Tag Archives: spring

Comfort from Crocuses on Slacker Saturday

Oh dear, here I am late in the day (for me) on a Saturday, wondering if I can Scatter or Slack.  On the whole, I say Slack, and perhaps share a few flower pictures I still have on my phone.

Yay, crocuses!

It was Tuesday afternoon when I was delighted to notice some crocuses in my backyard.  Naturally I took some pictures.  I put down crocus bulbs the first fall after my late, dearly missed husband Steve and I bought the house, in 2005.  I truly must put down more. Will 2026 be the year?  We can hope.

This one was wide open.

I suppose one could derive some lesson for my life, that I have gone over 20 years without doing a fairly easy improvement on my property, namely putting down crocus bulbs.  I do not believe it would be anything particularly flattering to me.  Instead, I think I will merely rejoice that some crocuses yet appear in my yard, and it will always be possible for me to put down more bulbs.

It’s so pretty!

I truly hope to do more work in my yard this year.  It will definitely make for a few good blog posts.  In the meantime, why now cut myself a break?  As I said, I enjoy what I can see.  And I look forward to seeing more as spring wears on.

 

Spring Makes Me Feel Less Blue

I thought I would do a Waste Not Wednesday post. today.  I actually have a number of pictures I could share but settled on a few for today.  I should mention that I am feeling rather tired and down after my (not very serious) medical procedure today.  Then again, I feel tired and down many days.  I am not a young woman, and I could live a healthier lifestyle than what I do.

Am I blue?

Yesterday as part of my colonoscopy (the aforementioned procedure) prep, I was required to drink GatorAde.  I chose my favorite flavor, blue.  To make things more enjoyable, I chose a fancy glass.  This also gives me a chance to give a shout-out to Woodland Farm Brewery in Marcy, NY.  I went there some years ago with my husband Steven and sister Cheryl.  I think somewhere in my Media Library is a picture of Steven and I toasting, but of course I am too lazy to go look for it now.  I must return to the brewery one day soon.

Ah, the promise of spring!

Yesterday was a nice warm day, warm enough for some porch sitting.  My sister Diane, who came out from Liverpool to drive me to the colonoscopy (I do keep harping that, don’t I?), sat out with me for a while, while I drank the blue stuff.  At one point, I went into the backyard to see if my daffodils had bloomed. They had not, but imagine my delight to see some crocuses.  Every fall I neglect to put down more bulbs, but every year a few come up to brighten up the place.

This was the biggest patch.

As I said, I have more pictures but felt I would only be up to a three-picture post, and so it is.  I really am feeling not too bad, and I have to give a shout-out to Little Falls Hospital, where I had my procedure done.  Everybody was so nice, and things were accomplished must faster than I had imagined (of course I slept through most of it).

Well, I feel a bit better having managed a post of over 350 words.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Has Spring Sprung? Or Is It Lame?

Yesterday I went for a walk in the 60 degree weather, hoping to make a Pedestrian Post with Pictures.  Not only were there no good photo ops, it started to rain on me!  I guess I could have continued to walk in the rain and changed clothes when I got home, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

I only hope they continue to survive!

Before going inside, I went out back where I had previously seen some daffodils, complete with a couple of buds!  My sister Vicki gave me the bulbs some years ago.  After letting them sit in my garage over the winter (which will not surprise regular readers who know that my act is something that I definitely do NOT have together), I planted them and hoped for the best.  Most years they come up.

Bravely trying to bring joy.

I was delighted to notice some snowdrops nearby (I think they are snowdrops). I never planted these.  I wonder if a squirrel or the wind dropped some seeds at some point.  In any case, they are welcome in my yard.  I did not see any crocuses, alas.  Then again, my yard is covered with the leaves I never raked up last fall.  I read on Facebook it was good for wildlife to leave them set till spring.  I always follow advice that tallies with what I felt like doing anyways (but I am not one of those people who goes around asking advice till I hear some I like) (don’t you hate it when people do that?)

The weather took a turn for the colder overnight and currently hovers in the 30’s.  However, it is bright and sunny, so there’s that.  This is the time of year when Mother Nature gets a little bipolar, so I will just hang on and enjoy the ride (was that mixing a metaphor?).

In the meantime, this is my Lame Post Friday blog post.  I want to take a walk while the sun shines, I have to drop my car off for an oil change and inspection, I hope to get to the wine tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor later.  All kinds of stuff on my plate!  I hope you are all having a lovely Friday.

 

I Didn’t Waste My Walks

I had a kind of a Terrible Tuesday, which is not one of my features, but now I am all set for a Waste Not Want Not Wednesday post.  For anybody who didn’t know, this is when I share previously unused pictures from my cell phone.

Spring IS coming!

I saw these snowdrops on my cool-down walk after my run on (going to the calendar to check) Yikes! Friday!  How have I not been running since Friday?  Why the hell am I thinking?  Obviously I am not thinking (that is pretty much always the answer to “What were you thinking?”).  But I digress.

The picture did not turn out as well as I had hoped.

I paused to take a picture of a birds nest in a tree on Mohawk Street in Herkimer, NY (where I live) during a longish walk I took on Saturday.  So I have been getting some exercise if not running.  Incidentally, I took two longish walks in the pouring rain on Sunday (it was not raining when I left the house), which quite wore me out.  Apparently I am less resilient in my old age than I was in my younger days.  Alas!

Apparently not the road less traveled.

I add this picture purely for the sake of having three illustrations.  It is a battered street in Ilion, which I photographed as a possible accompaniment to my article for Sentinel Media about the Ilion Village Board of Trustees Meeting on Monday.  This and several other roads will soon have work done on them, as was discussed in the meeting.

One might say that the road picture is symbolic of my life:  not a smooth path, but it just might take me somewhere.  Also, a bare road will be an encouragement for me to get back to running.  I believe I mentioned that I am registered for the Boilermaker 15K in Utica in July.

 

Late Slacker and Shout-Out Post with a Plug and Pleasantries

OK, I missed doing my Saturday Blog Post on Saturday.  I have no excuse; it was quite the Slacker day (my Chromebook decided to capitalize Slacker.  I’ll let it stand).  The highlight of my day was a late lunch at Yetty’s in Herkimer, NY.

Always seasonal!

I had to take a picture of the head.  They decorate the head according to the time of year, much as I try to do with my skellington Bonita.  For lunch I had a Chicken Panini (my Chromebook insists on underlining panini, but I googled it!), which was quite delicious.  I have half of it in my refrigerator for a snack at a later date.

I’ll have to try to get a better picture.

Earlier that afternoon I went for a walk which ended up at the Elks Lodge, where I met a few friends, and we exchanged pleasantries.  On the way there, I saw some blue pinwheels in front of the County Office Building, to promote Child Abuse Prevention.  It is not a very good picture, but I use it just to give a brief plug to an important issue.  I suppose it behooves me to look for something to do of more substantive help.

Yay! Green!

Just after I took the picture of the pinwheels, I saw some green budding out of some bushes and had to get this encouraging shot.  Kermit the Frog famously said it’s not easy being green (which I found out was totally true when I was in the army), but when it comes to spring time, it is also not easy getting to be green.  I look forward to seeing more of my favorite color!

In the meantime, it is Easter morning, and I must set about getting a few things done before heading do Rome to see some of my beloved family.  I wish you all a happy holiday if you celebrate, and if you do not, I wish you a happy day, and for both groups, I thank you for tuning in.

 

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.

 

Running Commentary Is Back! I Hope

Yesterday began what is supposed to be a stretch of warmer weather in the Mohawk Valley, so I threw caution to the wind (which had died down) and went running for the first time in months.  I didn’t really throw caution to the wind; I just thought it would be funny if I added the parenthetical comment, since it has been so horridly windy lately.  In fact, I dressed appropriately, stretched a little before I ran, and ran at a pace suited to conditions.

I ran in the road, although in general I prefer sidewalks.  You just can’t count on people driving to notice little old ladies like me.  OK, I’m not so little, but I may go on the South Beach Diet, and with that and running, I may shrink.  Not Incredibly, like the guy in the movie, but somewhat.  Anyways, the roads were pretty much bare, and I tried to stick to the quiet ones.

I didn’t Map My Run but relied on my Garmin, which I tended to look at a lot, hoping for encouragement. It really didn’t feel too bad to begin with.  The frisson of virtue that I was finally running and the delight of almost springlike weather helped.  I had it in my head to run for 20 minutes.  As my body started to get a little tired, I thought I would at least do a mile, because that would probably be 15 minutes.  YES, that is a damn slow mile; one has to start somewhere!

At one point, I saw a lady walking down the sidewalk toward me.  When she got closer I asked, “Can you tell I’m running or am I too slow?”

She laughed and assured me I was doing great.  My first mile was indeed over 15 minutes.  By that time I was still at least five minutes from my house, so my 20 minute goal worked out fine.

Me feeling good about myself.

Since I had not Mapped My Run to share on Facebook, I took a selfie for my Facebook Friends’ entertainment.  Naturally I had to share my triumph on Facebook.

And now I have shared my triumph with my blog readers.  I plan to run again today.  I feel more Running Commentary Posts are in my future!

 

The Blog Marches On

How about a nice Slacker Saturday post to start my Sunday off right?  I know, several things wrong with that statement.  To begin with, I have been up for hours. Went to bed early, got up early, haven’t had coffee or tea yet… I think this might turn out to be a Slacker Sunday as well.  Last weekend I was down with a cold, this weekend, I am just… down.  Not severely down, just…

Sign of the times? Or just of my life?

I quick threw in a picture to pep things up, as I like to do, and this gem from last March caught my eye.  I remind myself not to dwell on being down.  For one reason it makes a dull blog post.

Well, why not slack once in a while?

I took this picture in March 2021.  A March day when it was warm enough to sit on the front porch!  Oh do I miss porch sitting!  I have been cheering myself up lately with plans for spring.  Oh yeah, I did that in my last blog post, didn’t I?  That seems like a long time ago. Maybe I shouldn’t have skipped the morning coffee.

Doesn’t she notice the crazy eyes?

I go a different way with my third picture, because weekends are also a good time for black and white movies, especially the cheesy kind.  Many people do not consider The Bad Seed an especially cheesy movie, but I find moments of lovely melodrama, and I agree with what my late husband Steve always said, how can anybody be surprised to find out that brat murders people?

So now I have rattled on for over 250 words and said not much.  Well I will try for a Mohawk Valley Adventure sometime today to make a blog post about, or at least a Pedestrian Post with Pictures.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Best Lame Plans for Blogs and Gardens

So I did Wednesday’s post on Thursday then neglected to make Thursday’s post on Thursday or Friday, and here I am Saturday morning thinking I might just make a Lame Post Friday post.  Full disclosure:  I am feeling a bit lightheaded (cue jokes about how I am always somewhat dizzy).  This could be from the last remnants of my cold or it could be from the decongestant I took earlier (it was the kind with the D on the box, that you have to ask the pharmacist for) or it could be a kind of a migraine.  My head does not lack variety, I’ll say that for it.

What my head feels like sometimes.

I throw in a picture to pep up the post.  I do not remember where I saw this skull, but I like it.  Studying the picture, it appears to be on my stairs.  Is this skull somewhere in my house?  Maybe if I continue my efforts at cleaning, I will find it.  Just a little motivation to brighten up my day.

THIS is what I need!

I go a different way with my next picture, showing the rhododendron in my back yard one of the years it was especially beautiful.  I am SO looking forward to spring and hoping to plant many more flowers in my yard.  And maybe a few vegetables.  There are some flowers that may show up again on their own:  the above pictured rhododendron and forget-me-nots, some black- and brown-eyed susans, a few daisies…

From a more ambitious year.

I also hope to have a container garden on my deck.  Flowers, herbs, definitely some basil!  Then I’ll have some people over and we’ll sit amongst the plants and have some iced tea or wine or something.  Won’t that be nice?