Lucky Ducks

Today Remy's baseball team had practice at the Towne Lake fields.
And I desperately wished I had my camera.

I did have my iPhone, so I snapped a few photos.








The Spring weather is beautiful in North Texas right now.
Sunny, windy, not too hot.








"Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath." -- actor Michael Caine

Signs of Spring

The trees at my apartment complex.

The flowers outside the office at work.

My boy, starting baseball season.

What are the signs of Spring around you right now?

More Signs of Spring . . .

A few warm days and the Autumn Joy sedum's green rosettes are pushing aside the mulch . . 

Lilac buds are swelling, eager to burst free of their leafy swaddling...

The weeping willow is a veil of chartreuse-green.

And in the dark basement, last year's potatoes are sprouting . . .

I spend a little time on the porch, rubbing those spindly white sprouts off before returning the potatoes to the darkness. They'll  keep longer de-sprouted (which is why most commercial potatoes are treated with something to prevent sprouting.)

Just another sign of Spring. . .

Spring Snow Day - Texas is confused

Yesterday was the first day of Spring.

Bradford Pear trees were blooming, birds chirping, the sun shining bright...

and then we woke up to this!!

SNOW!!

Our sweet mild-mannered Annie goes WILD in the snow.

Our weather is bi-polar, but it sure is fun!!!

Spring Tease

Yesterday was a beautiful blue sky day with the temperature in the fifties! My goodness, it seemed like spring! Unfortunately, however, there is snow in the forecast for Friday night -- 6-10 inches of it. So it was off to the store to lay in supplies -- mainly food for the animals and a bit of fresh stuff for us.

How nice a day was it?
At the grocery I parked next to a convertible with the top down -- that's how nice.

I treated myself to some primroses. They'll brighten the dining room and when spring really gets here, I'll plant them outside.

On my way home, this lovely run of sunlight down the side of the Freewill Baptist Church caught my eye.

The same sun was much enjoyed by Kate and Marigold and friend.

I also treated myself to some spiffy new boots, just the thing for the Spring mud that will be coming. (Vicki Archer, eat your heart out!)

And there was an almost full moon, tangled in the bare branches of a poplar tree.

A lovely day.

Like a Good Deed . . .

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

from "The Merchant of Venice"





Springtime's yellows shine strongest on rainy gray days such as we had yesterday.

Daffodils gleam against wet stone and the forsythias, so recently unpromising straggles of bare brown stems, throw up their arms, suddenly festooned with yellow bells, and ring out the glad message of Spring's imminent arrival.

All around us, Springtime yellows are unfurling, shining out like candles in the gloom.

The Vernal Equinox

At some moment today, the sun is directly over the Equator, day and night are of almost equal lengths, and the Equinox occurs. Here in the Northern Hemisphere it's the Vernal or Spring Equinox; south of the Equator, it's the Autumnal.

I was poised to get a picture of the sun rising due east but unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. Heavy cloud cover veiled the horizon at the crucial moment. Later, however, the dark clouds began to lift and the sun's rays spread out across the mountains, like a magic wand, ready to bring the world to life.

This second picture was taken a few days ago; the third picture is from the winter solstice. You can see how far the sun has traveled in a quarter of a year. I'm embarrassed to admit that this actually came as a surprise to me, having grown up where I didn't see the sunrise every morning. Of course I'd learned about it in school but hadn't truly grasped how very extensive the sun's back-and forth march was. So now I delight in watching this progress through the year -- and nattering on about it, both in my books and in my blog.

Leave a comment before the 31st to be entered for a drawing for an early copy of IN A DARK SEASON!

Compost on my Mind

It probably takes a gardener to appreciate a picture of dirt -- but this isn't just any dirt; it's composted soil/hay/manure, courtesy of our little herd of cows. My husband brought up load ofter load and today I've been cleaning off the asparagus beds and top-dressing them with this wonderful stuff.

At the end of the day, of course, I'm stiff and sore -- a winter spent sitting in a comfy chair with a laptop is not a good preparation for physical labor. But it's the same every Spring and the aches are good aches.

And now, back in the comfy chair, I think, as I have before, of of the relevance of compost to writing. Before I begin a book, I throw all sorts of diverse bits of research into my mind. Old textbooks, diaries, half-remembered stories, newspapers, histories, period novels and music -- anything and everything goes into the compost heap of my brain, there to simmer and work and, in time, with luck and labor, it will turn into a novel.