean. I try to be patient when I encounter farm equipment on the road because it’s not the farmer’s fault the tractor (or combine, in this case) only goes 20 miles an hour. They’re just doing their jobs, after all, and it’s a very important job. We need farmers.
Besides, it doesn’t do any good to get all worked up about it – it won’t make them go any faster.
“You found what? Where?” Photo by Darrell Gough on Pexels.com
As any mom of boys can tell you, you occasionally have some very strange conversations with them. Here’s a recent one I had with my son, Cricket, about something he found in the yard.
Cricket: “Mom! We found a black and white glob of something while we were creature adventuring. You should come and see it.”
My boys love the show Wild Kratts. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s an excellent show all about animals and their habitats. You can learn more about the Kratt brothers here.
Me: “Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.”
*thirty seconds later*
Cricket: “Mom, come on! It’s been five minutes already!”
Me: “I’ll. Be. There. In. A. Minute.”
Cricket: *sigh* “Okay.”
*sixty seconds later*
I venture across the yard to where Cricket is sitting, staring intently at a clump of grass. “Okay, Cricket, what’d you find?”
He looks up from the grass. “Well, we found a black and white glob of something while we were creature adventuring, and I don’t even know what the glob is.”
“Where is it?”
Cricket points. “Right here.”
I stoop to inspect the glob. “That’s dry bird poop, honey. At least, I think it’s dry. Don’t touch it.”
Cricket sighs. “I know, I know, don’t touch nature’s stuff.”
I smile. “No, don’t touch poop. Don’t touch bird poop, cat poop, dog poop, bear poop, elephant poop, your poop…any poop. Don’t touch poop!”
What is it with boys and poop? And why is Don’t touch poop a thing that needs saying?
(c) 2018. All rights reserved.
“Can’t wait for food. Hafta sleep.”
(c) 2017. All rights reserved.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 