Spring Is So Slow Coming

How slow?  Well, there are still flowers on the forsythia and hardly any leaves and it's usually one of the earliest to leaf out.


 



The lilacs are almost blooming,




and the bleeding heart has buds and the first few flowers.




The ferns are unfurling,






and (look, DD!) the lily of the valley buds are starting to appear.





 


In the garden, a couple onion sprouts and one shallot sprout are poking out but it's just chilly, even when the sun's out it seems like it barely warms up, even in midday so everything's just poking along.






Yesterday I looked for a new patio table at Walmart but all they had was one of those metal mesh ones for $68.  Then I went to the grocery to pick up an Rx to see if an antibiotic will chase my lingering cough away and I found exactly what I was looking for and it was only $29.99.  Hooray!  I told the self-checkout clerk that I wanted one so she'd call someone to bring a boxed table from the back and get the UPC sheet to scan it in.  Turned out that the floor model was the last one so I said I'd take it.  The young guy tasked with dismantling it and carrying it out couldn't find a wrench so he carried it out put together and, lo and behold, it exactly fit in the way back of my car lying on the glass top, the legs didn't touch the ceiling or the back window.  Score!


After lunch today I went to the Y to play with the weight machines and spend some time on the elliptical since I spent all of Sunday in the car.  Then when I got home I saw on the weather that it's supposed to rain tonight so I went out and mowed the lawn.  I didn't go out to mow until 6 o'clock, unhooked the hose to the garden but forgot to reattach it.  I didn't remember until the hose had been on for over 10 minutes so tonight I watered the patio.  *head, slap*  As an added bonus I tried (foolishly) to screw it into the soaker hose thereby spraying myself with icy cold water.  I needed to change out of my sweaty clothes anyway but... really, Barbara?  I thought you were smarter than that.  I think my job this weekend will be to use a flat shovel to open a narrow trench from the patio to the garden so that I can bury the hose just under the grass so I can mow and not have to disconnect the hose and water the patio again.



In today's bird news, the male hummingbird came for a drink this morning after I'd filled all the feeders.


I didn't take a picture but a squirrel decided to scale the oriole feeder, reach across for a peanut, and then sit in the saucer of grape jelly to eat its prize.  I was not amused.  I shooed him off, twice, and then moved the feeder over by the suet and hummingbird feeder.  Squirrels!

21 May--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview.  Calvin had arrived and snagged a chair for me next to him so I circled the group and sat down across from him.  It wasn't until I set my drink on the table that I realized I had sat down right next to Iggy. My hand brushed his arm and I felt the same spark I'd felt every time I had touched him.  Calvin frowned at me from across the table but didn't say anything, he just lifted his drink, drained it, slammed the glass on the table, and left.  We all watched him go.  Stanley said, "What's wrong wit him?" No one answered because just then the waitress arrived with a tray of fritters and chips.  We all dug in like we hadn't eaten in days.  Johnno's conch fritters were the best I'd ever eaten and his mango dipping sauce was out of this world.  I resolved to one day weasel the recipe from him.  I reached for the last fritter in the basket closest to me and met another hand reaching for it.  Iggy's hand was touching mine, his fingers poised over the fritter too.  I watched as his fingers opened toward mine like a flower in a "take it" gesture.  "Thanks," I said. His warm voice came from close to my ear.  "Maybe we should order more?"  I nodded, afraid to look at him, afraid to speak.  On my other side Silas stood and said, "I think we need more fritters." He stepped away from the table. "Hey, Dad, drop some more fritters for us." He hooked his hand in the back of Edward's shirt and hauled him along to the bar.  I saw him nod at Stanley and Melvin to get them on their feet and moving too.  In the blink of an eye Iggy and I were alone at the table.  "I miss you," he said into his lap.  I drew a deep breath and said, "I miss you too."  "Do you think you can forgive me?"  My fingers twisted a paper napkin into shreds.  "I worry that all those island women will lure you away again. I can't have my heart broken, Iggy, it hurts too much."

Okay, that's as far as I've gotten on getting Iggy and Rose back together but I promise it'll happen and sooner rather than later.  Cross my heart.  Tomorrow while I wait for the air conditioner tune-up tech to arrive and then do his work my plan is to write out a sparse outline to check my timeline and also show me (I hope, fingers crossed) where I can add things because I'm 20k words short and I'm highly intimidated by that huge number.  I mean, I know at least that many words and I can use a lot of them more than once but that's nearly a third more than I already have.  Yikes.

--Barbara