Monday, March 30, 2009

More "likes and dislikes"...

Didn't get to my computer yesterday so thought up some more of my likes and dislikes. I'll start with the seasons. My very favorite season is Spring! Seems like God put it before the heat of Summer and the cold of Winter so that one could really be ready for it!!!Seems like Spring kind of "sprung" on us this year! My daffodils were budding and grew into the beautiful and noble flowers that they are! Last year I had a lot of the white kind, (Narcissus) and I had those around Christmas time this year and they still had a few blooms when the daffodils started and then the hyacinths! The odor is simply overwhelming! In fact, if I am around them too long I get a headache! But they really did themselves well this year even if all I had was pink. When I planted the bulbs several years ago, I had two or three shades of pink from dark to pale and of course the white ones! But over the years they have all reverted back to pink! But to see them blooming and one of my azaleas really outdid itself this year! My roses all have buds and my Easter lilies are starting to really get tall! My big wine-barrel planter is really outdoing itself with the gladiolas coming up and the little plants that I planted aroung them are starting to fill up the barrel! Is it any wonder I like Spring!!! One of the bad thing about Spring though is the winds. We had a saying years ago, "March winds bring April showers which bring May flowers"! The wind and my "Arthur" don't get along!!! I've got a built-in thermometer that tells me when the weather is going to change! And this past Winter and into this Spring I really feel the pain! Summer heat and I don't get along too well but the Fall isn't bad and as long as I don't have to be out in the weather, I don't mind Winter! I hate foggy weather when it can't make up it's mind to come down to the ground (Tule Fog) or whether it's just going to hang up there covering the sun and making me feel "blue" or despondant! A cold,crisp winter day isn't bad when one can see the sun but it is too cold to be out in it! I also like a rainy day! To hear rain patter on a roof, ooh, what a lullaby!!!! I'm talking about a gentle rain, not a hurricane or tornado or something! I don't like thunder and lightning but I can get drawn into watching the lightning from a window or door!! Not a very smart thing to do!!!! I was in a tornado one time when Tom and Dottie lived in the Chicago area and I never want to go through that again! One minute it was so warm and I was sitting in the house watching the weather channel when Tom came in and asked me to come out and sit in the yard with the family! Dottie was watching the sky and there was a few flashes of lightning, etc and the clouds looked kind of pale green! Dottie told me she didn't like the looks of that, when all of a sudden a wind came up and it didn't just "blow". It was like a twisting wind and Tom told the kids and me to get in the house and he started to put the chairs, etc. away! We went to the basement, and we could hear the wind and the thunder, and see the flashes of lightning, and we sat huddled, when all of a sudden there was almost a big "bang-slam" and then the wind died down and Tom said, "well, that's it! We can go upstairs now!" Boy, there was branches all over the yard from a tree they had and of course everything was soaking wet. We heard later that the crash we heard was from a tree a few blocks away that had taken a hit!!! But other times when Dick and Jane lived in Cleveland the thunder and lightning storms they had there were terrible. Janie called me one afternoon and told me that there was a bad storm heading toward the house. I told her that it had been there and a lightning bolt had hit their bird feeder, (it was quite tall like a lightning rod) and I sat there and saw this big flash of lightning hit that and go down into the ground!!!! Another time in the night she came into my room and I was standing at the window watching, flash after flash of lightning, (hardly time for the thunder!) She said, "Mom, get away from that window!!" No thanks! I'll take the weather out here!!! It does get hot in the Summer and cold in the Winter but I don't think I could take the weather back East for long!!! So on this Spring day, the wind has calmed down a bit and I think I'll go and see if I can open the door for awhile!!! And I grew up in Wahington and Idaho! where we did have four seasons but I was much, much younger then and so could take it!!!