Ahhh...

A welcome, early and beautiful Spring. I witnessed my first customer at my new personalized birdhouse, a lovely hand-made Christmas gift from family. Know naught about ornithology but it was a small bird with a large caudally curved beak. Actually feasted on the “whatever” food that came in it.
Am having my kitchen redone which means work-men in and out. It began with my son’s gift of painting my two story high foyer that I couldn’t reach. Then I had the 4' x 7' “oriental rug” I spent 19 years painting on duck hung in that space. Guy did a so-so hanging job so my oldest grandson re-hung it. It made the adjoining space look neglected so I painted it a new color of peach (chosen from the many colored “rug”) which everyone offended me by calling pink. So I painted the trim apricot which made it look less pink. Wanted molding which my grandson did a beautiful job on (naturally as he’s perfect). Then I painted the loft room over-viewing the “rug” the darker rose color from it. The paint store salesman warned me when I chose it that it was the hardest color of all to paint regardless of the quality of the manufacturer. He was right though understated. Impossible to paint would have been more accurate. Two and three coats later I hired a painter to do the adjoining alcove as I was exhausted. Now he is.
My grandson and I discussed re-doing the kitchen. His pending May wedding seems to have taken over his life, however, which is understandable. So hired the painter and associate to do the kitchen cabinets and walls in a deep blue (again selected from colors in the “rug”). I don’t care for hardware on my cabinets so they placed curved carvings on the inside lip which won’t show when I open one with flour on my hands. His comment: most people are afraid to use colors the way you do. Pictures to follow.

LIFE IN A "DOC MARTIN" EPISODE

Cut over 10,000 words from the Completed trilogy before preparing for a reading for Audio disc. Lost nothing important but merely tightened the writing. At my age, it was more important to complete it than to tighten the writing.
A delightful week of spring weather allowed me to get my tulip bulbs in a week ago and my ponytail palms, snapdragon and hen and biddies plants from the inside to the patio since. Patio thermometer was eighty today. As the checkout line at the Supermarket agreed, we’ll probably get a March cold spell yet though. Meanwhile I check for the tulips each morning but nothing… probably something to do with a watched pot.
Have been having a “fun” week of Russian roulette with my blood pressure medicine. Ordered it weeks ago and although they promptly claimed to ship it and efficiently charged me for it, no medicine has arrived. My Health/ Prescription insurance has a deal with a Mail-order pharmacy so after hounding them and the USPS went local pharmacy counter to pharmacy counter literally begging from previous providers. After two claimed they couldn’t help went to Wal-Mart’s and they “gave” me one since they couldn’t charge me for it with no prescription (ran out on a Sunday). Monday one of the former two denials gave me the equivalent of six after going online and transferring my original prescription. That begging carried me a week and when still no delivery from the mail-order people, called the doctor’s office and asked them to call me in a Rx to another local pharmacy which they promptly did. Meanwhile again called the mail-order people and they tried giving me the run-around again. Finally got a supervisor and told them to either get me the medicine STAT or refund my money. Said they’d ship again tomorrow. This morning opened the new local Rx picked up yesterday. It wasn’t my usual shaped pill so called the providing pharmacist. Seems the doc’s office sent in a different but similar RX!!!! Do they know it? It’s Sunday again so went ahead and took the medicine which is minus one ingredient and will deal with the doc’s office tomorrow. Meanwhile life is like an episode of Doc Martin.

Life is good

We had a couple of lovely days last weekend. Just enough to make the fruit trees and Spring show-offs bud. Monday we had snow flurries and rain but it has and is slowly moderating so that the Tulip/ Japanese Magnolia trees, Jonquils, forsythia are stretching to peak. A main thoroughfare here is called Crabapple and those trees are now beautifully in bloom. But the real crème de la crème is the weeping cherry tree. My Grandson and I had an “argument” last year because I called them Cherry trees but was informed they were Cherry Blossom trees and that my son/ his uncle in New Orleans called them that too. Whatever! These were small landscape beauties introduced in Atlanta at the peak of its growth as a city, say 50s through the 60s. I fell in love with their beauty and grace so when I moved away I tried planting them other places but like most hybrid grafts they didn’t thrive. Now those that survived in Atlanta are huge. After only 50 or so years they are as large as the Live Oaks of the east coast and a mass of cherry blossoms but as graceful as weeping willows.
The going-away dinner for Zachariah was fun and thus I think a success. The Bar B Q, potato salad, tossed salad, baked beans etc weren’t nearly as enjoyable as the table cloth. It was a hit. I got one of those plastic ones and with Sharpie drew all the puns of going West like a covered wagon, great falls (not to be confused with Great Falls) Greely’s quote etc and then all the guests drew and wrote on it as well. They were more creative with a theme that he was likely to be mauled by bison, bear etc. He can use it for a sheet, tarp, tent, shower curtain or whatever in his new adventure with a guarantee to cure nostalgia for the folk he left. That took so much time we never got to the other entertainment, pin the Trail of the Honky. Just as well. It would have ruined my globe.
Found a great out-of-print, rare book I’ve been drooling over for about a year. Cheapest current price $112 US so by-passed it though I actually wanted it so much I seriously considered forking over that much. Found it today somewhere else for less than $15. Won’t arrive ‘til April 8th and can barely wait.