Spring is here

It's been a while since I felt bloggy. There is plenty to write about, but somehow I've gotten out of my blogging groove. I promise to get back into it... At least for myself.

Not much new has been happening. Spring is finally here and I've been having a lot of fun watching what will sprout out of the ground. We have tons of tulips, a lilac bush, two honeysuckle bushes, wild strawberries and I also think we have a raspberry bush. Our garden went from bare and brown to lush, green, a real Garden of Eden.

We are hopefully buying some porch furniture - and a grill! - this weekend, so I am planning on moving my books and other essentials to the porch for the rest of the summer. I never realized how much I missed being outside when the weather is nice. It's sort of weird, because I grew up in an apartment and this is the first time I have a garden and I just can't help staring at it and walk around every half hour when I am working from home. Sitting outside is one of my favorite things to do - I loved it even as a child when we went to our summer house and even during huge storms I enjoyed sitting on the covered terrace, wrapped in a blanket. It gives me the chills just thinking about it.

Here are a couple of pics of what's been happening outside my window:

Getting to know you

So, for the past couple of days I've been getting to know our new house. When we first looked at it with our realtor, it had pale yellow/tan walls, sea shells on the wall, and lots of spiritual or self-help signs like "take it easy" and "live for today." It was a pretty cute house. So we bought it.

Once the seller moved out, and all of her belongings were gone, the house suddenly became sort of dreary and bland. I was and still am worried that it will be hard to warm up to it. So I've been trying to spend some time there, walk around, touch the walls, get to know the house.

I've found many unexpected "gifts" during this process. There is a hummingbird feeder hidden among some bushes in the yard. There is an ornate cross nailed to one of our trees where it looks like lightening might have struck at some point. In one of the bushes by our porch, I've found a small garden gnome. There are a couple of frog statuettes hiding under some leaves by our front door.

All of these discoveries are great and surprising, but also fill me with concern. Is the house hiding weird, unpleasant stuff too? I guess only time will tell.

My other adventure with the house has been the guy, Jeff, who is painting it. He is one of Drew's friends, a general contractor who is giving us a huge price break on the paint job. Much appreciated!

He's been working with another guy, who lives in a cottage on Jeff's property. He is a disabled Vietnam vet who has some "issues," according to Jeff, so he took him in and is giving him work. "It's good karma," I told Jeff, "to help out someone like that." He agreed then continued to tell me that his friend is an excellent musician and that they often sit and write music together.

Now, I don't know Jeff well, but what I know about him are the following: He is an excellent craftsman, he writes and draws political cartoons for Drew's newspaper, and apparently he also writes music and sings. "You are a real renaissance man," I told him. He laughed. It was somehow comforting. Maybe his good karma will transfer to the house through the paint brush.