A week ago today we saw our first heron and our first egret for the season. Oddly, they were almost sitting together. They couldn’t have been more than 15 feet apart in the same pond. That’s unusual behavior. Usually the herons are very solitary, and usually the birds are spread MUCH further apart when they are fishing.
I’m trying to make a mental note that they return around tax time in April.
The red bud is showing color, and the forsythia is just beginning to loose it’s blooms. I was happy to see buds on the last of the miniature lilac plants. I love watching spring unfold.

Yesterday, I had one of those days where everything takes ten times longer to accomplish than it should. I thought I’d be able to breeze through a stack of things at my desk, but it was more like slogging through a tar pit!
When my parents lived in southwest Missouri, they had wonderful gardens. The year I lived with them, I discovered that my mother is a plant/bulb impulse buyer. She’d see something in a magazine and shoot off an order. When the order came, she’d hand the box to my Dad, and he would get his trusty shovel, and head out. By the time I got to watch this little ritual, they’d lived there about twelve years. Everywhere Dad put his shovel into the ground, he brought up six or eight bulbs that were already there. I think every inch of garden had been planted by then. So, for every new bulb she wanted planted, there were six or eight to be given away, shared with friends, or ditched!
There was something else about the land they’d settled on . They lived in STONE County. I’ve never seen a place more aptly named. Other than where my father had arranged for soil to be trucked in, there was just three inches of soil on top of rock. If you picked up a rock, you’d find it was nesting on two more just waiting their turn to get to the surface, so we really tried not to disturb the rocks! So, Dad was limited to the built-up gardens for his planting forays.
I know…that was a bit off the subject, but yesterday reminded me of those frustrating planting days. I had my union report finished early. It sat on my desk for a couple of days before I got ready to print the check that was to accompany it. Two minutes, tops, right? Nuh uh!
The last thing I do before I cut the check is to be sure that the totals on my report match the totals in the computer ledgers. My heart sank when I realized I was way off. I pulled up the Union Dues Payable account, and scrolled through it, and discovered that we have had a new employee for a full month, and no one had told me. (sigh…)
The report was already filled out. There was no room to amend it. I pulled up an electronic version of the report, corrected it for current charges, and filled it out for just the one employee, checked the totals (which looked much better) and then I cut the check. I made copies for the accounting firm, copies for us, and copies for a union representative. When the accounting people can’t figure out that I’ve paid in full, using two report sheets, I want the union rep to be able to explain things to them. Finally, I addressed two envelopes, had Dear Husband sign everything, and gathered our copies together for filing.
This little chore should have taken two minutes. It took more like 90, and that put me behind on everything. I had to work in the office for a bit after dinner to be sure things that were needed today were done. I’ve had several chores turn out like this. It’s no wonder that I can never see the surface of my desk.
I’ve been bookkeeping for our company for 20 years. You could say that I’m an old hand at it. But, every now and then, a spate of things occur that simply take longer than you expect them to. In this case, communication about the new employee would have helped, but it’s not always this sort of problem. To work here, you have to be a self-starter. You have to be able to resolve things in a timely manner, and you have to be a mind reader! And, I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else!

My family is so funny.
Sunday I came down with laryngitis. I’ve been without a voice for four full days. This morning you can hear me, but for the past four days we’ve had to use every means at hand to communicate.
I was trying to talk to Dear Husband about something that he would have to do in my stead because I couldn’t use the phone. I was seated at the computer, trying to dash off a hand-written note to him, when I had one of those “DUH!” moments. I turned to the computer, brought up Word, and changed the font to 14 or 16, and typed like a mad woman. He could read over my shoulder as I typed, and it made “conversation” a lot easier.
I found that rather than try to make sound, if I whispered they could understand me. Well, Dear Husband and his son could hear me. Elegante Mother is more than a bit hard of hearing these days, so we did a lot of lip reading, and the guys would fill in what she missed.
I needed to gather information for a personal financial report. I had to call two banks to ask for account amounts. The secretary at the main bank and I are friends, so I called, got her answering machine, and squeeked a request that she send me her fax number. I faxed her an explanation of what I needed, and we conversed on and off through the day via fax.
I didn’t know anyone at the second bank, but I went online to their website, and managed to find an e-mail address. I typed out the problem, and my request. They called me and asked me to tell them the last four digits of my Social Security Number, and then she gave me the info over the phone. Two out of two! Not bad at all. It takes some creativity, but you can get around a lot of problems in this electronic age.
What struck me so funny about my family was that as I struggled to communicate with them, their hearing got better! Dear Husband has been saying “What?!” a lot this past year. I discovered that when he is focused on me, he can hear me whisper across the room. If I have EM’s attention, and she is watching me as I speak, she must lip read to get some of what I’m saying, and she’s more likely to be up front about what she’s missed now than she was a few years ago.
To resolve this situation, I have to be sure their attention is fully engaged! Dropping a plate behind their backs, standing on the cat’s tail, “accidently” spraying them with the hose at the sink, touching them when they don’t know I’m there……what else could I do???
I’m so very lucky that they were supportive. My voice is coming back, and the sinus stuff is abating. It’s nice to know that I could have gone to bed, and they would have taken over for me, but it’s even nicer to know that they were willing to work with me to mitigate the problems.
I’m sending a big THANK YOU! to my family, and to everyone who has helped make this week easier.

Dear Husband is an officer in a masonry corporation. He’s risen through the ranks from a laborer to a bricklayer, learning how each job is done by doing it. He has 40 years of experience at laying bricks.
This evening we have been sitting in the living room. He has the remote for the TV and is switching between two equally detestable shows. One of them is a do-it-yourself show on how to create your own patio kitchen. He’s been fairly quiet, but as each segment ends, he points out the key piece of information that was omitted. I really hope that nobody who watches this program gets the idea that they can do this project without professional assistance. It’s a project that is WAY over the average person’s capability, and the cost to clean up the errors or starting fresh would be significant.
We were rather surprised to see them working with a saw that didn’t have a blade guard. I’d think that OSHA would require them to adhere to the current safety rules.
The “pro” didn’t mention that when you lay brick, you have to figure out how many brick will fit the space horizontally. If you blithely go about laying bricks on that first row, you are likely to get to the last two spaces and find that you can’t squeeze in both bricks. You need to know that spacing so that you keep your mortar joints the correct width as you run the row.
The “pro” also didn’t know how to “butter” the brick properly. There wasn’t enough mortar on the second brick.
When they showed the finished fire pit, they commented that they had put saw marks on a corner brick to make it look as though the pattern of laid bricks went all the way to the end of the row. What they didn’t mention was that they needed a different kind of brick to be able to create that touch.
“How-To” shows are great for getting fresh ideas, but perhaps not great when it comes to carrying out more complicated ideas. You’d think they’d want their watching audience to have success at their projects, so they’d continue to watch the shows. Maybe people are smarter than I give them credit for being. I suppose I can stop shouting “Don’t try this at home!” when I watch these things.
By the way….the other show that was disgusting was one of those nature shows that let you see all the babies being eaten by sharks and crocodiles and piranha and snakes. I know the world is a dangerous place, and that survival of the fittest is the law of the land, but I’m not watching any show that focuses on predators. I’m not watching another merkat take a hit!

My entire extended family loves flowers. They all know that I love to have fresh flowers on the tables or the island in the kitchen when they come to visit. This year they brought pots and pots of flowers with them.
We have four of the largest Easter lilies I’ve ever seen. Mother and I bought two of them, and then we lost our minds and bought a golden yellow petite lily, a fuchsia azalea, a tiny pot of something called “Get Mee,” which is a form of campanula, and two new orchids.
My oldest sister sent us the most beautiful cut flower basket that I’ve ever seen. My second sister brought us a wonderful, bright, pot of yellow tulips.
And, I have a 15 inch cobalt blue vase that is filled with fuchsia carnations, purple, lavender, pink and white chrysanthemums, eucalyptus, and heather.
We have blooms everywhere! It’s a joy to have the house filled with flowers at a time when flowers are sparse outside. We’re supposed to have warmer weather this week, so we should see plants beginning to bud, soon. I noticed that our new little red bud tree is beginning to purple up. YEA!!!

….if I can remember them all.
I saw a rufous-sided towhee yesterday. It was working it’s way down the bare branches of a shrub near the big bird feeder. We get one or two birds from several varieties as they make their way north and south. We rarely see the Rose-breasted grosbeaks which seem to be fairly common here, but we’ve seen the gold and taupe and black Evening grosbeaks, and apparently, the towhee is part of that larger family. The thrush can’t be too far behind.
Goldfinches and house finches and red-winged blackbirds are back, and we have plenty of robins. We’re still waiting on the herons and egrets, and it’s just as well, because the water is REALLY cold yet. Dear Husband said that he saw something very large flying past the house but he couldn’t tell me if it was one of the sand hill cranes or a heron.
On another subject, I hope that my sister, Nan, will blog about her experiences over Spring break. She and her two daughters went on a church-organized mission trip to help people in New Orleans who are STILL trying to put their homes in order. The story sounds fascinating. She became very fond of the homeowner, who sounds like a testament to determination. Write, on, Nan!
Our Red Hat Lady group met for lunch yesterday. The ladies are a hoot to chat with, and it was fun to see the smiles on the faces of the other patrons of the restaurant as they walked by our group. I’m always reminded of the song from The Music Man with the line “Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more…” but I’m happy to say the conversation does not include gossip. It was cute to see heads bent together as they chatted, and bobbing in agreement. The woman sitting next to me has been to China, and we talked about her trip part-way up the Yangtze. Her husband is from Scotland and as a retiree he is learning to play bagpipes. The two of them have been to the Tattoo in Edinburgh, and I’m green with envy. A woman across the table worked in Iran in the days of the Shah. It’s fascinating to hear about that period of my life from her point of view. A number of our ladies are either getting ready for surgery or are recovering. There’s been talk about re-naming us the Walking Wounded, but I doubt anything will come of it. I know a lot of people think the Red Hatters are a frivolous waste of time, but they’re wrong. This group has the most amazing experiences to call on. I learn something new every time we meet, and they are incredibly civic minded. Way to go, LADIES!
I’ve come down with the putrid throat again. In fact, I can’t make any sound. I had to hand a note to my mother about the cinnamon bread that was waiting for her breakfast, and you should have been there when I tried to pantomime that the cat had come in the kitchen window. (Sigh) She’s deaf and I can’t talk. What a pair.
Dear Husband has been working on the renovation of the timbers in the Herb Garden. I’m going to do a bigger entry on this later, complete with a couple of pictures, but I wanted to describe what took place yesterday. DH doesn’t realize that the upper branch of the garden has perennials in it, that haven’t begun to show their new growth. I saw him walk over the bed, and thought….”That’s okay, there are plenty of feverfew plants there. No problem.” Then I saw him drop a ten or twelve foot cedar timber the length of the bed. Poor feverfew. In all fairness, this is not an easy job, and he’s carrying those cedar timbers around all by himself. If I could have afforded it, I would have hired a landscaping company to do this work for me, but it would have been thousands of dollars.
We came home from luncheon yesterday, and I walked out just to touch base with DH, and let him know I was home. As I looked around, I saw the lavender (that I had been babying) lying on the ground north of the herb garden. He must have seen the dismay on my face, and he said, “It’s dead……..isn’t it?” I really tried not to look dismayed about that lavender, but I must not have been able to mask it. This is the deal. My gardens need repair and renovation. I HOPE that DH is careful as he works, but if something gets killed off, I will either replace it, or look on it as a chance to create a new garden. I am NOT nagging him, given that he is doing all the work on this on his own, when he could have been playing with his boat.
So…..does anyone have suggestions for plants for my herb garden??
I’ve missed you all. It seems that we have all taken some time off around Easter, whether to clean house or determine the direction of our lives, and the blog world has been rather quiet. I hope that we’ll find things of interest once again, and be able to find time in our busy lives to share them. Happy Spring to you all. You have my hopes for warm sunshine, bird song, and the joy of another day.

We’re all yet living at Chez Buffy. It’s been a busy week. I have a list of chores, and I’m still trying to wade through it. I have most of them done, but I still need to work out linens for the tables. One of them is done. I need to press the crocheted mats for the second, and see if the pink table cloth will fit the third.
Saturday morning, Dear Husband and I will be cooking up a storm. He’s making lasagna for Easter Dinner. His children consider that to be a holiday meal. He’s also going to do a Caesar salad with diced marinaded chicken. I have refrigerator rolls to bake, and I’ll help Elegante Mother make brownies. I need to boil eggs for deviled eggs, and potatoes for Hot German Potato Salad.
I think we might manage to get part of the afternoon off, and DH is treating us to dinner out.
There will be 20 people here for dinner, plus two kibitzers early in the afternoon. I’m delighted to have my family visit, and share a meal.
I hope that you all have a wonderful day, and that it’s filled with family. Happy Easter, all!

Tomorrow, our exercise guru, Gentle Dragon, will be visiting with one of her daughters in Pennsylvania. I’ve been invited to lead exercise tomorrow morning in her place. Friday, another sub filled in, and her style is very different from GD’s. We kept up with her, but there was some grousing in the ranks.
I know that I will be welcomed and loved tomorrow, because I will be leading them in one of GD’s easier routines! *G* All I have to do is point out how much easier this one is….and I’m a shoe-in for their friendship and good will.
Actually, all these adults are self-starters. Just about all of them could lead the class should they be asked.. Two of them would just call off class and we’d all go out to breakfast, which is a lovely idea!
I’ve been meaning to revisit the routines on the days between our exercise sessions. Good intentions and a $1.25 (my how inflation has affected us!) will get you iced tea at Mickey D’s, but it won’t get that exercising done. I pulled out my cheat-sheets today, cranked up the music and did the first 30 minutes of the session. I had to go back to do the fastest cardio piece a second time, and I’ll have to review it tomorrow morning, too, but we’ll get through the session reasonably well.
My sis, Nan, gave me exercise clothes for Christmas in recognition of the invitations to sub for Gentle Dragon. The pants are black, and the top is bright orange! She wanted them to be able to find me at the front of the room! She also gave me a wardrobe of head and wrist bands, and socks to complete the outfit! At least I don’t have to worry about what to wear!
This will get me off to a healthy week, and help me get all those errands run. I’m delighted to be able to help, and equally delighted that Gentle Dragon will be back on Wednesday! *S*

Like most of you who visit here, I expect this week to be a busy one. We’re hosting part of my family for Easter dinner. We’ve planned the menu, and we have a rough idea of how many people will be here. I’ll set two tables, and by the end of the week, I may have to add one more small table to that. Luckily, we have room and dishes to expand on short notice. Usually seating is the most difficult aspect of a family gathering. I’ve put vanity seats and benches and office chairs, and the barrel chair in the living room into play when we’ve been surprised.
This Easter we will have only one little one with us, our almost-three-year-old granddaughter. I have to bring the plastic Easter eggs up from the basement and clean them, so we’re ready for an Easter egg hunt. Dear Husband is going to be the filler of the eggs this year. I’d also like to hang some plastic eggs from the baby redbud tree at the front of the house.
We’ve begun the lists of cleaning, and shopping. I know what linens I plan to use, and I’ll check on them early this week so that we don’t have any surprises. I’ll have to keep on top of laundry through the week, because once I press the dining room table cloth, I won’t be able to set my clean laundry there while it waits for me to find the time to fold it.
I changed quilts on the living room wall, and I really miss the much darker one. I didn’t want it to sun fade, so I returned the Stars and Stepping Stones quilt to the wall.

While it uses the same colors, and even some of the same fabrics, it has a great deal more tan in it. Once we get into summer, and the leaves are giving us some shade, the darker blocks will stand out.
I still have not gotten into the gardens. The garlic chives need to be trimmed today! I’ll have to get out there this afternoon because storms are on their way again. When I can get back into the gardens, I won’t have enough time to clean them properly, so I need to do some emergency things today.
Does anyone know how big a ham you need for 20-22 people? And would I be better off with two smaller hams? I’ll have to surf, so that I can order today.
I hope you’re all having a good weekend, and that you enjoy the coming week!

Today started really well, and I have high hopes for the rest of the day, despite the rain that is coming our way. The weather forecasters are uncertain whether the showers will slide in this afternoon, or this evening, but we can expect rain for several days.
Gentle Dragon, our exercise guru, is off to visit one of her daughters for a long weekend. We had a sub today who has a slightly different style. I think it disturbs her that we aren’t shouting back encouragement, so she does it for herself. She paces the exercise differently. There’s rarely a break in movement, while GD has us keep stepping between songs. There’s nothing wrong with the way the sub handled the class, nothing at all. But she isn’t Gentle Dragon.
The ladies and gentlemen in my class have become very fond of GD, but it took us a while to develop that relationship. Our sub seems to feel that she can come in and have instant relationship, and it just hasn’t worked that way. Class was full today, but I think that might have been because we were all meeting for breakfast after class, to celebrate the March birthdays. *G* (Yeah….we exercise and then we eat!)
I was up at five this morning, doing a little housework and getting ready for exercise. Elegante Mother is a little under the weather, so we let her skip exercise this morning and sleep in. She’s had a little tummy upset, which in turn has kept her from sleeping well. I think she’ll be fine tomorrow, and we’ll just pretend it isn’t raining.
I’m going to steal some time to sew today, and pay some bills. The house is clean, so there aren’t any chores calling to me. It seems like the perfect day to vege out!
Dear Husband has volunteered his talents to one of my nephews, who is working on finishing a basement fireplace. If it weren’t raining, I might have told my nephew he’d have to wait, because I have a long list of outside chores that require Dear Husband’s help. As it is, I’ll have to hope that we get a dry weekend before boating season starts, that isn’t taken up with boat preparation.
The forsythia is GORGEOUS!. We’ve left it in the arching “fountain” style, and the gold just glows against the gloomy skies. I have my youngest sister, Nan, and her husband to thank for planting it. I’d purchased it, and had delayed getting it into the ground. One visit, they simply picked up the forsythia and a shovel, and had it planted in 15 minutes! Thank you, Nan, for saving the shrub and giving me years of spring enjoyment!
So, my day is filled with average, run of the mill things, but I’m really enjoying it. I hope you all have a good weekend!