Portulaca!

I braved the madhouse at Big R this morning to take advantage of the plant sales. I bought two pots. I will buy something bigger for my front porch later in May, but the small assortment pot will do for awhile. And they had portulaca! This plant is about the size of what was in the plot next to my patio when I moved into my condo in 2011. It will take a couple of years to reseed to what I had that died in the soggy rains, but I am giving it a try.

Since we have a chance of frost/freeze tonight, I have them sitting on top of my chest freezer in the garage. Next week when it warms up I will plant the portulaca.

This Is The Life

I went to the North Webster Friends of the Library sale yesterday. I bought 12 items (10 books, one large-print; 2 audio books) for the retirement library. I bought for myself 2 jigsaw puzzles, and got one puzzle for free as it had a piece missing. One of the puzzles is Christmas/winter scene so I put it away. The free 500-piece puzzle I started yesterday afternoon and finished this morning. I really like it. It reminds me of my beachcombing interests.

The daffodils are rampant around our neighborhood. Tomorrow is the Peabody Retirement Community tulip festival, but I have seen hardly any tulips around here, and those not open. Maybe the end of next week I can travel to North Manchester. We are to be in the 70s after Sunday. Our pear tree has lots of buds; they will probably open into a white canopy by mid-week. The weeping willows and magnolias have their new growth. 

My husband is starting on a big woodworking project for the Chime Choir. They need new tables. He is building a prototype and after he gets feedback, he will build 16 tables to hold the chimes. He did procure the wood for the legs. Next will be the plywood sheets for the tops. 

 

Tonight we will attend a recital at a local church of the students in Grace College's Worship Major program. This is a new program so we don't know what to expect. Grace College eliminated its Music Major program several years ago.

Our Carson's is shutting down (one of the Bon Ton chain stores) by August. So far the liquidators haven't marked down the prices much. I plan to go to the bigger Carson's store in Fort Wayne on Tuesday to see what bargains they have. I will be sorry to see it go away. 

I need to go to the AAA office in that city to make a payment on our 2019 winter cruise. Yes, we put a deposit on a partial-canal trip to Panama with Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Cartagena Columbia as additional ports. This will be on Princess, a new cruise line for us.

Other than a two-night stay at a B&B in South Haven, Michigan in July, we have no other travel plans. 

In the past month there have been over 720 views of my blog by sources in Italy. It skews the statistics terribly and has taken a lot of joy out of blogging. There is no good way for me tell if real people are enjoying and learning from my blog. I wish this robot viewer would disappear. 

Ah, well, at last it feels and looks like spring which lifts the spirits.

Daffy Days

We woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning, but slowly it has warmed up though with a cold wind. The daffodils coaxed by the sunshine have finally opened. Next week we are to be in the 60's. Finally more normal temperatures. This has been one of the coldest Aprils on record.

Next Monday the Grace Village Swap Shop starts. I saw an interesting jigsaw puzzle when I took over some things to contribute. You never know what will still be there when Monday morning arrives. Some people ignore the start time and take things early. 
I am grateful for whatever I find that will enhance my life. One year it was a big-numbers clock. Last year notepads for grocery list making. A few years nothing, but at least I did get rid of some of my clutter. 

There is a book sale at the North Webster Public library starting next Thursday. I will try to take a look as I do still have some money and some series gaps to complete. They often have jigsaw puzzles to buy as well; I'll do some personal shopping for me.

Our county participates in the Community Read program. 6 copies of this year's book, Frankenstein by Shelley, were given to us and placed in the library. 5 of the 6 have been taken which is encouraging. There will be a Shelley impersonator/dramatist next week I believe at a special dinner meeting in Warsaw, but I don't plan to attend. 

Tulips Redux

Spring Sings

One of the blogs I read regularly made reference to Sara Teasdale's poem "April". Though the trees are bare and there are no spring blooms yet, she knows it is spring because spring sings to her. Here in my neighborhood, spring just broke out into a chorus of yellow daffodils. Even my laggards show yellow in the bud now.

I see this neighbor's daffodils from my bedroom window. The red sprouts are the peony bushes emerging. See all of those little pine cones I wrote about earlier. I walked to the library this afternoon in very windy but sunny 70 degrees. I saw other daffodils and the star magnolia has one bloom opening along the paved walk.

Of course along with the beautiful blooms of spring come weeds. I do have a yellow bloom in my flowerbed, a dandelion.

Even though I know rain and snow are predicted for the next 3 days, I feel we have turned the corner. I hear spring's song.

Bloom of the Month: Tulips

The Bloom of the Month for April is tulips. There were coral, light pink, medium pink, and light purple to choose from. It is fun to pick up the bunch of flowers each month. We are expecting a couple of warm days, maybe even 70 tomorrow. 

I saw some daffodils in bloom in my neighborhood. The warm days and sun may hasten my daffodils to open up, too. The goldfinches turned yellow last week. Even though we will cool down next week, the coldest temperatures seem to be past. Hurray!

The library open house yesterday had about 20 people in attendance, most of whom came at the same time. LOL. All of those people along with a refreshment table crammed in to a rather small space made it cozy. 

I noticed last week that the IRS and the Indiana Department of Revenue have debited my checking account. Looks like we don't have to think about income taxes for another year. 

April Angst

We had a high of 34 today, down to 22 tonight, snow starting around midnight Sunday and into Monday. That electric blanket is going to feel good tonight. 

My husband has been watching the Masters golfing on TV. What beautiful flowers surround that course in Augusta.

I have two lily blooms left on my plant. The bloom stalk has appeared on 3 daffodils so there is hope. I think I might go pick up my Bloom of the Month tulips this week, too. 

The lady in charge of residents' activities has decided to hold a reception in the library to celebrate National Library Week. Of course she expects me to be there to answer questions, etc. I'm not too thrilled. She tried this two or three years ago, and we had 4 people show up. I have made good progress in filling in the fiction series gaps; bought 20 books in the last 2 weeks. A few of those I bought on ebay with no shipping charge. Almost as inexpensive as Better World Books. However, the shelves are almost full again.

It is going to warm up Wednesday and last for several days. It might even be 60 Thursday when we travel to Fort Wayne for an appointment and some shopping. It doesn't feel a bit like April. Today we had lots of sunshine, blue sky with puffy white clouds so it looked like spring if one didn't venture out. I haven't been outside all day. Instead I baked some zucchini bread using the last of my frozen zucchini. Oh, it smelled so good in the house.

I am so tired of my winter clothes. Looks like less than a week until I can switch to lighter items. Are you antsy for the real spring to appear?

Happy Easter

Bloom number 5 opening on Easter Day.

He Is Risen!

Alleluia!