Hooray, Hooray, the 1st of May...

Well, you know the rest of that little rhyme but this isn't that kind of day. It's chilly, only supposed to rocket up to 54 degrees, and they're saying it'll be sunny later.  I do see some blue sky off to the south but I've been fooled in the past by an errant strip of blue sky so I'm reserving judgment.

My sole yarn-y accomplishment yesterday was ripping back a few rounds and then finishing OJ's sunhat.  Making it as written was starting to look like it would fit someone with an abnormally elongated head.  OJ doesn't have that, he has excessive cuteness instead.  But I like the way it turned out and I like the little crocheted fish decoration.

Every time we drive away I want Durwood to stop the car so I can get out and run over to take pictures of the swath of grape hyacinths across the front of the house.  We all know I'm not doing any running these days but I did manage to wedge my walker in the doorway this morning and lean out enough to snap a few shots.  I stand at the patio door looking at the greening of the back yard, at the trash blown into and caught by the garden, and the lilies popping up at the edge of the yard and want to be out there.  I also want the plumbing contractor who dug up our yard last fall to fix the neighbor's sewer problem to come and smooth it out and plant some grass.  I called him last week and he said he'd come by the end of the week.  He didn't.  Guess I'll call him again tomorrow.  He might be sorry I have his cellphone number.

I had a large adventure yesterday trying to spend a partial rewards certificate from Office Depot.  It was expiring yesterday so I thought I'd get some printer ink.  I tried ordering it online but the site seemed to think that the certificate was already spent.  So I called the store to see if I could just buy it over the phone and have someone pick it up but they aren't allowed to do stuff like that.  Then I called the 800 number, thinking I could get the job done that way.  Nope.  She was having "program problems" and after a lot of holding and repetition of my customer number, etc. she said "unfortunately..."  That's when I hung up.  I had had it.  Frustration overload!!!  So after JJ Sr. and JJ Jr. had moved the snowblower from the garage into the shed and put out the patio furniture (also stomped an attacking mouse; no charge for the extermination, JJ Sr. said) and Duwood heated me up some calming chicken soup for lunch, he drove me over there, I walker-ed up the ramp (into the wind, of course) into the store, commandeered a display office chair to rest in, and got a minion to get my ink for me.  Naturally, they were out of the XL cartridges in the number I needed so he sold me 3 regular ones for the XL price (basically getting one for free) AND their cash register system accepted my certificate.  Whew.  Then all I had to do was walker back to the curb (downhill, yay!) where Durwood drove up so I could clamber in and we could go home.  One of these times we'll remember the "buy 1, get 1" Culver's sundae and concrete mixer coupons we have.  Frozen custard is a good frustration assuager.  Especially since yesterday was the BLKG Yarn Crawl and I didn't get to go because of my STUPID BROKEN ANKLE.  (Sorry, I just had to holler.)

May 1--Turnbull/Boudreau, Vermont Farm.

On the other side of the fence
velvet green spreads a blanket
right up to the coops and silo.
Faded blue mountains hugged by clouds
fill the horizon this misty day.
Frustration crouches in weeds
tangled in the wire fence,
too intimidated to cross
the line.
~~~~~

I am decreeing May Continuing Poetry Month partly because I can and partly because this seems to be the right writing challenge for my painkiller-addled brain.  Don't worry, I'm cutting down, weaning away like the doc wants.  I'm planning to reach the ideal 1 pill/6 hours tomorrow, or at least give it a whirl.  Even though I am far, far from being an artist in any sense of the word, I am enjoying putting little colored pencil sketches in my Bullet Journal.  Here's Friday's "caper," my adventure into the basement.  Trust me, there's a lot more stuff on the floor but this is what I could do.  Happy May Day.  Are they skipping around a Maypole where you are?  They aren't here either.  Toodles.
--Barbara