You Call This Spring???

It's -6 degrees wind chill out there and blowing like a banshee, and it's been spring for a whole hour.  Naturally they have to talk about how last year on March 20 it was 80 degrees--but nobody wants that, least of all the cherry growers up in Door County who lost nearly their whole crop last year because the March heat brought out the buds and then we had a frost which killed most of them.  No one, not even the most shivery-est, wants that.  We need cherries.  Think of all the pies that didn't get made.  And now they tout cherries and cherry juice as a whiz-bang arthritis preventer or at least it's supposed to make it hurt less so we need 'em.  I hate wind like this.  It weasels its way in through cracks you didn't know were there and seems to radiate the cold right through the walls and it makes all the joints that I've abused (and continue to abuse) ache like crazy.  Brrr.  I'm tired of being a human barometer too.

I got all the grocery shopping done yesterday and only had to call Durwood for clarification and consultation twice (once from each store).  I got 3/4 lb. of fresh ginger (not on the official list) that I peeled and chopped and food processor-ed, then steeped in hot water and sugar and a little lime juice, then strained, so I can make my own ginger ale by mixing it 1 part ginger syrup to 2 parts club soda.  DS made some with the recipe from the DIY cookbook we gave him for Christmas last year that he used to make Dark & Stormys (ginger ale, rum & lime juice) for the last Family Supper, and he shared the recipe with me.  I suppose you could use it for tea too, or even cough syrup.  Mom used to scour the liquor stores for ginger brandy which she used as a home cough remedy.  She swore by it.  I suppose now I can make my own, even if I don't have a cough.  Hmmm.

I notice that neither of us has adjusted to the dreaded DST yet.  The last couple nights supper has been very late (7:30-8 o'clock--it stays light too long all of a sudden) and I was making my ginger syrup at 9:30.  Just leave the time alone.  Please.  (I know, I know, deaf ears, etc. plus somebody must like it or they wouldn't keep doing it.)

March 20--Auguste Renoir, Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children.  "Don't sit on the dog, Georgie.  Mama said don't sit on the dog."  Paulette was bossy.  She spent most of her days telling George what not to do even though they had a perfectly good nanny.  Nanny Maureen was the best nanny they'd ever had and she never let them forget it.  Paulette was happy to remind George if he ever forgot.  Sometimes George felt like he lived at the bottom of a pile of girls.  Mama told him what to do.  Nanny Maureen told him what to do.  Paulette told him what to do.  He was certain if Scamp the dog could talk she would tell him what to do too.  He wished Papa was home more so that they could do man things like take walks and shoot.  Maybe he'd even get to wear pants.

I'm wearing a wool shawl over my hoodie right now and I'm telling you that I might take it off when I shower but I'm putting it right back on to wear to work, and I'm wearing longies too.  It's too damned cold and windy to be wearing just plain clothes.  Brrr.
--Barbara