.

.

Any March Lambs in Your Area and Pepper Me Crazy

Is March leaving like a lamb?  The view from my kitchen window gives the answer.

snow wind tree

I'm going to believe that by the end of April, the bulbs will be poking up and showing their colorful buds and that the forsythia at the back of my yard will be covered in yellow petals.  No matter what winter does and for how long, it will not last    f  o  r  e  v  e  r...

Bell pepper craziness resumes...

bell peppers

Come to think of it, maybe that's why "March Madness" got its name, the weather makes you long for spring and basketball is basically an indoor game.  Now, if they could only stop the constant sneaker squeaks on the gym floor, those will make you a bit loopy.

Surprised by Mother Nature

What would you call this?  Surprises, Bonuses, Quirks? Mother Nature surprised me twice last week with vegetables growing inside the outer layers.

First, it was a pretty little red pepper inside.  So cute, like a heart.  I took it as a good sign after facing surgery and health issues recently.

Have you ever seen anything like this?







Or, have you ever seen anything LIKE THIS?


The pretty little pepper turned out to be 3 pretty little peppers, not just one!  They were all snuggled up and attached to one another.




A few days later I opened up a bag of carrots to find 3 carrots growing inside this large carrot.

Weird.

I don't know what these veggie bonuses mean, but winning the lottery was not on the cards.

One last thing, years ago my Mom had double yokes in the whole dozen eggs in a carton. Simply amazing.

Have you ever gotten under the skin and found something fun- no not insects.  I think that's why I don't like to shuck corn, all the little surprises you find in the cornsilk.


The Irony of Spring Cleaning, Why I Was Absent


NJ lake and mountains

Yesterday I said I'd tell you why I've been absent from the blog and keeping to myself, not replying to emails or reaching out in any way. There are a few reasons why, and some I can now talk about, but others not yet able to.

When I had that kicked in the gut feeling back in January, it wouldn't go away.  I tend to dwell on things and examine long and closely sometimes, so I thought this was the reason for me not feeling well.  I was wrong.

To make a longish story short and skip over details- I had a brush with cancer:  had tests, had surgery, and been told it was all removed.  (About four years ago I had the same symptoms, had surgery but no cancer.)

The doctor said I'll need tests again in a few months, biopsy, and see where things stand then.  I got an injury in the hospital and had to have treatment for that- totally unrelated to the cancer! Plus some of the medication made me ill and I had to recover from that.  I guess the universe is sarcastically knocking me about this way.

When surgery was scheduled, I only fell apart for about three quarters of a day, and I think that was due to the uncertainty- what lay ahead.  After that I pulled myself together and faced it calmly, after all, there is no one but myself to rely on***- that's for another post.  If things were not this easy, this "got it all in one surgery" I hope I would still be strong, but I don't know.  I'd do what I had to and keep a stiff upper lip, at least try to.

All in all, knock wood, I am doing well considering that cancer was a surprise visitor, a crummy way to begin the new year.

I'm going to make this a short post and hope to be back soon.  I hope all of you will soon be getting a break from the cold weather (those of us in North America) as I know this will make me feel a lot better.  Throwing off the layers, sweaters, vests, coats, cardigans, long sleeves, and knee highs!  Bring on sandal weather please...    

Thanks for sharing this with me.  I want to apologize for not answering emails or keeping up with Pinterest boards.  I shut down the blog I was not updating and deleted my inactive Twitter account- these were giving me guilt not joy and I need a bit more joy going forward.  I guess you could call it Spring Cleaning all the way around, inside and out.  

***Edited to add:   I was able to pull myself together because I did have Someone to rely on and in my process of getting thoughts and words together I simply didn't say.  Faith.  There's no way I would have kept moving forward on my own.  I had Someone to usher me through the process, to keep me calm, and to see me through it all.  I might feel alone, but I'm not alone.  He's helping me through the trials and the good times, too.  

It's Okay to Talk About It Now

altered image from www.morgue file.com

Should I tell them?  This was on my mind off and on for the past few months.  In this instance, "them" are you- my blogger friends and readers.  It began like this:

The holidays slid right by and New Year's was met with its usual subdued flair.  I was ready and waiting to get dug in to 2014 with renewed determination and hopefully some energy supplied by a committed determination to get on with things and make the changes I so want to make.

The first week of January I heard some sad news about the unexpected death of a blogger.  This hit me in the gut and stayed with me for some time. Throughout the year I had been saving some figurines to send to her.  Time and again I lost my nerve to contact her to get her mailing address.  I talked myself out of talking to her for any number of reasons, all imaginary on my part as the blogger was a lovely person who sometimes commented on my blog as I did on hers.

It was a strange feeling to be so moved by someone half a world away, whom I'd never met, but who I wanted to send this set of trinkets to since I knew how much she loved such things.  Not having sent them, she'll never know she was on my mind and I lost out on making her a little bit happy for a while.

That got me thinking about our blogs and that one day they will be abandoned.  We're no longer here to keep writing and responding to comments.  Do we leave them up if we have the choice or do we ask someone to make a final post saying to enjoy, but that the writer is no longer available to comment?!

Tomorrow I will tell you why I was absent from my blog all these weeks and why I have not replied to emails (I'm sorry for that.)