Today has a hint of spring about it. It is a warmish morning, in the mid 40’s. The sun is about, but the sky is cloudy probably practicing for tomorrow when it is supposed to rain. The wind is gone. The dogs are out longer on days like today. Miss Nala naps in the sun. Henry wanders the yard.

I have a concert this afternoon. We are still playing our St. Patrick’s Day music.

My housecleaning has been intermittent. Yesterday it was a few sweatshirt sleeve wipes on the dusty tables in my living room. The hall got vacuumed. That was enough.

When I was a kid, I read all the classics. My mother had bought me Little Woman for Christmas, and that was the start. I loved Treasure Island. In my mind’s eye I knew exactly what Long John Silver looked like, and, when I saw my first Treasure Island movie, he looked just as I had imagined. Books took me away to the most amazing places. I met all sorts of people. One of my favorite characters was Doctor Dolittle. I always wished I could speak with animals. I even wish it now. Nala would be getting a piece of my mind about her thievery, but I do expect she’d talk back. I remember the Bobbsey Twins, two sets of them, Nan and Bert and Freddie and Flossy. I envied their travels. As I got older, I moved into The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I never stopped to think that their adventures were unrealistic. I was too immersed in the pages.

I could spend an entire day and night reading without noticing the passage of time. On one trip to England, I brought Gone with the Wind with me. I read the whole flight. I was shocked when we got ready for landing. For so many reasons, I was lucky being stationed in Ghana. One reason was because there were libraries and all of the books were in English. I went to my town library often. A shop in my town sold the African Writers’ Series. I brought many of those books home with me.

I can’t imagine a life without books.

Today’s a delight. It has a hint of spring about it. The sun is bright against a blue, blue sky. It is 45° and may even reach 50°. A remnant of yesterday’s wind is still blowing just a bit. The highest branches on the pine trees in my backyard are swaying every now and then.

This hint of spring has a drawback. I find myself eying the vacuum and the mop thinking it is time for a full scale assault on the dust. I have already started cleaning upstairs in a small way. Jack’s room has been vacuumed, and my bedroom has been a bit decluttered, but it remains a dust bowl. I keep wanting to write Clean Me on the bookcase.

Nala has topped herself. Her thievery was at its worst yesterday. Chicken, two thighs, were frying on the stove. I was planning a couple of real dinners, even with potatoes and a veggie. All of a sudden I noticed she was in the hall chomping on something. When I went to see what she was eating, she ran out the back door, her tell. I checked the stove. One of the thighs was missing. I saw her run off the deck into the yard with the thigh in her mouth. This is her first theft from the stove. It reminded me of Duke, our boxer when I was a kid. He stole the Sunday roast beef from the counter. My brother and I caught him. We had to wrestle the meat from his mouth. That dog was a real judge of quality meat. Anyway, once we got it, we washed it and smoothed the teethmarks on it. My mother never knew.

When I was a kid, the first spring-like day had me wanting to shed my winter layers. I wanted to wear just my spring jacket with maybe a sweater for my mother’s sake, but she usually nixed that plan. Sometimes she did give in a little and let me go without a hat and mittens which wasn’t really a concession as I usually ditched the hat once I was out of the house. I wanted my heavy winter jacket in the closet for the duration. I wanted spring.