2021 - Or, So What?

 So, here we are, late in February 2021.  Looks a lot like the previous half year or so.  Well, more people are wearing masks, so that's a good thing.  Some of us are double masking.  Still some idiots who won't wear one.  I wish that damned virus was more selective.

In weather news, we survived that damned storm.  We had snow and ice in alternating layers.  Snow is fine.  Ice is not.  While it's not Texas, we lost power in many parts of my city.  Mine was out for two nights.  My dad and brother also had outages and spent one night here at my house.  I was so glad that I have a gas stove!  There were multiple cups of hot tea, lol.  Some rural parts of the greater metro area  are still without power.

Temperatures are warming, though.  I saw some daffodils starting to come out in a neighbor's yard.  I found the first violet in my yard as I was cleaning up fallen tree branches.  A sign of spring, most welcome.  We've had a lot of rain since the snow/ice storm but there are some sunny days in the forecast.  Good, I'm ready for a little natural vitamin D.

In other news, I managed to get my 85 year old father an appointment for his first covid vaccine.  Hallelujah!  It was no small feat, let me tell you.  Hours spent online and on the phone over multiple days.  It is incredibly difficult.  I don't see how the elderly can be expected to work their way through the (lack of a) system.  My dad wouldn't have been able to do it, not by a long shot.  Even my brother (who is younger than I am) would not have been able.  But, it's done.  And the second dose was scheduled when he received the first, so that's good.  I don't expect to be eligible for one until April or May unless supply ramps up considerably.  How about you all?  Have you been vaccinated or at least been able to make an appointment?

My friend Lisa is fully vaccinated and I am very grateful for that.  She was far too vulnerable.  She said that she really feels like a weight of fear has been lifted.  She is still being very cautious, of course, but now feels like it is ok to go to the grocery store (masked) instead of getting everything delivered.  

In more mundane news, T has found a new girlfriend.  I think this one might be good!  She lives in Oregon, which is a relief as they can drive to see each other on the weekends.  She is gainfully employed, a big plus.  So far it doesn't seem like she has a lot of baggage.  I haven't met her yet but I am very hopeful.  T is happy and that's the best thing.  Also, she has stopped calling me every morning and that is the second best thing.  Lol.

As someone who craves solitude, the pandemic has perhaps been easier for me than others.  But I am growing restless.  I want to visit my daughter, or have her visit me.  I want to see my friends, and hug them.  I want to go out for a burger and tots with my neighbor.  I want to take a road trip to see my cousins.  I love my house, my yard, my neighborhood but... I am ready to see something else.  Some days the depression takes hold and I can't even read a book.  I can't even play solitaire on my phone.  I just sit and stare out the window and try not to think.  Ugh.  Those days are dark.  I know that I should get up and take a walk when I feel like that, but nothing could be harder.  Still, the daylight increases and, Goddess willing, my mood will lighten.  

In a moment of hopefulness, I bought a day-use parking pass to the Oregon State Park system.  When this drenching rain lets up, I will force myself to go outside and hike (or at least walk!) in this beautiful place I call home.  If the weather reporters are right, that could be next week.  Fingers crossed!

Stay strong, women!  Someday this epoch will end.

Floral Report

It's February.  It's cold.  We had tiny snow pellets yesterday and an unkind wind today.  The pellets were called 'graupel', a German word, by the local weather people.  I looked that up online and it wasn't the actual atmospheric phenomenon that I experienced.  Suffice it to say, it has been cold, icy, and gray.  However, the days are getting longer (and marginally warmer) and the plants have their own timetable.

So, on with the Floral Report!

A couple of weeks ago I began seeing the signs.  Tiny piles of earth, pushed up, into the air.  Soil breaking, and pale tips emerging. Stirring.  Life is stirring, under the protective leaf cover.  Plant life, earthworms... stirring.

And then I smelled it.  The fragrant, sweet, seductive aroma of the sweetbox shrub.  The early bloomer, with such subtle flowers, that blasts glorious spring-promising perfume through the neighborhood.  Glory!  Spring Shall Rise Again!

Immediately following the glorious perfume of early spring, here come the snow drops. So clean and pristine looking.  Demure.  But, they are sharing the stage with the earliest of the crocus.  Purple, yellow, white, with dark green spiky-looking leaves, they are planted in drifts in yards in my neighborhood.  I'm usually seeing them closed up as I walk home, as they are diurnal and go to bed early.

In my yard, the daffodils are poking up, and the tulips.  Just barely, but they are gaining by the day.  There is also a lot more garlic than I was expecting in the front bed!  Maybe I'll get some big ones this time.  :-)

Spring in Portland is wonderful.  If you are cold and snow-bound (or just cold), I wish you warm temps; if you have been deluged with rain after years of drought, I wish you high water tables and low erosion; if you are yearning for Spring... I wish you could be here.  It would please your soul, I'm certain.

We are at the beginning of the season.  I'll try to keep you posted!

One week later

It's Sunday.  T has been in Hawaii for one week.  She gets home this evening.  Here are the highlights of my week:

• Tuesday, had dinner with a friend (pizza and champagne), and watched 'The Queen's Garden' or something like that, which she had recorded from PBS.  Interesting!

• Wednesday, had my usual get together with my dad.  My brother was there and asked about T.  When I said that she was in Hawaii with her sister he said, 'So, your vacation too!'  Uhhh, yeah. True.

• Thursday, my neighbor texted me and asked if I could come over when I got home from work.  Her husband's father had died (not unexpectedly) and her son's recent marriage is on shaky ground and she didn't want to be alone with her thoughts.  Of course I went over.

• Friday, home alone!  I think I was in bed and reading by 8:45.  Lights out shortly thereafter.  

• Saturday evening, went to a birthday party.  Saw a number of friends all in one place, and then went home early.  It was pleasant enough, but I really just wanted to be at home.

It was a busier week than I had anticipated, but not in a bad way.  I got a few minor projects done that I wanted to address, but nothing major.  My next biggish project will be converting an old wood storage closet on the basement landing into a kitchen tool storage closet.  You know, all those space eating countertop appliances that are just too big to put anywhere.  Well, we don't use firewood in the house, and this closet is deep and can be converted to hold several shelves.  All of the large, awkward, bulky stuff (crock pots, canning pots, food processor, etc) will then be stored just a few steps away.  Maybe I'll get that done this summer.

Meanwhile, I have had a very restful week, despite all of the social activity, and feel good.  Centered and calm.  This week has been a good reminder of how valuable solitude is to me.  I will keep this reminder close to me going forward.

And, just because I mentioned Spring last time, Hello Violets!  I had one tiny patch of violets burst into bloom this week.  Love them!  Still waiting for daffodils, etc, but they are coming...  Sprng is Coming!

Daffodils

It’s Spring here in the Pacific Northwest.  It’s chilly and damp with rain and even a little hail today, but it’s Spring.

In the last couple of weeks I have seen: snowdrops, crocus, camellias, violets.  Forsythia, star magnolia, azaleas, hellebores.  This week the cherry trees and ornamental plums have burst into bloom.  And, yes, daffodils.  Pussy willows are fuzzy and the catkins are hanging on the alders.  New green foliage is unfolding. 

Last Friday I stepped outside in the early morning and the air was rich with the scent of the sea.  A sure sign that warmer (and wetter, for us) days are nigh. 

I haven’t posted about it because I didn’t want to rub it in.  I know that you all have been suffering through this interminable winter.  But, I saw Washington, DC on the tv last night and there were cherry trees in bloom.  And I thought, yes.  Spring is coming.  Even to the mid-Atlantic.  Can New York, Massachusetts, Chicago and the prairie be far behind?

Hold on!  If it’s not there yet, it’s coming!

Floral Report

We have had freezing temperatures, ice, snow, wind, and rain, rain, rain. Even though we are in an El Nino pattern, we have been getting plenty of rain. I mention it only because when you have a “water intrusion” as the building trades like to call it (aka a leak), you do notice the unremitting rain.

However, all is not dreary and gray! No indeed, with the above average temperatures that El Nino brings, we are starting to see early spring flowers popping up. I should be worried about them; they should be worried about themselves. It’s really too early to be bursting into bloom. February is known around here as the ice storm month for good reason. But, I am so happy to see them!

In my yard, the winter blooming jasmine is sporting sunny yellow flowers. OK, it’s a winter bloomer, not a sign of early spring, but I love it anyway. Cheers for the jasmine! Thanks for the joy!

My neighbor’s yard is rife with daphne, and they are just starting to send out their heady fragrance. Do you like the smell of daphne? It reminds me of Froot Loops cereal, so sweet!

There are bulb-borne flowers starting to push out of the ground, strong, sturdy, sword-like leaves are cleaving their way through the soil. Tulips, hyacinths, daffodils.

Even the hydrangea is showing new leaf buds on its winter scarred branches. I wasn’t sure we’d get any hydrangeas after that cold snap and snow storm. It is such a fibrous plant that it dies right back in the cold. Ours seems to have survived.

Some planting guides suggest that we can put peas in the ground now (snow peas, I’d guess), but I’m going to wait just a little longer for that. That would be tempting fate, tempting the weather gods just a little too much.

What are your favorite spring flowers? What’s blooming in your yard or neighborhood?