A Quick Hello

Hi there! I unexpectedly have taken almost a month off from blogging. My intentions have been good but my follow-through has been bad! It has been a busy spring, once it finally arrived here in New England. Much to do with never enough time to do it. So many photos and ideas. Here’s a little peek, via my iPhone photos, of just a bit of what I’ve been enjoying this spring.

Sarah and I made our first visit to Mountain View in Hampden for soft serve on a wonderfully warm early May evening; seemed a worthy event for a selfie.

My lilacs are in full bloom right now perfuming the air with their wonderful scent. I take a deep lungful each time I get in or out of my car since they line my driveway.

On Mother’s Day, my two daughters went shopping for, cooked and cleaned up after this delicious meal. Those are grilled chicken thighs and a salad with spinach, strawberries, mandarin oranges and toasted pine nuts. It was delicious!

The day after Mother’s Day, the treats continued. Meghan showed up at my school and brought me these flowers and an iced coffee at lunch time. I was touched by her thoughtfulness.

After school that day, I went to Sarah’s final track meet at her high school. Since it was the last home meet of the season, this was the meet for the celebration of the track team members who are seniors.

Traditionally, I mow the lawn for the first time each year during the first week of May. Spring was slow to start this year, and so was I! I finally did it for the first time this past Thursday. By the time I got to it, all these pretty weeds were filling the back corner of my yard like wildflowers. I felt kind of bad mowing them down, but I really couldn’t let the lawn get to a height where it would be difficult to deal with it.

Due to the heavy amounts of snow we received this winter, my husband made the determination to release the edges of our pool cover while there was still heavy snow on top of it in order to prevent any chance of the walls collapsing under the weight. He decided to completely remove the cover a few weeks ago. It won’t be actively taken care of on a daily basis for a couple more weeks and in the meantime, this pair of ducks has been stopping by for a swim! I guess it does kind of look like a pond right now.

The days of school are winding down – 22 more for me, only 9 for Sarah, my graduating senior. I hope it won’t be another month before I post again, but busy days are ahead. I hope your spring is treating you well!

Spring Changes

This quote is so true in so many ways. I’m here to focus on the beautiful this morning, despite the fact that today’s weather is less than beautiful.

Spring has been very slow to arrive in the northeast this year, but we have finally been experiencing some days of warmth and sunshine. Last Sunday was warm and breezy, and I took a little time just to sit outside and appreciate.

I haven’t lifted a rake or anything else to begin spring cleaning, but I’ll get to it soon enough. Chives are poking through last year’s dead ones to make a new appearance this year!

It is school vacation week here in Massachusetts. Today is Patriot’s Day and Boston Marathon Day. A blogger that I read, Amy of “Plain Mama” is running this year. Best of luck Amy!

I got to kick off my vacation week in one of my favorite ways. Jennifer, Renae and I headed up to Pickity Place once again. Saturday’s weather was lovely and sunny and warm, and flowers were popping out all over, despite Pickity’s New Hampshire location. We figured they must have started some of these plants in their protected greenhouse and then brought them out.

These were not from the greenhouse of course:

I’m not sure what these are; they reminded me of a purple version of forsythia.

And I always share a picture of the beautiful dessert presentation too:

What beautiful changes are you experiencing this time of year?

Going Green

I don’t care what Kermit the Frog says, I think it is pretty easy being green.

Robin calls it “a visit from the green man”. I call it finally feeling like spring. We’ve had some good rain, followed by days of sunshine, and my world is finally going green around me. The neighbors’ houses on the street behind mine have disappeared into the green:

When I look around me I see fresh green leaves and green grass and I love it.

Next weekend, with any luck and a LOT of work, I will be greening-up my garden. I went to my favorite garden center yesterday for my “annual pilgrimage” and made my plant purchases.

I’m yet to get a picture this year, but I have seen that wonderful “flash” of green – the ruby throated hummingbird. I’ve seen several taking sips at my feeder and flowers over the last week.

I do, however, have pictures I can share of another bird, in fact a bird family:

A robin has re-used the nest that was built on my flood light last spring and the 4 babies have quickly grown.

I hope your world is going green too!

ETA: WordPress has just informed me that this is the 500th post here on Karma’s When I Feel Like It Blog. Wow! I’ve hit that publish button 500 times? Thanks to all of you who have been here and said hello anywhere from 1 to 500 times!

Slowly but Surely…

…spring is arriving.
Some evidence:

We had a thunderstorm yesterday. I didn’t think to take any pictures during the storm, but here are remains on the grill. The grill has happily been getting much use lately, another sign of the season.

I mowed the lawn for the first time this year yesterday as well (before the storm, thankfully!) and the trees are finally starting to leaf out.

I made hummingbird food and hung the feeder. I’m not 100% positive, but I think I saw a hummingbird speed by my window a couple days ago, so it seemed like time to get it out there.

Some of the very few lilacs I seem to have this year are opening up. Remember in this post I lamented not seeing lilac buds yet? I was mistaken. There are very few buds out there to be seen. I think this harsh winter unfortunately did a number on lilacs around here. Lilac trees line the side of my driveway and I have several more trees around my house and there are precious few buds and many dead looking branches. My neighbor’s shrubs seem to be suffering the same fate. Anyone else in the northern climes noticing anything like this?

Hubby got me a new birdbath for my little perennial garden. My old one broke in the winter – my own fault for forgetting to put it away. I love this shiny new one though. It will hold more water and add a nice touch of color to the yard.

To all the mothers out there, including mine, I hope you are having a wonderful Mothers Day. I’m planning to spend mine having a little brunch with my family (I enjoyed the Easter one so much I decided to have a similar one today), which I am going to start working on soon, then I’m hoping to soak up a bit of sun and Vitamin D, (forecast here is for sunny skies and 75 degrees) and perhaps do a bit of shopping with my home-from-college girl. Even though I’ll cook most of the brunch food myself, my daughters have promised to clean up! That’s a good Mothers Day treat.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Waiting. I did a lot of it today. I sat in my car, waiting for Sarah…

…for an hour! Sarah was taking the SAT’s today. The SAT website said 3 hours and 45 minutes should be allowed for the test. The SAT website said no phones are allowed, and they will be confiscated if students are found with them. So I arrived at the school 3 hours and 45 minutes after the test should have begun. No Sarah. Wait. Groups of kids begin to emerge from school. No Sarah. More groups. Frustration builds. Finally Sarah. Test started late. Lots of kids brought phones – were only told to power them down. Those kids’ parents, most likely did not spend an hour of their Saturday sitting in the parking lot of a high school, waiting. *Sigh*

Waiting for pizza…

Pizzaria Uno has a nice online ordering system and curb side pick up. Order and pay online, they bring the food out to your car. I pull in and….wait. About 15 minutes after the time my order was to be done, a server appears at my window explaining that our pizzas were dropped and had to be re-made, but would be out in just a few minutes. Wait some more. Pizzas arrive, I take them home. Sarah’s is fresh and hot – mine, not so much. Obviously Sarah’s was dropped and remade while mine sat under a heat lamp and waited. *Sigh*

Waiting for spring…

My world’s latest daffodils are just starting to bloom. I don’t think I’ve ever waited until May to have them begin. Things seem to be several weeks behind in growth and bloom around here.
I’m still waiting for lilac buds:

Last year at this time, my lilacs looked like this:

That shot was taken on May 4, 2013.

Bleeding hearts are still just little drops right now…

Last year:

Are you experiencing a similar slowness of the season this year?

My profusely blooming rhodo-azalea bush seems to be the only one who didn’t get the message that spring is late this year.

The bumble bees just love this shrub. I tried to get a photo for you of all the buzzing going on, but I was surprised at the agressiveness of the fuzzy buggers! A couple of them zoomed out and buzzed my head until I backed off when they thought I was getting a little too close for their comfort. Once this bush does its blooming, usually the hummingbirds are not too far behind. I wonder if I will be waiting for them this year too.

This picture is from 3 years ago, but it is still a favorite despite the graininess, and definitely something good that came to someone who waited.

Wait, wait! Don’t go yet! I have something funny to share with you.
My birthday card from my sister:

Was that worth waiting for? 😉

20×2+9-4=?

Did you solve my little math problem? 😉 Today is the day I find myself smack in the middle of my 40’s! Perhaps a day of a little reflection? I think it is a good place to be. My birthday finds me in good health and feeling fit. People around me are noticing the changes in me and my energy is good. A new horizon approaches in my future, and a goal that I’m going to do my very best to achieve. I will share the news of how that goes when the time is appropriate.

Spring, as most of us in northern climates know, has been slow to arrive this year. Last year on my birthday, it was a warm and sunny day, and magnolia trees were in bloom all over town. I took this shot last year:

Things are a bit behind this year – those buds are out, but I haven’t seen a tree in full bloom yet. This morning there are buds on my famous weather-telling rhodo-azaelea bush:

(sorry for the slight blur, it is quite windy here this morning)

I’m on school vacation this week, but it hasn’t felt overly vacation-y. I’ve been doing lots of driving and I’m a bit weary from the road. The driving is worthwhile, however. As I mentioned in my last post, I drove to Worcester for the Sleeping Beauty ballet with my daughters last Friday. It was lovely. It reminded me of a springtime version of “The Nutcracker” – probably no surprise since the music for both was composed by Tchaikovsky. Then I drove Meghan back to school Easter night, after a great day of food and visiting with family. I made brunch for my family that morning:

Then the girls and I were off to dinner at my sister’s. I contributed this cheesecake dessert of which I’m quite proud:

I wish I had a better picture for you. I took this quickly with my phone. It has a brownie bottom and was delicious!

Monday was a warm, sunny day which I spent doing some much needed spring clean-up:

The work is not all done around my yard – lots more to go – but at least my front yard is more respectable looking now!

Sarah and I have begun college visits this week as well. We drove to a school in New Hampshire on Tuesday – we were underwhelmed – and have a visit planned to Hampshire College in Amherst tomorrow. The drive tomorrow is at least a bit shorter.

The weekend brings a visit to the Cape. The forecast is in the mid-50’s and windy, so we will have to bundle up. Hopefully the sun will shine and there will be time for a walk on the beach without it being too blustery to enjoy.

Dawn and I think it could be time for a new photo hunt soon. What do you think? Spring is here and our cameras are just waiting for a little challenge, right? I’ll be giving it some thought and I’ll be sure to let you know if I come up with something.

Even though it’s my birthday, I don’t get to take the day off from some of the things I must get done, so I will be wrapping up this meandering post now!

Finding Joy in the Simple Things

I haven’t forgotten my goal of trying to find joy as often as possible. I have a couple things to share with you from last weekend, as well as some joy that I am looking forward to this weekend.

My friends and I did Hike #2 of our MidState Trail hike last Sunday. That morning, as I bustled about getting ready for the hike, I paused a moment at the sight out the window in my front yard:

The robin is out of focus, but I just loved the look of the early morning sun on the dew-kissed lilac branches (which will hopefully be laden with flowers and deliciously fragrant only a few short weeks from now).

At the end of our hike, my friends and I and the dogs did another group portrait.

Daphne is absent from this one due to doing a long walk with Sarah the day before. Sarah is in the Canine Club at our high school and Sarah and Daphne participated in a 5 mile walk around town in support of “Bark for Life” which researches canine cancers. Daphne decided she was done with the walk with a little less than a mile to go back to the starting point and sat down, refusing to go any further. Hubby had to go rescue Sarah and our obstinate fur-baby and take them home! I decided a second 5 mile hike the next day was probably not the best move for my aging golden.

Tonight is a night I’ve looked forward to since Christmas time. As a Christmas gift, my father gave Meghan, Sarah and me tickets to see the Moscow Ballet perform “Sleeping Beauty” at the Hanover Theater in Worcester. In just a short while, Sarah and I will head out to Worcester to pick up Meghan and go out to dinner, followed by the ballet – sure to be a lovely evening.

I hope you have a lovely weekend in store! Tell me about your plans in the comments if you’d like to share!

A Wonderful Spring Weekend

Spring is finally sproinging around here, and it’s about time after the lousy, frigid, snowy winter we had!

Saturday brought a delicious visit to Pickity Place in Mason NH. I’ve blogged many times about this favorite lunch place of my sister, our best friend and me.
Lunch was good and tasty, but the dessert yesterday was OFF THE HOOK! Check this out:

That gorgeous thing is a vanilla flan with caramel sauce, raspberries and mandarin oranges.

Happy pansies and jonquils decorated the little cottage in the woods:

as well as the perennially sleepy Pickity Kitty:

Today brought sunshine and a high temperature around 60 degrees F! That in itself is a wonderful thing. The hike that we were rained out of last weekend was rescheduled for today. I have a friend with an interesting goal this year – to hike all 92 miles (the width of the state of Massachusetts not including the north shore and Cape Cod) of the MidState Trail. It runs from Douglas MA on the Rhode Island border to Ashburnham MA on the New Hampshire border. I said I’d like to join as often as possible, so we began our quest today! We did a little over 3 miles today, but that included looping back to the parking lot, so we still have around 90 miles to go. Next time we will strategize with parking cars and such so we can accomplish more of the route in one outing.

But for today, we enjoyed each others’ company and being out in the spring air. Our dogs enjoyed every puddle they tromped through and getting muddy!

Group portrait of Sherry, Greg and me (and Angel, Teddy and Daphne) at the Rhode Island-Massachusetts border.

The marker

A crossing trail, running through Rhode Island. Only 78 miles to the ocean! Let’s go!

One more group portrait, after our lunch break.

I’m looking forward to making my way up my home state throughout this spring, summer and fall – I hope we can find the time to complete the full trail.

Happy spring everyone! Is it finally feeling like spring where you are too?

P.S. WordPress has nicely informed me that today is my 4 year blogoversary! Still carrying on the “when I feel like it” way, 4 years later! 😉

Rain, rain… well, it’s better than snow!

The rain started yesterday afternoon and is forecast to continue all day today. I could complain, but I won’t. After all, it could be snow, right? Most of the snow, except for a few patches here and there, has finally melted. Oh and except for this snow too:

Yeah, did I mention my pool kind of collapsed this winter? Yes, that same pool that I had all those issues with last summer? The pool that I maimed my poor foot in while putting in a brand new liner? All for naught – now we need a brand new pool. Sigh. I’m hoping we can find someone to afford-ably install one for us this spring. I really have no interest in doing this job again. Hubby and I have done this several times and it is not an enjoyable project.

Here’s a more enjoyable project! We have several teachers retiring from my school this June, and retirement quilts are once again in the making. I’ve made quilt squares for three of them, two Red Sox fans and a yoga devotee:

More joy I’ve found: my fitness journey continues and I’m making good progress! I can happily announce that I’m back down to and so far maintaining the weight that I was before I became pregnant with Meghan 20 years ago! That’s a loss of about 15 pounds. I haven’t weighed this little or felt this fit in as many years. I’m entering Week 5 of Focus T25, the last week of the Alpha round.

That makes me just a little nervous but excited too. Week 6 of the program steps up to the Beta round, an even more intense series of workouts. I haven’t followed the program exactly as laid out here because of Zumba. I’ve been skipping the Wednesday workout and the second Friday workout listed – I do Zumba Wednesday night and Saturday morning instead, so I’m still doing 6 workouts a week and resting on Sundays.

The rain unfortunately cancelled a hike with friends today that I was looking forward to, and hoping to bring you pictures of, but it has been rescheduled for next Sunday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for that. This visually un-pretty month is over tomorrow! Bring on April- I can’t wait to see things turning green and growing again.

Springtime, Lovely Springtime!

I love this time of year. This part of the world is coming alive with green grass and leaves and the bloomers of spring. We’ve had a string of 17 days in a row with no rain, and while I know we need the rain (coming soon according to the local forecast), I’ve even thoroughly been enjoying my rides to work in the morning: the sunshine at that time of day is gentle and beautiful and lights the flowering trees and greening lawns in a way that makes me remember to breathe deep and appreciate the moment.

When I walk out to my car, the air is perfumed with these:

Lilacs – mmmmm, is there a better spring time smell? And I’m going to have an abundant amount of blooms this year. The tops of my trees all look like this:

They haven’t quite opened yet, that’s why the dark color, but they are beginning.

During all this lovely weather, I’ve been outside when time allows (mostly weekends) working on my yard. I did a lot of cleaning up and pruning during the April break from school. In addition to all the usual work, I made a decision to rip out a perennial bed that had not been looking overly healthy for the past few years:

I kept only what remains of my bearded irises, – they are yet to bloom this year and I don’t know how many blooms I will get – the bleeding heart
and my “crazy poppy”- click here for the story of that moniker.

On Saturday morning, I made a visit to my favorite local garden center, 16 Acres Gardens. (They are called that because they are in a part of Springfield known as “16 Acres” not because there are 16 acres of gardens)

It is still just a little too early around here for planting tender annuals and vegetables (unless you’re a bit of a daredevil and willing to watch the weather each night for frost warnings!) but I was more than ready to go spend the generous gift card I received from my dad for my birthday to replant that perennial bed. I came home with 9 new perennials of varying sizes and heights ranging in colors from pinks to purple to purplish-blue and planted them that afternoon:

(I’m rather proud of myself for installing that new border around the bed too, even if it is a less than perfect circle!)

My latest-to-bloom-in-the-neighborhood daffodils are in full bloom now:

as well as the giant rhodo-azalea:

I’ve seen two butterflies in the past few days – can the hummingbirds be far behind? I’m excited to hang up two new, unique hummingbird feeders I received for my birthday – I haven’t taken pictures of those yet but I’m sure I will do that soon.

I finally cleaned the vegetable garden patch of last year’s debris and removed the decrepit fence surrounding it. Next outdoor projects: put up a new fence and mulch my perennial bed. I’m also trying to grow some new grass in an area the dogs have ruined. There’s so much going on in the yard! But I do love this time of year!