March 12, 2021 ~ Friday (Covid has claimed 532,000 American lives, vaccines are forthcoming, Spring is in the air)
After a year of feeling like everyday was Sunday … today felt like Saturday. Except it was Friday. I am so messed up with my days! Not working/no real routine/Covid isolation and restrictions … all have caused me to live a life of deja vu … wherein every day feels like it’s the same … and most like a Sunday. Weird – even for me. Every once in a while I’ll get the day right – but I have to think about it first! I don’t know why it felt like Saturday today … but it did. Well, bully for me – I have an extra day this week!
For the past (2 to 3) weeks the signs of Spring have been becoming apparent. Early, even for us, but oh-so welcome. While Denver is hunkering down for a possible historic snowstorm this weekend … I’m charging my battery to finish up weed whacking my yard. It’s already been mown and edged. I can’t imagine having feet of snow to contend with. Though – never could. My daughter is a winter gal … I find it rather barbaric.
I’ve been walking for the past 6 weeks. I’m counting steps and miles … just under 250,000 steps and a bit over 110 miles. What my son managed to do in 29 hours running an ultramarathon, I did in 38 days. Kind of makes my self-given pats on the back seem kind of silly in comparison! And one would think with all the endorphins floating around this ol’ body, I’d be happier/have some pep in my step/feel better/look better and maybe – just maybe – have lost a few ounces.
NOPE. Nothing. I’m still winter-island grumpy. I’m exhausted. I still look like Winston Churchill on a bad day and have no pep in my 7000+ per day steps. And not one damn ounce has gone by the wayside. But, I have been enjoying the emergence of a new season and watching each day’s new arrivals … critter or floral.
I usually walk along the cliff road. This week I’ve seen 7 eagles! Four of them flew over my car as I drove up island the other day … it made me feel like one of those people that have an encounter with a UFO. One minute I’m driving and the next there are four huge birds flying over my car. In an instant they were gone into the trees and I was left driving with my mouth open, staring at the sky (not the road). Did I really see that? My dad would have loved the dinner table “story problem” opportunity … if you are traveling northbound at 62 mph and 4 eagles cross your path flying westward at an eagle’s rate of 80 mph (they actually fly 75-99 mph) at what time will a train from Chicago arrive in New York City?
Today I missed seeing a whale by 7 minutes. I was walking down the road and saw the gentleman who lives at the last house before the estate at the end. He’s usually sitting out with his doodle-poodle and we chit chat – your usual stuff … Nice day. Gorgeous view. Glassine water today. Look at those mountains! Omg – it’s so nice to have the sun out. Blah blah blah. This afternoon as I neared his home he was standing at the edge looking out towards the water and told me I missed a breach. Dammit. I’ve been here nearly 7 years and have yet to see ONE whale! I am reminded again, it’s all about the timing.
Our neighborhood is overrun with rabbits. I’ve mentioned this before. Domestics are the beautiful cinnamon, black, or white ones and there are your usual wild bunnies, too. The domestics are due to a long-ago 4-H event run amok. Today the robins were out peeping about … I love when they hop around. They are so cheerful. If I’m out at twilight I love to listen to them peeping their good-nights. I’ve been walking earlier these days and I am missing that … along with the lilac and cobalt evening skies.
It doesn’t feel like Spring yet … it’s been too cold. Mid 40s are too cold for Spring temps. On today’s walk I wasn’t dressed for the cold and was not as comfortable as I could have been. Spring? Already? No! Yet, here we are. For weeks the trees have been teasing explosions of blooms. Their buds are big and fat. A few trees were ready mid-Feb … which was crazy early. Those trees, having one branch of flowers, made me think that they were mostly dead and this was their last hurrah! But, no … they are now filling out. Ornamental plums seemed to be the earliest … some apples and pears are already following … cherries and fruit plums, too. My dwarf daffs are up and open … my crocuses (croci?) are nearly gone … purple and striated ones … so pretty against the green grass. The raspberry vines and rose bushes are already showing leaf buds … tight and deep crimson … they’ll open up soon. My violets are blooming. They encircle a stone frog I have under my birdfeeder and hanging fern hook. The rabbits will get them soon.
Primroses and some snaps are in bloom … the tulips will be another while. I’ve been watching the grasses at the side of the ditch on my walk … they are about a foot tall now. By mid summer they’ll be 10-12 feet and tower over everything and keep us from the blackberry hedge just beyond them. I’m keeping an eye out for the zebra stalks … I have no idea what they are but they start as striped shoots/stick straight coming out of the ditches … about 8″ high … and then they slowly unfurl and open up … very Grinchy hair looking. They’re not very exciting in the summer … they look like ordinary grasses … but as they grow and open they put on quite the show!
I live in an area of old growth. The trees are giants and old. The island was once all forest … and areas were clear cut for homes and towns. There are still many stands of pines and deep woods … along with vast meadows and fields. I wish I liked it better because it really is a beautiful place.
Along the cliff walk there are 10 huge, old cedars set 15 feet apart from the next … all lined up along the roadway. I think it would take 3 people to hold hands to encircle each one. They are stunning with their rough, linearly grooved bark and heady scent. Near that stand is a madrona. It’s a gorgeous tree. Huge with a twisted trunk and widespread branches … the bark a swirl of burgundy and mustard. The silver poplar further along is massive. In the summer the leaves twirl and flutter on tiny stems … one side of the leaf a deep, glossy green/the other velvety and white. There is a enormous oak even further down … Pollyanna would have loved to have climbed this one. Whenever I move I will miss those trees.
It’s been a fabulous week. We don’t get sunshine a lot or many days in a row at this time of year and the views across the Sound have been wildly beautiful. We didn’t just have sunshine, we had crystal clear skies … no haziness … and the white-capped peaks of the Cascades looked like the Alps. No photos did them justice. I wished my daughter were here, she would have lost her mind looking at them!
Along with sunshine and blue skies come blue waters. The Sound was mostly mirror-finish this week … smooth and nary a ripple along that surface. Baby blue skies and water changed to deeper blues and cobalt as the sun set. It was astounding.
I trimmed the wisteria this week. It grows along my back fence line … and when it blooms I have 50′ of blossoms so fragrant I can’t mow the lawn without getting a headache! Last year that vine bloomed 3 times! I can’t wait to see what it does this year. I’ll endure as many headaches as it takes. There is a flowering quince along that fence, too … I’m thankful for my neighbor’s plantings as they spill over to my yard. I wanted a small yard with mature plantings and trees … I got a huge yard with 2 trees and a clean slate. The upside of being here for nearly 7 years is that my gardens took 5 years to mature and I can now enjoy them! And while I have one enormous pine and one enormous dinner-plate maple … I miss the old oak forest from Illinois and the 22 blue spruce from our yard in CO.
There are 5 dogs here tonight and through the weekend, snuggle buddies … I’m still waiting my turn for the vaccine … daylight savings is in two days (can’t wait) … and it’s my witching hour. I’m off to sip some brandy and read a bit before turning in … and waking up to another Saturday. Lucky me.
I’m reminded and grateful that I get just another day …