“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”
The nights are quite chilly, in the 30’s. The days are in the 40’s, but spring is in the air, well, maybe pre-spring, a dress rehearsal, is here, the perfect definition of our weather. In my front garden, the dafs and hyacinths have bloomed, the first colors of the season. I am still waiting for the backyard daf. It is in the middle of the yard and is the only one. I think some creature carried the bulb. I love that spot of yellow.
I have a few errands on my dance card today. My favorite errand is to go to the nursery to buy pansies for the pots on my front steps. I remember pansies in the front garden of the house when I was a kid. They all had faces. They were mostly smiling. I loved the purple and the bright orange. Those are the colors I’ll look for today.
I heard whining around 5:30 this morning. I opened my eyes and saw only Nala on my bed. Henry was the whiner. Nala and I went downstairs while I checked. He wanted out. I forgave him for waking me up when I opened the back door. I could hear birds greeting the day. I heard mourning doves. I even heard the gobbles of turkeys. The air was cold but it was morning cold which gives hope for a warmer day. Henry was quick, and we all went back to bed. I woke up again not long after. It was Nala. She was beside me whining and staring at my face. I made the mistake of opening my eyes. She starting lapping my face. Then the two of them, Henry and Nala, started jumping on the bed and on me. I got up. They waited on the stairs to make sure I was coming. I love that they wait for me. We all went down the stairs. They went out. I made coffee. It was the start of another day in the Ryan household.
When I was a kid, I could hardly wait to put winter away, to put hats and mittens and heavy coats in the closet. If it was a bit chilly outside, I never would have admitted it. I did not want to go back to winter. The field at the foot of my street was a quicker way to school than walking on the sidewalks. The only problem was the wind whipped across the field. It ballooned my coat, and sometimes I had to walk backwards. I laughed at the coat.
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April 10, 2026 at 4:01 pm
The “coat” recollection made me laugh. And reminded me of an anecdote. When Hurricane Carla hit on September 11th 1961 it was during the second week of school. By that afternoon the winds were so high the staff decided to close the school (probably just so they could get home in one piece) and sent us kids out on our own to walk home. The winds were blowing about 40 but gusting about 65. Strong enough to make it difficult to walk. There was a boy two years younger walking with us, Benny Rodriguez, who was very very waifish due to a bad heart and his Mother always dressed him in a cardigan to keep warm. We all looked out for him. Well suddenly the sweater filled with a gust and Benny was airborne. We were running after him and crying BENNY! Fortunately my big buddy Eduardo wrangled him down. Alarmed but uninjured. We laugh about that almost every time we reminisce.
April 10, 2026 at 6:46 pm
Beto,
oh, my God. That must have been so frightening. Poor Benny! I’m so glad you had a tall friend with you. I’m surprised he wasn’t wind-tossed as he was walking. That is such a strong wind. Like you do, that story would be told again and again when we got together. It would always generate laughter.