Monday, April 21, 2025

Easter 2025

I hope everyone had a nice Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful day here in every way...perfect. The baby bluebirds have hatched in the nesting box on one of my pine trees, and Mom and Dad are feeding them furiously, so wonderful to watch. I did see a black racer in my front yard near the sidewalk so I hope they are vigilant. It's that time of year. Snakes can slither right up a pine tree.


My daughter came for an Easter visit and brought me the biggest Easter Lily I've ever seen! 

We were amazed that the blooms had no smell. Is that normal? But the white against dark green is so striking. It's basking in bright light on my back porch, looking beautiful.


I was up early (early for me), cleaning and filling the bird feeders and birdbath, sweeping the porches, and shaking rugs. Then a shower and then, getting together the ingredients for a crustless spinach quiche which is loaded with cheese (8 oz of cheddar and 6 oz of feta). But that was to be our main course so what the heck. It was Easter. I took it out of the oven just before the front doorbell rang. Perfect timing.


Erica and Murphy (a Corkie) were Easter pretty, Murphy with his silky fur and little tail going 90 miles an hour! 

He has the vitality of the Energizer bunny, always moving, hopping up on my lap, wanting an under the neck scratch, or running around and smelling everything even if it has no smell. I think that is the nature of Corkies. And if there is anything remotely related to food....well, it's in his mouth and swallowed. So, he has to be watched like a hawk. We tried to wear him out by tossing pieces of his dry food for him to retrieve (uh, eat), but that little dog cannot be worn out.


So for dinner/lunch we had the quiche, a tossed salad, and sweet potato rounds with pecans (which Erica brought), and then, we had no room for the watermelon that I had for dessert. 

Coffee sufficed instead. I cleaned up and Erica took the Murph for a walk. Then, we enjoyed the back porch some more, me in the swing. Several butterflies and dragonflies were buzzing around over the grass. It has been so dry here, I thought it a little unusual, and I wondered if some of the butterflies had escaped from the Butterfly Rain Forest at our local Museum of Natural History, which is closed for some construction. Maybe? They are mesmerizing to watch.


And too quickly, it was time for Erica to go back home. As she was putting Murphy in his crate, we saw my neighbors and their little dog, Gizmo. They came over and said "hi" and I got another Easter hug. They were having an egg hunt for the special "golden" egg. Erica had about an hour and a half drive back home and texted to say she arrived safely, and we decided both of us were ready for a nap, a perfect ending to a perfect day.


And, then, early this morning I awoke to hear the sad news of the death of Pope Francis. I turn on NPR as soon as my eyelids open, sometimes before. He must have used up all the strength he had to make it through Easter. What a lasting impression, may his legacy live on.


Saturday, April 12, 2025

One Weird Storm

My truck now has new tires! They are so pretty and they make me feel so much safer. I like the tire place and may go back there for my oil change, forgot to ask how much...later. I feel I got a very good price for the tires, and it only took one hour and ten minutes total. And it's under 4 miles from home.

There was an unusual storm in my neighborhood yesterday around 5 p.m., an ice storm! Suddenly, I heard this banging on my roof like someone throwing a thousand balls on it at one time, ran to the door to look and hail the size of quarters was coming down at the fastest rate ever! 


There was no warning, no rain, no thunder, no nothing. It just started with the sun shining, lasted about 5 minutes and quit. After, steam rose in huge clouds from the sidewalk and driveway...with the sun still shining. Weirdest thing I have ever seen. The ice beat down lots of twigs and leaves and such so I have some cleanup to do today when it dries out. I wonder if the birdies knew ahead of time...hope so. They are back this morning as usual.

A huge art festival is going on this weekend within a couple of miles of me. I was going today (until the ice storm) but will wait until tomorrow after I clean up outside today. It's at a community college (Santa Fe College) and there is plenty of available parking which I find wonderful and inviting. There are many extras if anyone is interested at the college, a planetarium, a teaching zoo and inside art galleries. I feel so lucky to have such interesting things nearby.

Last night I started my 25th book by Ken Follett, yes, I like him just a little! This one is titled Triple and is about Egypt developing a nuclear bomb...and that's all I know for now.