Early Spring

Yesterday was St. Paddy's day and in two days will be the Vernal Equinox. Is Spring really here? This morning when I was wiping the dusting of last night's snow off my windshield I wasn't quite so sure. I mean I live below the Mason-Dixon line and definitely not up "north". But March is a dicey month for weather in these parts. At least we've got longer days of light when it isn't raining and overcast.

But enough about the weather. I feel Spring. And the early blooming cherry tree across the road from my house is in a shock of pink. I open my front door and look up and there it is in all its majesty. And then there's all those little perky crocuses across my front lawn. Baby flowers but they are brave enough to weather the still near-freezing nights. And then there's all the budding trees casting dots of color against still bare tree limbs.

All of these are the first signs of early Spring outside. Inside our houses we start to clean (or in my case call-in the cleaning people). The bright white sunlight on clear days inspires us to even de-clutter the most messy rooms (for me that's my studio----I'm still waiting for a day over 60 degrees and sunny. Think I'll get that day soon?)

Soon all the flowers and trees will be in bloom. We'll have another Cherry Blossum Festival. And just maybe I'll get to see the Kite Festival on the Mall too.

But most of all Spring is a wonderful time for renewal (and I hear a great time to eat chocolate bunnies too!!!!) Maybe I'll take photos of this Spring. Just something to remind me when its grey and wet and raw outside.

Never Been Good at Spelling

I love music and I listen to it constantly but I've never been good at spelling. I'll even confess to getting bad marks to it in grade school. So what have I done about it? I've read dictionaries. I've even collected them. I'm very proud of my two volume Oxford English Dictionary that has such small print it is accompanied with a magnifying glass which now I use all the time.

And lo and behold there's now an online game for my problem. Scrabble or Facebook's Words With Friends is perfect for me. It's a word game, a spelling game and sorta a crossword game. And I love games. When I was younger I loved to win. Now I just love to play.

I've been playing Facebook's Words With Friends for a couple of weeks now. I've been playing mostly with my former colleagues and a dear cousin too. I never knew how brillant they all were. And my dear Kathleen has started playing too. They all beat me but I just love the game. And the more I play the better I get. I actually got a seven-letter word yesterday.

So of course I bought the Scrabble dictionary. I'll be reading it. Just to bone up on those hard letters to use and all the two-letter words.

In the meanwhile we all play. Kathleen and I played for almost the entire weekend. Hey, it's a great thing to do when it's cold outside. We listened to all nine of Beethoven's Symphonies while we played so we weren't lacking in culture either.

Is this a beginning of a craze or maybe this winter's fad? Either way, I'm having a blast!!!