rain falling on the sunshine

The rain continues to fall… but what the little poem about April showers fails to mention is that they also bring bright green grass. There was a faint hue of green over the lawn this morning when we deeked out between raindrops. Yes, certain areas were definitely dabbed with Spring’s fairy’s magic brush. 

There was no more putting it off… I could tell by the way Spike was shuffling around in a depressed way that he needed a haircut. We got everything set up then tricked him over with the temptation of a ‘bedtime snack’, in other words, a chicken heart. The ruse worked and I hoisted him onto the table. 

For his whole life I’ve been able to clip him by myself although sometimes used Carm’s help for his face. Something happened in the summer and now I need Carm to hold him for the whole haircut. We manhandled him for his face, then started on his feet. By the time his front feet were done he was in a state and it was clear that we couldn’t continue without causing a lot of distress. Luckily I still have some of his anti-anxiety pills so stuffed one down his throat and let him down from the table for a few hours. 

I still needed Carm but the grooming went much better and we got him done. Spike was clearly less stressed and even gave me a few licks when I was hunched over him. He’s already perkier even though he’s a bit drugged up. Hurrah for trazadone...

I think part of the problem is that he has little ‘warts’ all over his body which get nicked by the clippers. I made a few bleed today even though I was being careful. So the whole grooming experience has become a horror for him. 

Meanwhile, while we were waiting for Spike’s drug to take effect, we changed the tires on the car! I should say that Carm did it as I played Vanna White’s role and just handed tools to him and tried to look beautiful in my baggy grey track pants and 32 year old red sweatshirt.

Two yucky jobs out of the way! I think we’ll celebrate with the rest of the prosecco doctored up with some beautiful orange Aperol.

Since there isn’t much to take photos of I thought I’d poke through the piles of slides that I scanned years ago. Some of them are backwards but the idea is still captured. The photos today are from my great grandparents gardens. Mom and I were talking about them the other day - they must have been impressive as I have a dim memory of them even though I was quite young. That’s me in the photos.

I’ve always loved yellow houses and have one myself. It is the colour of home. Could my love of the colour harken back to my great grandparents home and the love I felt there?

He had a huge vegetable garden as well but I couldn’t find a photo.

Headline tonight: Ford Says Ontario Will Be Extending The Emergency Act For Another Month. Over 586,866 cases, with 23,621 deaths in the US. There are a total of 25,680 (24,292 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 780 (713 yesterday) deaths to date.

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"...

"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”

~Frances Hodgson Burnett

amazing grace

One month.

After some fumbling around I finally got the stream of the live concert by Andrea Bocelli this afternoon. His voice is enough to move me to tears at the best of times, but when he started singing Ave Maria, a rush of tears rolled down my cheeks as if to wash away the grief of a million people. So many have lost a family member or friend over the last few months that I cannot bear the thought of the sadness that has spread out across our world.

Amazing Grace… fresh tears… for them, for us, for the uncertainty. For his voice. For the empty streets all over the world. For people at home by themselves with no means to buy groceries for their next meal. For the loneliness of those alone. For my good fortune.

I was up bright and early (well, early, I wasn’t so bright) and had planned on making cinnamon buns from a new recipe. It didn’t use any precious yeast so I thought I’d give it a try. Let me prefix with the fact that I’ve maybe made cinnamon buns one or two other times in my life. The dough came together well, then weirdly went into the instant pot for a steaming sort of cook. Oh my. Lets just say that this recipe earned a rip and tear rating - rip and tear the printed copy of the recipe. Not so good - they were heavy and stodgy. Next week I’ll try a yeasty one.

After all the emotion this afternoon I felt purged and perhaps in a better place than I’ve been in for a few days… or so I thought… my brain was wandering around the future and settled on when we’d finally get together with my family members. I started crying again when I thought of hugging them… jeesh what a woos.

Last night before supper we ‘met’ with Trudi for a pre-dinner glass of wine. It was fun to have a face-to-face. Later we had a great visit with Olaf - 1 ½ hours passed at lightning speed! Tonight we visited with Kirsten, Shawn and my nice’ses.

We had a comfort food Easter dinner: black forest ham sliced thickly as if it were a real ham; scalloped potatoes out of a box like Mom makes; roasted asparagus. Comfort in its most fatty and salty incarnation.

Headline tonight: Death estimates have dramatically reduced with social distancing. Over 560,055 cases, with 22,090 deaths in the US. There are a total of 24,292 (23,318 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 713 (653 yesterday) deaths to date.

“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,

  That saved a wretch; like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

  Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

  And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

  The hour I first believed!

The Lord hath promised good to me,

  His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be

  As long as life endures.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

  Bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

  Than when we first begun.”

a fiery will from within

When my eyes finally flittered open this morning I could see a bit of blue sky peeking through the ½ moon window. That little window is the first place my eyes go to when they open in the morning; it’s a harbinger of the day to come although I shouldn’t let my mood be so tied to the state of the sky.

It was a late rising so it wasn’t much after my coffee that we took the dogs outside for Adia’s daily sprint around the field. Go dog go! She wasn’t the only one going fast… the clouds raced hell bent for leather across the sky. The wind was crazy and is supposed to be even worse as the weekend wears on. 

Today is cookie baking day and I might have had an epic fail… I’ve done peanut butter, chocolate chip, and thought to try oatmeal today, except I don’t have much brown sugar. Kirsten (it’s her fault I think), sent me a ‘no-bake’ recipe that looked intriguing. So… 20 minutes later I had several blobs (I can’t think of a more descriptive term) on waxed paper waiting to set. Three hours later they still haven’t set and don’t look like they will. WHAT am I supposed to do with these oat filled wonders? Save them to cook into porridge? Serve them on icecream? Make some sort of deviant apple crisp? I’ve stuck one tray into the fridge to see if that helps.

(a few hours later - cookies set up in the fridge - we’ve tasted and they were good although not a favorite).

I’ve brought out my fancy plates.

A message from the SweetLegs woman came up on my facebook feed this morning - buy one pair of leggings and get one free - today only. e-transfer and porch pickup to eliminate any contact. Well… I’ve been wearing the same two pairs for almost a month now so it seemed like an essential reason to get out of the house for a few minutes. I was excited and put on my jeans!

I chose two pairs from her webpage, paid, and off we went on our adventure. It was an easy pickup (no need to touch anything other than my disinfecting wipe. We took the long way home. It was so busy in the village that it could have been an ordinary day in an ordinary April. I couldn’t tell if there were a lot of people, or if it seemed that way to me since we see NO ONE at our house!

My new leggings are spending the night in the back of the car to give the virus time to die.

Headline tonight: Over 530,384 cases, with 20,513 deaths in the US. There are a total of 23,318 (22,148 yesterday) cases of Covid-19 in Canada today, with 653 (569 yesterday) deaths to date.

“It's essential you create a fiery will from within--harness that power of decisiveness--and choose to be your strongest self.”

Karen Salmansohn