Addiction Remedy

It has been four and a half years since I've quit smoking occasionally the time arises that I still want a cigarette. I discovered right away on my first attempt at quitting, that I used cigarettes as a reward. I'd wash the dishes, have a smoke. I'd make beds, put away laundry, come downstairs and have a smoke. You get the picture. It is still a trigger for me when I've really worked hard and for an extended time.

I am having a dinner party so I first began the work in the kitchen. A friend who has an allergy to cats is staying the night. Every time she visits I vacuum everything downstairs. I did that and since she is staying the night, I thoroughly cleaned a bedroom - washed sheets and hung them on the line. I mopped the whole downstairs which worked my way outside where I gardened!!!!!! All that work without stopping really triggered an urge to sit down and relax with a smoke.

So I'm here...

It is beautiful, sunny and twelve degrees. It feels cooler though as there is a north wind chasing the day. The cats have loved it as I have all the doors open. My daughter's dog clawed through a screen door last summer. The door is still not fixed so the cats are having a ball coming in and out all day. I'm sure they would prefer I kept it a permanent feature to the house.

I am expecting guests soon so must make this quick. Music. I'm featuring duets today. Bing Crosby and Les Paul are singing It's Been a Long Long Time. That's to acknowledge and celebrate my ending cigarette smoking. Anne and Pete Sibley sing Pick Up These Chains. You see, besides thinking of the chains of an addiction, I was moving all manner of rusty metal things around in a garden today. The photo is of a few of the pieces last year.

Stuffing It In

Its a cool, showery day and I like it. My plan was to garden on my first day off but today's weather is preventing that. It's perfectly ok though because I'm having a restful day instead. Vacuuming, dishes, changing beds, and three loads of laundry don't mean that I'm not resting. I've painted, caught up on some web surfing, went for a short visit, answered some e-mail, did some research I've been wanting to try to find time to do, and slept in till seven thirty. It is a glorious feeling.

I watched Oprah while I folded laundry. She had a story on Nadia Schuleman, the Octomom, and it was mind boggling to see her and all those little children. Fourteen children - that mom doesn't get much sleep so I'd better stop talking about being busy.

Spring around these parts is at a bit of a standstill as far as sunshine is concerned. We've not received much precipitation but we have had cool, cloudy conditions ever since our bout of really lovely weather over Easter. I'm itching to get into the garden. I have a lot of work to do. I plan to make my vegetable garden larger and the flower gardens are sorely in need of attention.

I've had daffodils for over a week and the ones in the back garden are slowly getting bigger and stronger but not bursting forth like they would in warm sunshine. I will enjoy them even longer this way. A friend gifted me with a vase this week. It's a lime green which is fantastic with daffodils. When the large garden has hundreds in bloom I can't wait to see this vase filled to the brim. I have a frog in it at the moment with nine daffodils and it looks ok but will look super when stuffed. Much like the one below. I love this vase and it is wonderful when filled with large bunches of flowers.


An old favorite song of mine, repeated more than once on this blog is covered here again but by someone new. Bop Ensemble is a group I featured a while back because a cover of theirs, the Paul Simon song, Peace Like a River, was stuck in my head. This time they take on Bob Dylan's, Buckets of Rain. Also on the playlist here this week is The Duhks, with their song, Three Fishers. My son and his friends have hardly been home since fishing season began on the fifteenth. He is fishing now as a matter of fact. The weather doesn't seem to be a factor in whether or not they go out. He brought home trout the other night that were so big that a friend and I ate only one each with our supper. I froze the other two. This song is in appreciation of fish and the fishers.

I must go put my fourth load of laundry in the dryer. I put in a load of jackets that are being put away for the season. That's a real sign that winter's over.

Cheer is Here

Though this photo is not of them, I have my first daffodils in bloom. I have seen others, including my sister in laws, and am pleased once again to have some bright, cheery sunshine on my kitchen table. I have more than a thousand and will be having and giving bouquets away from now till the season is over. They are such a beautiful and cheery flower.

This will be short. I am waiting for some company who is running late so may have to stop at a moment's notice. I am so pleased to have a day off. I worked the weekend for someone else so am a tired after working all my own shifts as well. A day off means housework and laundry too so I've been a busy woman. I'm happy though - a day off - so Goodbye Blue Monday by Jeremy Fisher is the song to celebrate that. I also have a song, Slow Down by Alicia Keys, to show what I should be doing on my day off.

Tomorrow our painting group is going to go all day instead of it's usual three hours. This will be a challenge for me who finds it hard to sit that long. I may have to go do some outdoor quick sketches or something to get breaks. I just remembered that I have to make some kind of a soup for our potluck lunch so thank goodness I brought this up here. I may have forgotten and would have been very embarrassed. Hardly any time to stop to smell the flowers again this week.

Spring Cleaning

I'm posting a photo from another year as our daffodils are not yet in bloom, but I want to envision stopping to smell the flowers. I have been cleaning all afternoon, am exhausted and have many miles yet to go. It does smell like flowers here though. I'm on a well deserved break.

Spring has sprung and an urge for spring cleaning permeated my bones. This is my first day off in eight days from work. Some days are part time and in those days and in this full day off, the cleaning tools have been put to good work. Painting group met this morning but the minute I got home I dug out the pail again.

I have been looking at all the gardening work I have to do so with the house clean I will be able to take that on. I have extensive and unusual gardens which includes deck gardening. Our early spring is requiring work to be done earlier. I need tilling done now - not a month from now. There is a whole lot of heavy work that is quite exhausting for this middle-aged grandma. Once the early season work is done, maintenance takes over.

Since this is a break I'd better get to the music. Rachel Ries describes the past few days with Hands to Water. It's today's slow song . For music to make cleaning go faster, I chose my old standby, James Brown. I wanted to name my first child after the king of soul but my husband talked me out of it. Funny, that child now has a child named after a favorite musician. Here's James Brown with something to get you moving - Get Up Offa That Thing. James Brown is still my first choice for housecleaning music.

Off I go to throw in some baked potatoes to go with my old standby, ribs. Then make a salad and put a houseful of furniture back in it's proper place before I get to sit down again. Ah, spring!

Easter Weekend

I started this post when I came home from work, hungry and waiting for dinner to cook. I soon discovered my son had borrowed the cable from my hard drive. I had no photos or music. I am hooked up again so will start anew, fed and feeling a lot more relaxed. I am working all weekend so am not in holiday mode.

I feel quite guilty about not be paying much attention to this blog. I should refer you instead to An Island Walk as I am there at least a few times a week and every day at Shutterchance. I haven't much time, sad to say, and there will be a lot less of it when gardening season begins. Posting photos takes less time. I never plan what I will write about. Until the minute I sit down I don't think about a post. I may know something I might want to mention or have a theme day to respond to but what I say and the music are spur of the moment.

Something I do want to say is if you follow musicblog, Keep the Coffee Coming, take note that the new address is in the sidebar and here it is for easy grabbing. She was shut down at her former home here at blogger.

I am always listening to good music and have been listening to some Gospel. It seems like a perfect fit for this weekend's religious celebrations. I remember the Holy Days of Obligation and the Stations of the Cross , church services at least twice during the weekend. Here's something fitting: Jane Siberry 's artful voice with Swing Low Sweet Chariot and In My Time of Dying by Blind Willie Johnson.

The weather is wonderful but flowers except for the early bulbs like crocus are not in bloom. Spring is showing it's joyful displays at my house though, with forced tulips and forsythia as neither are anywhere near blooming outdoors. I threw away the last of the forsythia today but have wonderful tulips in vases. The tulips are produced locally and are a welcome treat during the winters here. I always force forsythia myself, have for the 25 years at this house anyway. My front daffodils are coming along nicely but it will be a couple of weeks yet. Joys of the season, my friends.