What I Saw In My Back Yard
Today, I peered out my grimy kitchen window into my muddy back yard and spied the orange-yellow of the spring's first crocus. I'm a winter-wimp and I blame my upbringing here in the Pacific Northwest. I was born in Wisconsin, but in 1969,my parents abandoned the midwest blizzards and we landed here in the damp, green, overcast shadow of the Space Needle and Mt. Rainier.
That's why I think winter should end at about the time you pack away the Christmas lights. I expect tulips to be in bloom at Easter, even when it falls in March. I want one day of snow a year, then I want green grass and shoots from perennials coming to life. None of this winter-wonderland stuff for me.
This is why I didn't fare well in northern Michigan. I don't snowshoe, I don't ski, I don't snowmobile. I don't hunt, I don't camp and I don't like mosquitoes. I want the airport within an hour of my front door so I can fly off to Bolivia at a moment's notice. (Not that I ever have.) I want three malls within an hour of my front door, not that I ever actually shop. I want a major hospital close by just in case I break a bone or need to have a kidney transplant (I never have been hospitalized).
And I want to see the first crocus before my birthday every year.
(Reminder: My birthday is coming. On Friday, I expect you all to celebrate and leave happy comments. Put it on your calendar. You must eat cake and sing the birthday song out loud and wear a pointy party-hat. Don't be a party-pooper. I'm giving you fair warning.)
That's why I think winter should end at about the time you pack away the Christmas lights. I expect tulips to be in bloom at Easter, even when it falls in March. I want one day of snow a year, then I want green grass and shoots from perennials coming to life. None of this winter-wonderland stuff for me.
This is why I didn't fare well in northern Michigan. I don't snowshoe, I don't ski, I don't snowmobile. I don't hunt, I don't camp and I don't like mosquitoes. I want the airport within an hour of my front door so I can fly off to Bolivia at a moment's notice. (Not that I ever have.) I want three malls within an hour of my front door, not that I ever actually shop. I want a major hospital close by just in case I break a bone or need to have a kidney transplant (I never have been hospitalized).
And I want to see the first crocus before my birthday every year.
(Reminder: My birthday is coming. On Friday, I expect you all to celebrate and leave happy comments. Put it on your calendar. You must eat cake and sing the birthday song out loud and wear a pointy party-hat. Don't be a party-pooper. I'm giving you fair warning.)
posted by Melodee at Wednesday, January 26, 2005
6 Comments:
You saw a crocus?? OMGosh! I mean if you saw one, then we should see something similar soon..(I'm just a state over from you).
I'm orginally from the midwest, lived on the East Coast, then moved back here to the West (the right coast). (thank you USAF)
I'm with you that Winter should end right after the Christmas lights and decorations are all put away..(for me, that'd be the day after New Years), so obviously someone out there is holding out and keeping their Christmas stuff up to dang long..since we keep getting cold weather here and these dang INVERSIONS..(what exactly is an inversion anyway?)
I'll try to be here for your b/d, but with a sick child, time is limited.. If I don't make it, I'm going to wish you a Happy Birthday now.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
I'm off to the Dollar Store to get my pointy hat. Thanks for the heads-up :O)
Could someone pick up a pointy hat for me? I don't have a car today (or a dollar).
I was thinking of taking Mel to Applebee's. Of course, since she wouldn't actually be there in person, I would ever so kindly eat her free dessert.
I just looked out my kitchen window into the back yard. Arg. Dog poop on white snow. Lovely, just lovely.
Oh yes, the curiosity of a winter in the PNW. I remember that we had such warm snap last winter, and all of the plants and animals were confused, and then we were hit with a wicked cold finale to winter. The seasons are just so odd here, it is as if the duration of one season has to involve the impression of the two surrounding otherwise it just won't be happy. Me, I'd just like winter to be winter, and end right on the first day of spring. Who do I send that memo to?
The big 4 0 on Friday...that means you get a birthday weekend right? that means that all of your children will spontaneously morph into mini housekeepers who will iron all of your husbands shirts, make all of the beds, and cook fabulous crockpot meals for the family from meat they got on special when they did all of the grocery shopping for you? Well those are my birthday wishes for you. May you wake up in the morning with a smile on your face that doesn't go away until you return to your bed tomorrow evening and all the happiness that goes with it.
H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y to you! Happy 40th, Melody!
May the crocuses tell of a glorious decade to come!
Hugs :)
Happy birthday Mel.
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