Signs of Spring

           The peepers are peeping! The mating song of the frogs at the pond. I heard them for the first time Saturday night.

           I saw my first Robin this week. Admittedly it’s hard to see Robins or anything else outside when your head is stuck in the computer or working on craft projects.

          Our taxes were done and we took a ride over to pick ‘em up. Backing out of the garage is when I saw this guy.

          The air was warm but the ground was cold with snow still in some places. This creates a kind of fog known as advection fog.

Going across the Susquehanna.

The fog was mostly in the valleys.

    

We saw something flapping beside the road. At first, I thought it was a bunch of birds feasting on a deer carcass. I was only half right. The birds were feasting but it wasn’t a deer, it was a turkey and the poor thing wasn’t yet dead. Just about the time we draw abreast, a flock of turkeys break cover and fly over the road. It was close. We almost had a windshield full of Thanksgiving dinner but at the last second the turkey veered off.

Whew!

Turkeys are big enough to do some damage.

It all happened so fast I never thought about getting a picture. And my heart was so sad for the suffering of the poor creature. I took this picture on the way home. It’s my way to help remember the stories I want to tell.

More signs of spring.

Our new Aldi’s store in Wysox.

“They’re pouring concrete. They dump it into those tubs and take them in and dump ‘em,” Mike told me.    

Speaking of Aldi’s…

          We’d gone to Tunkhannock to do a little shopping and Aldi’s was one of the stops we’d made. I was getting back in the car and spotted these laying right by my door. I picked ‘em up and got in. Later, when I get to looking at them, I wonder what they’re for.

          “Is this something for a child car seat?” I asked my beautiful daughter-in-law.

           “Yes, it could be. They might be inserts that adjust to fill in the space between the baby's head and side of the car seat,” Kandyce told me.

          I could just pitch them but I think the next time I’m over that way, I’ll leave them at the store. Maybe someone will be looking for them.

          I have to show you what I’ve been so busy working on.

          This is Dragon Dreams, a book box that was commissioned by my sisters for our sister. Phyllis gave us quite a scare when she contracted that flesh eating virus and subsequent gangrene. Losing our siblings is not a fun time of life and we’ve lost two already. I was so scared we’d lose my beautiful, strong, smart, sister too. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

          Phyllis loves my book boxes. Phyllis loves dragons. And Phyllis loves the color purple. To show her how much she is loved, my sisters and I collaborated on this special surprise for her.

          Patti and Diane bought the dragon molds as well as helping with the postage.

This is the top.

Inside is a baby dragon hatching from an egg.

And the back is rusty steampunk and dragon scales.

 

I can show you this now because Phyllis got her box on Friday.

“Can I watch you open it?” I asked her. “I want to see your face when you see the Love Birds.”

Phyllis set her phone up so I could watch. And doncha know! That stinker opened the box from the bottom! I wanted her to see Dragon Dreams last, but she saw it first.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You sent me another one of those wonderful boxes!”

I don’t think she was entirely surprised. When she first told me how much she loved them — when she first gushed about how much she loved them, I quizzed her on steampunk and if she liked it or not. At the time it was the only other one I had that I thought was worth giving away. So, I think she was half expecting a book box.

Then she saw the dragon. “AAAAHHH!” she screamed. “That is awesome!” Phyllis examined the dragon and flipped the box over. “Oh, Peggy!” she uttered. “I love it!”

Then she opened the box and her jaw dropped. “AAAAAHHHH!” she screamed again. Seeing the baby, she let out a more gentle, singsongy, ‘Awww.” Phyllis swallowed hard. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Then I told her who the gift was from, and she about cried. Sometimes we don’t know how loved we are.

Besides the baby dragon, inside, wrapped in bubble wrap, was her Valentine gnome and Easter bunny butt.

“They look even better than the picture,” she complimented.

Next, she pulled out two loaves of cinnamon bread. “One male and one female,” I told her.

She didn’t have to think about it very long. “One with nuts, one without?”

I grinned. “Yup.”

Next, Love Birds came out of the box. Phyllis unwrapped it from its protective bubble wrap. “This is bigger than I thought.” She looked it over. “Oh, my darling sister! This is beautiful! You are so talented! I wish you were here so I could hug you.”

I wish I could hug you, too, sister but since I can’t, I have to show you love in this other way.

Speaking of love…

I love my Miss Rosie.

I’m standing at my little craft bench, working on bunny butts, thinking about the people I want to give one to — people I always give stuff to. Do they like getting these little gifts? I wonder. Am I a blessing?

More like a curse, I hear doubt from somewhere deep in my head.

So, I asked my Miss Rosie. “Am I a blessing or a curse?”

“Oh, definitely a blessing,” she said. “I love your glasswork.”

“But don’t you have enough stuff already? Aren’t you running out of room?”

“If I run out of room, I’ll rotate them like I do with my Billy Jacobs prints. In fact, there are some of the more seasonal ones that I rotate already.”

Mike, Bondi, and I walked down to deliver a bunny butt to Miss Rosie.

“You can take your pick,” I told her. “I’ve got five to choose from.”

They weren’t all the same. I did some in a variegated brown, a couple in a more solid color brown, and the tails were different, too.

Rosie picked a brown one, which sorta surprised me. They aren’t my favorite.

“Now, are you ready for your real present?” I asked.

“I thought this was my real present.”

“Nope. Close your eyes.” Miss Rosie closed her eyes. I pulled a duck from my bag, got the camera ready, and said, “Okay!”

She likes them!

Miss Rosie gave me a treat bag for Easter, too. Mints, Kit Kats, peanut butter eggs, and my favorite butterfly, a Monarch magnet. I'm not going to tell her she missed my favorite jelly beans.

We passed by our neighbor Sally’s house on the way home and seeing the crocus, I had to stop and take a picture.

Coming in from our walk, I set my glasses on the butcher block and went about shedding my boots and sweater. Mike sat at my computer and scrolled for a while, Bondi sitting behind him in the chair. I was working on bunny butts when Mike got up to go watch TV. Bondi jumped down to follow.

“Your shadow’s behind you,” I called.

I watch Mike go into the living room but Bondi had mysteriously stopped just out of my view. She has chewies scattered all over the floor so I didn’t wonder. A little later I head into the other room and what do I see on the floor‽ The cause of Bondi’s distraction. My glasses!

That stinker!

Blackie knocked 'em down, she chewed the earpiece, and took a nip from the lens. I guess I won’t be wearing these anymore. I dug an old pair from the depths of my desk.

Another day I heard Bondi crying. I thought she was asking to go out but when I checked, she’s sitting there whining at Tiger. Bondi seems to think this is her chair when she wants to watch the birds. She carried on for a while but I refused to move Tiger for her. 

You know I love my sister.

You know I love my Miss Rosie.

And despite being a stinker, chewing my glasses and pruning my rose bush for me this week, I even love Bondi.

Someone else I love, or rather a bunch of someone elses I love, are my morning peeps.

That’s not to exclude any of the rest of you since I do have room in my heart for all y’all, but for the sake of the story we’re just going to talk about this group of people.

We do this thing in the morning, my peeps and I. If I’m talking about having had a hard night, I might end my love note with something like, “But one thing that is never hard is telling you how much I love you.”

And my peeps do the same thing. If talking about time, they might end with, “But one thing I always have time for is telling you I love you.”

Sometimes it’s just an, “I love you to the moon and back.” Or “bunches and bunches” or “tons and tons” or “a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck,” or, “I love you mucho taco burrito loco much!”

It’s a fun game we play.

After finishing one love note this week, I did a comparison love. “I love you more than my first cup of coffee,” although true, is one I’ve used before. Then something I do love pops in my head. “I love you more than mashed potatoes,” I told them all.

“Mashed potatoes!” you exclaim.

It’s true. I did say that. But you have to understand how much I love mashed potatoes. When my brothers were fighting over the last drumstick, I’d be like, “Pass the mashed potatoes and gravy.” I’d eat that instead of dessert — heck, to me, it’s almost better than dessert!

I said it. I sent it. And I was surprised and tickled by the responses I got back.

“I love mash potatoes and gravy!!”

“I’m happy we rank above mashed potatoes because I too love mashed potatoes.”

“I too feel the same way about mashed potatoes and you guys!”

“I love mashed potatoes too. 🤗”

“I like mashed potatoes too with lots of butter and gravy or stewed tomatoes over top. When we were kids I’d eat just a plate of potatoes with stewed tomato over top for my dinner. I loved it so much. I haven’t had that in a long time I’m gonna have to make that now.”

“I like mashed taters too but I usually enhance mine with some cheese and Facos and sometimes a dollop of Daisy!”

Facos threw me for a loop. “Is that a typo?” I asked.

“LOL. Fake bacon bits, fake Bacos, Facos! I forget sometimes that not everyone talks like I do.”

Mashed potatoes are well loved in my circle of friends and family, that’s for sure!

I’m sure there are plenty of little stories I’m forgetting to tell you because without a note or picture to jog my memory, I’m prone to forgetting. But here’s one where I made sure I got a picture.

I went out to the cat room to take care of the ferals and was shocked to see a puddle of blood by the cat dish. I went back in for my camera — and I told Mike.

I followed a blood trail through the freshly fallen snow and it led to the upper barn. 

In a corner, on top of a bunch of stuff that was here when we moved here was a gray and white tom we call Whiskers. I didn’t want to get too close and run him out in the snow so I just called and begged him to come to me so I could help him.

He wasn’t having any of that.

I baited the live trap and took it back up to the barn but Whiskers was gone. I left the trap and checked it in the evening. He hadn’t come back.

          The next morning when I checked the trap, I had this huge yellow tabby. I’ve never seen him before.

          I wanted to keep him for a while and tame him a little but Mike said no. I let him go and didn’t bother to reset the trap. We’ll just let nature take its course with Whiskers.

 

          And speaking of courses…

          My letter blog has run its course and we shall call this one done.

          Done!