April Showers & More

Violas

Violas in April 2024

There has been enough rain this April to support the old adage, April showers bring May flowers.

There is no other time of year when flowers blooming outdoors envelopes a community spirit like Spring does.

I'm done with moaning that it is raining again. It is raining again. Yesterday I put away the emergency shovel, the ice scrapers, and extra pair of mittens. For me, that makes spring official. The nagging feeling it might snow again lingers, but that is easy to deal with when I see the trees budding in the most gorgeous Chartreuse.

A Caution About Sandals: If you have lotion on your feet, then wearing sandals in the rain can make them very slippery under your feet, dangerously slippery, especially when the foot bed is smooth leather, vinyl or a similar plastic material. 

(I almost went barefoot in the grocery store parking lot when it was raining yesterday. It is not fun times with my feet trying to slide around.)

Sunscreen & Bug Spray: Wearing sunscreen all year round, to me, is a good idea. Also, stock up on bug spray. All the rain we've been having has the mosquitoes out early around where I live.

Remember, if you don't have a bug bite cream, wetting your skin and adding salt to the area can help alleviate the stinging feeling.

Some Spring Clearing Up Stuff: Check on old email addresses; get rid of old broken sandals; Change passwords; update first aid kit; read app reviews; check out safest email service available; Google your name; make sure tetanus shot is up to date; read Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recall page.

Day 103 of Week 15 April 2024

What happens more often than not, is that when I'm ready to go out and about, so is the rain. Earlier, the sun was shinning. Then the clouds became thick, low and darker like the solar eclipse as totality nears. There is no way I'm going back and forth packing up donations and transfer station drop offs in the pouring rain. Minutes later, the room brightens. I see a sliver of blue sky in the southwest. I hear no rain. This is how it will be for a few days as a massive storm system plumps up Earth in the Spring.

Ah, more blue sky appears.

Too late, I don't feel like packing up and traveling today.

Puttering rules my daylight hours now.

Have a Puttering Good Weekend!

Start an Idea log book

Make coffee syrup

Memorize a song

Paint a harbor scene

Browse hiking sandals online

Buy a new ice cream flavor

Read about tin mining

Go for a walk with a friend

Make a pinwheel

 

Later this afternoon...

The wind is howling! 

Rain is beating against the windows.

The trees are swaying back, forth and around.

The sky is dark enough to need the lights on indoors.

I was sitting out on the porch a few minutes ago. The wind was lovely with the air just the right humidity and temperature.

My toes were happy in my favorite sandals.

I went back inside just in time.

Day 328 of Week 47 of November 2023

 

Maple Leaves & Rain
December 2018

Should we think of ourselves in terms of cyber years? Think dog years where in comparison one dog year is 7 human years. The last 5 years for me have gone by as if in one year. In cyber years, if I add up the about 20 years years I've been online, I'm in barely in my fifties.

It's no wonder that the new 70 is the 60s. In other words, could it be that the longer we are on the Internet, the slower we are aging? 

The new fad for shorts (videos on YouTube, Tik Tok) feels like the new neighborhood of sitting on porch in the afternoon to catch up on everyone's news, and talk about what is going on around town and the World, a dash of community via cyber space.

Have a refreshing weekend!

Do a tea tasting with new flavors

Learn to crochet

Draw your own vehicle design

Have an egg salad sandwich & chocolate milk

Talk a walk with friends

Read about Chronoception

Build a cardboard bird house ornament

Pray for Peace

Thoughts On Gloomy

The Summer of 2023
Digital photograph

 As soon as I saw the  photograph above, I felt a request for a gloomy caption. The Summer of 2023 feels apt to me. This rainy season has shaded the wider part of emotions that run throughout the day and night.

Contrast. A happy object against an unhappy gray and gloomy sky.

It is fun though, to see the rain flying off the pinwheel when it rains.

I haven't been anywhere of note. No photo excursions. No picnics. No plein air painting. Eating outdoors, sitting on the deck, limping some, passing through the thick curtains of humidity has replaced my ambitious list of summery things to do. I looked to August to be better weather. Thus far,  it is a July replay.

Not to give up! An artist can paint sunny weather! Now there's an idea.

 

Ferns, Change, Rain & Smoke

Some Kind of Outdoor Fern

I changed this blog's background photo to ferns. This year they are nearing 4 feet tall (122 cm). Rabbits, toads, cats and such are known to explore the micro fern jungle.

How often do you change up your blog or interior décor? 

Switch out artwork and such? 

I use to changed things up fairly frequently. The last few years, my interest in change has decreased. I attribute it to getting older, an age related normalcy. It could be that I feel more at ease, mellow with how things are. 

First day of the week, there is sunshine in Vermont! 

We've had an abundance of rain in Vermont, New England, Northeast, Eastern Seaboard, surrounding areas. There is more in the forecast. 

There are also air quality alerts to pay attention to as more smoke from the devasting Canadian forest fires makes its way south into the United States.

This week I am on the hunt for YouTube photography videos. I want to become a better photographer.

Have a wonderful week!

Cranking Up the Good Old Creativity

Journal Sketch

A quick sloppyish sketch reminds me of how much fun creating art can be. During Spring cleaning, blank books given to me as a gifts, surface with a sparkle of happiness.

I expect an abundance of April showers this year. Rainy weather is inspirational to me, a time to be crafty creative with glue, scissors, and paint. Many of the stamped, painted, textured journal pages I see on blogs are small abstract artworks. Time for me to give artistic journal pages a try.

Raindrops Splashing

Being crafty can turn a rainy week-end into days to remember. 

In preparation for inclement Spring weather, a pair of rubber boots that don't leak was number one because all my other boots have leaks. My go to ballet flats soak up water like a sponge. Thus, it is likely I might be seen wearing shorts and unflattering rubber pull on ankle boots this summer. (I am grateful aging changes includes not being as picky about how I look fashion wise.) 

What are your fashion plans for Spring? Are you prepared? Do you wear rain boots?

Reflection Monday January 2020

Pray for Australia 

and rain in Australia