Tag Archives: crocuses

Recovering from Murder

I decided today would be my recovery day from the weekend of putting on shows. That is, as regular readers know. Prescription: Murder at Ilion Little Theatre (perhaps you have read a few of my blog posts about it).  I confess to feeling very tired.  This morning my legs felt leaden, as if they could not possibly take a step.  This afternoon I tried to make them take a step or two.  First I ventured into my backyard and was rewarded by the sight of a few crocuses.

Yay, spring!

Of course I took a few pictures.

Pretty!

I wondered if I was being a little silly taking pictures of all the blooms.  I mean, after all, everybody knows what a crocus looks like; people share all kinds of pictures of them.

Yellow, too!

But I felt it was a good idea nonetheless.

Ooh, one more crocus!

I took a nice walk after taking these pictures.  I saw a few other flowers as I walked but since I already had other pictures I did not pause to photograph.  For one reason, that made me walk a little further without pause.

So this is my Monday blog post.  Should I be happy it was not Monstrous?  Discuss amongst y0urselves.

 

Last Winter Walk on a Wednesday

I decided to take a long walk instead of run this morning, taking my cellphone with me to take pictures of any flowers I might see.  I figured it would make a decent blog post, and I just didn’t have the oomph to run (in my defense, I ran the last three days).  It has been a singularly oomph-less day, so I had a hard enough time getting myself out the door for a walk.

The first thing I saw were some buds on a tree on German Street.  I was doubtful of my ability to get a decent photo, so I walked on and was soon rewarded with some flowers.

Aren’t they pretty?

No, I don’t know what they are.  I think there are some apps that tell you what flowers are, or you can find books on the subject.  I certainly don’t know from apps, but I might seek out a book.

I think they’re called snowdrops.

I was happy to see some flowers putting on a better show than the ones in my yard which I took a picture of the other day (perhaps you saw that blog post).  Unfortunately, my walk was not rewarded with many flowers.  Still, a good walk is its own reward, and I enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air.  I carried a bottle of water with me and refilled it at the spring.  When walking through Salvatore’s parking lot (and thinking that would be a good place to eat soon but perhaps not conducive to reaching my weight-loss goals), I saw a bent stick that caught my eye.

You can see my fat shadow.

Perhaps I am the only one who is fascinated by such things.  I continued my walk, comforting myself that I had at least three pictures for the post.  Then I saw two patches of purple flowers across the street.  Yay!  Of course several cars happened to be going down the street at that time, not even that busy of a street in the general way, to add to my sense of ill-usage.  However, I finally managed to cross and got my shots.

I think these are crocuses.

There were fewer brown leaves to discourage these blooms than there are in my yard.

There were even more than the pictures show.

As I finished my walk, I once again noticed the tree with buds.  Well, why not make the walk just a little longer?  I went by my house and tried to get a shot of the buds on the branch.

Love the blue, blue sky!

It has gone on to be a beautiful sunny day.  I took another short walk a little while ago.  Now I need to prepare myself for tonight’s rehearsal.  This blog may soon become All Prescrition: Murder All The Time, but long-time readers probably expected that.

 

A Spring-ish Post

Hello and welcome to another Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  I still have no Mohawk Valley Adventures to blog about, but I have a few spring-ish pictures that I can share.

First spring-ish picture.

I have been taking walks almost every day, in addition to my runs, and I have been appreciating the return of bare sidewalks.  I was even more delighted when I looked down and saw these blossoms.  I don’t know what they are; I don’t think they are crocuses, usually the first blooms we see.  This was yesterday afternoon.  Today I wondered if any of my crocuses were up.  I ventured out to see.

They look a little sad.

There was nothing but last year’s grass out front.  Out back I saw these white flowers, but I think I saw them too late for a good picture.  I don’t know what these are either; I didn’t plant them, they just showed up (kind of like me at the Elks Club).  Then I saw some green poking through last year’s leaves.  I left all my leaves, because I read somewhere it was a helpful thing to do for certain bugs and critters.  Any excuse for me to be lazy!  However, this was where I had planted some daffodils a few years ago, and they usually come up.

Yay! Daffodils!

I pulled away the leaves and was delighted to see green and yellow.  I walked around the yard, looking for any other bits of green trying to poke up but did not find any. However, I am encouraged by what I saw.  Oh, I KNOW it will get cold and probably snow a couple more times, so you can just stop shaking your head at me with that superior smirk (you know who you are).  I am enjoying the here and now.

And I am enjoying the fact that I am over 300 words with this blog post.  I think that makes seven days in a row.  I wonder what else I can accomplish.

 

Look, Crocuses!

So no late but daily posts this week.  Once again I have no defense.  Today I am not sure I even have time to make a decent post.  However, I have a few pictures I took the other day of crocuses in my yard and I want to share them.  Perhaps I could just share the pictures and bill it as a Wordless Wednesday.  It is Wednesday, isn’t it?

Yay!

I had gotten a couple of blooms earlier in March, before that big snowstorm that made me eat my words about not shoveling again.  These are in a different spot and more crocuses in the same place than I have seen yet in my yard.  I put the bulbs down the first fall after we moved in in 2005.  My plan was to add bulbs every year and eventually have the yard covered.  Instead, I have only the original bulbs and what they have reproduced on their own recognizance.

Second verse, same as the first!

I took two shots, trying to get a different angle, but I am afraid they look remarkably similar.  Then I noticed a lone bloom elsewhere in the yard.

A brave bloom to give us hope.

Then I went out front to see if any had bloomed out there.  I was rewarded with another crocus.

Isn’t it beautiful?

The weather has gone cold again this week, although the nasty weather predicted for today seems to have passed at least Herkimer by.  Phew!  Can warm spring weather be far?  I hope not!  In any case, I am over 200 words and still have time to get ready for work.  Woohoo!  I’m a blogger again!  Perhaps not a daily blogger, but you can’t have everything.  At least I have crocuses!

 

Some Blog Post, Any Blog Post?

I have been writing the following in my head for a number of days now:

I look at my pile of dirty dishes and think, “This is what depression looks like.”  I look at the unwashed laundry and think, “This is what depression looks like.”  I lie down, unable to sleep yet do not get back up and do something and think, “This is what depression looks like.”

And when I think about typing that into a blog post, I think of readers who will say, “Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself!”  Sometimes I say it to myself.  More often I just force myself to do something, anything.  Wash a few dishes.  Do one load of laundry.  At least move some dirty clothes from the floor into a laundry basket.

Make a blog post.

That last is what I have emphatically NOT been able to do lately.  What the hell, me?

Sign of spring, sight of hope?

I thought I should throw in a picture before I got too bogged down in discouragement.  I found these crocuses in my back yard the other day and took a picture with my phone.  I was happy to see them.  Since I never raked up any leaves last fall, I wondered if any crocuses would be able to bloom.

Ooh, a deep metaphor just occurred to me:  The un-raked leaves are my depression, and the crocuses are the little baby steps I take to try to help myself.  Oh well, maybe it is not a deep metaphor, or even a particularly accurate one.  My excuse for not raking the leaves is that I read somewhere that it is environmentally better:  bugs, birds, etc. use leaves for shelter or something like that.  I read it in a Facebook meme.  No, I do not believe everything I read on the internet.  Only when it provides a handy excuse for my own laziness, I suppose.

Funny thing: I am feeling a little more cheery now.  The magic of writing something, anything?  The act of using my brain to delineate a metaphor?  Or just laughing at myself for getting so profound over my failure to rake a few leaves?  As I have observed many times:  It is not easy being me, but it is at least mildly entertaining.  But once again, I thank you for tuning in to my little blog, and I will try for more regular and entertaining posts in the future.

 

April Lame!

OK, I said I was going to make my Lame Post Friday post on Friday and here I am.  Unfortunately,  I got nuthin’.  That should not matter on Lame Post Friday, but somehow it does.

Remarkably similar, yes?

I thought a picture might spark more words and found this one from April 2021.  I confess it does not look a whole lot different from more recent pictures of crocuses,  yet I cannot stop from taking pictures of what they look like this year.

J’accuse!

Here is a different April shot.  I just SEARCHED through my posts from April 2019 to find that the title of this murder mystery was Murder by the Book.  I am not inclined to also do a Google (or even a Duck Duck Go) search to see if “J’accuse” is the proper French spelling.

Earlier today I went to a wine tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer.  I also spent some time sitting on my front porch, enjoying the weather. I sipped a little wine while I did so.  I also spent some time planning my Mohawk Valley Adventures for tomorrow.

I need to get such a short ‘do again!

Just to give another picture from April, here are my friend Kim and I at Gerber’s 1933 Tavern in Utica in April 2017 for their Prohibition Party.  I love to dress up!

Ooh look, I have gotten myself over 200 words.  Not bad for a Lame Post Friday post,  I say.  Thank you for tuning in.

 

By the Way, Happy Easter

Late posts on the weekend.  It’s a thing.  Anyways, here I sit early Sunday morning, lounged on the couch, pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus on my Tablet.  I have pecked in that sentence many times, according to the predictive text thingy, but it is the case so I make bold to repeat it.

My favorites are the two-tone ones.

I thought instead of an actual post, I would share the rest of the pictures I took with my phone the other day.  I saved all the pictures on my phone to my blog before returning the phone and cancelling my cell service (long story, and I don’t look so good in it).

But the deep purple is pretty, too.

 

This one looks a little wilted.

There weren’t any yellow ones, of which I usually get one or two.  Also, the ones in the front yard haven’t gotten beyond a few pretty green shoots.  Further updates as events warrant.

I didn’t plant these.

I also saw some white flowers over by the fence. I don’t know how they got there, but I was happy to see them.  There is only a parking lot on the other side of the fence, so it is unlikely the neighbors planted them.

I admit, not the best picture.

I guess these flower pictures are appropriate, being as it is Easter Sunday.

And then there’s this.

I end with a preview of coming attractions.  I am hard at work on the next murder mystery.  I hope to make a post about rehearsals next week.  I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

Too Busy to Blog?

So yesterday was a Wuss-out Wednesday,  blog-wise.  I went for a walk in the morning and a run in the afternoon.  I had a Mohawk Valley Adventure of going to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort for music and food.  And I took some pictures of crocuses in my back yard.

But I did not make a blog post about any of it.  What the hell, me?

Now it is Thursday morning, and I contemplate the coming day with dread.  How’s that for a little bit of melodrama?  I need to get over myself.  Never mind, let’s get on with the blog post.

I knew it wouldn’t be a great picture, but I had to try.

On my morning walk, I admired the full moon.  Full disclosure:  I like to see the moon at whatever phase it is in.

I love to see them every year!

I felt the need to take pictures of all the crocuses that were there.  It occurred to me that some people might shame me for it (you know who you are): “We all know what a crocus looks like.  We see them every year.”  Like how some people don’t want to keep seeing pictures of the snow.  I can’t worry about those people now.

They were awesome.

This is the new to me band I heard at Fratello’s:  Gridley Paige Naked and Scared.  I loved them.

So once again I give you a blog post about what I could have written a blog post about.  At least it was over 200 words.

 

An Unexpected Walk

Yesterday I left the house about twenty minutes before five with a plan to go shopping then to Fratello’s for food and music (it was Wednesday, guess I’m back to my Wednesday night thing), and I said, “Oh no.  It is too beautiful out.  Go for a walk, Cindy.  Even a short walk. Go for a walk.”

I did not have to work very hard to convince myself.  I locked the bag with my notebook and Tablet (I try never to go anywhere without a notebook) in the car and went back inside for my Garmin (I figured I might as well track the walk and record it in the Fitness Journal).  I kept my phone with me so I could take a few pictures along the way.

I was soon sorry I had not changed into better sneakers.  I was wearing a pair of the little canvas ones that are oh so cute but offer no support.  I further realized I was not even wearing a matched pair.  You see, I have several pairs because I used to buy them whenever they went on sale at K-mart (autocorrect does not recognize K-mart as a word. Sad!), and they get mixed up.  Both sneaks were blue, but one was clearly more worn than the other.  Never mind, just keep walking.

This one didn’t turn out so good,

I knew there were snowdrops on a yard down the street, because I had seen them when I was running.  Full disclosure:  I did not know they were called snowdrops.  My mom told me when I referred to “those little white flowers.”

I quite agree.

Not a flower, but a good sign I felt like sharing.  I must get down to Basloe Library and get one for my front lawn.

My favorite!

I was quite jealous when I saw somebody else’s crocuses were blooming.  I saw some tiny green shoots in my own yard, so I hold out hopes for my own.

I enjoyed my walk very much and look forward to more, with more spring growth!

 

Thank You, Media Library

I shall try for another Throwback Thursday Post, hoping for some cooperation from my Media Library.

A note of hope!

Here is a cheerful picture: a crocus in my yard in 2018. I had a few crocuses in my backyard, before the Monday/Tuesday nor’easter hit. Tuesday afternoon, after I took my walk, I spied a lone purple crocus in my front yard, defying the snow. I took a picture with my phone, which, alas, I am unable to share at the current time.

Scary tree?

Another view from 2018: Frankentree in our front yard. He is even bigger and more monstrous now, but there is considerably less snow.

Now this is a scary tree!

This is the tree which dropped a major portion of itself on the power line, causing the outage which enlivened (or made hideous) our Tuesday/Wednesday. Thanks a lot, tree! I always liked you!

These will cheer me up!

I usually content myself with three pictures, but I wanted to end with flowers. The daisies will not arrive for a while yet, but I hope they grow in a similar profusion when they do.

I guess some would say 2018 is not throwing back very far. Then again, sometimes last week seems a very long time ago and second grade feels like yesterday. What’s that all about? A question, perhaps, for Lame Post Friday. As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.