Happy St. Patrick's Day

Max and I at a St. Patty's day Parade

With great-grandparents sporting the surname Murphy, I surely have a wee bit of the Irish blood flowing in my veins! No need for green beer though, a cool Guinness will do just fine ;-)

Irish Wolfhounds in a St. Patty's Day parade.

Geese from the HUGE flock flying over the house
today

The sky was noisy with geese today. At one point a huge flock flew over, the honks were so loud they drowned out the television. I stepped out onto the back step and was blown away by the numbers. One part of the huge flock was circling the house looking for a place to land on the creek. It really is something to see such a flock so early in March. I hope they know something about spring coming early! Its +10 today - can you believe it! It's almost swimsuit weather :-) It's that kind of springish day that calls for a hotdog eaten on the front deck in the sun. Alas, some green beans will have to do.

I saw my first redwing blackbird today and when I was in the village for a walk I saw a robin! There have been lots of woodpeckers around, including one trying to peck the wasps nest that is just outside the window by my computer - I could have almost reached out and touched it.

Today's word of the day is galley-west (gal-ee-WEST adverb - : into destruction or confusion).

My pleasures today: listening to the wild honk of thousands of geese ; having a nice visit with my friend Karen ; going for a walk in the beautiful spring like weather ; seeing a robin ; walking through puddles of melting snow.

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 31 Day Challenge is "are you named after anyone"?

I'm named after both grandmothers - Laura from my mother's side (her middle name was Ada as well I believe) and Ada from my father's side. I'm happy to have received the names of these women who I never met. I like having the link to my past. Carm is named after his paternal grandfather, an Italian tradition.

Geese on the creek - just a few that landed

My Least Favorite Chore

Today we experienced a (very) minor earthquake. It was measured at 4.3 - pretty tiny compared to Japan. We weren't even sure what had happened as the house sometimes shakes a bit when heavy farm machinery rumbles over the narrow bridge over the creek - but this was longer and bigger and louder. It felt almost as if a big jet was going to land on the house. It was over so fast that there was really no time to worry. A far cry from the earthquake experienced by Japan last week - how terrifying that must have been.

The inspiration peak from today:

I was in darkness,

but I took three steps

and found myself in paradise.

The first step was a good thought,

the second, a good word,

and the third, a good deed.

Author Unknown

Today's word of the day is microcosm (MY-kruh-kahz-um noun - 1: a little world; especially : the human race or human nature seen as an epitome of the world or the universe ; 2: a community or other unity that is an epitome of a larger unity). In the spring the pond becomes an avian microcosm as migrating ducks and other birds pass through.

My pleasures today: seeing more geese ; the sound of geese honking as they fly overhead ; another day above 0C, although cloudy and windy it still melted the snow - more of the grass is visible ; having Spike at my feet while I read sitting in the loveseat, tea at hand .

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31 Day Challenge is "your least favorite chore".

Gardening and weeding. I don't mind getting my hands dirty but I just don't like weeding. I do love a beautiful garden though. Luckily for me Carm has a green thumb and while he may not love weeding either, he doesn't dislike it as much as me. You would think that I would enjoy the connection with nature that gardening gives, perhaps I've always had too many thoughts about not liking it that its impossible to enjoy.

I just finished listening to the Audiobook for "A Secret Garden" - there's lots of gardening in that book. She talks about the magic in the garden, in the growing things and in the earth itself. Gardening seems so much more beautiful in the book, and perhaps if my garden was surrounded by a beautiful stone wall and was strung all over with roses it might be more fun. This spring, when its time to get out there, I'll put on my headphones and have a listen again to the book - then I'll find myself infused with Nature's magic - in fact I'll make it my goal to find the magic in the garden.

If you haven't read or listened to "A Secret Garden" then you should put it on your must read list. Its a charming book with such a good philosophy. She talks about being able to control your bad thoughts and replace them with happy ones, with the magic of nature both within us and outside of us and in how believing in yourself can let you conquer the seemingly impossible. Wisdom for both young and old.

Canada Geese are Here!!

Hurrah! Spring is surely on its way as a flock of Canada Geese have settled into the flood plain of our creek. This is the earliest I've ever seen them here, but that might be because I'm home during the day to see them. Hurrah hurrah! I even saw an insect crawling around on the melting snow. And Carm says that he killed an earwig. Spring has almost sprung :-)

Today's word of the day is continual (kun-TIN-yoo-ul adjective - 1: continuing indefinitely in time without interruption ; 2: recurring in steady usually rapid succession). The continual demands by the dogs to go outside finally got us out of the house. We had been waiting until the Diabetes Foundation came by to collect the used clothing, but they hadn't shown up by mid afternoon so we just traipsed out with dogs on leash. The day was an astounding spring like day - it was +5C with a blazing sun. What a taste of what is to come. The winter has actually flown by so its almost a surprise to see these springy sights.

My pleasures today: being outside in the lovely almost spring day ; seeing the grass in the hay field start to be revealed ; planning the sewing for the camper that I'm going to do with the new fabric that I got yesterday ; eating crunchy, sweet sugar snap peas - they are almost like candy but they are good for you ;

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31 Day Challenge today is "something that bugs you".

Grocery carts. Grocery carts left in the middle of the parking lot. I mean really, how hard is it to put the cart into one of those corrals rather than leave it to take up a parking spot or worse still bang into adjacent cars. It happens a lot in our local village, more than in the city - I don't know why (although I have a few ideas that won't be discussed here).

Commercials on TV are another thing that bugs. We've taken care of that by getting a PVR that works with our satellite service. Its great :-)

Grocery carts left in the middle of the parking lot. Oh, I said that one already.