The morning is cloudy but warm, near tropical for this time of year, 55˚. I stood outside enjoying the warmth for a few minutes when I went to get the paper. I noticed the green shoots of the dafs in my front garden are even higher than just the other day. Spring is gently pushing its way through winter.

The big news is I did my laundry, two loads of clothes and one load of blankets. All the clothes have already been put away. I felt accomplished.

I am in my element. I’m watching Earth vs. The Spider, a black and white movie from 1958. The girls all wear puffy dresses. Mothers wear aprons in the house. A teen couple are the stars. Her father was the first victim. My favorite scene so far is when the girl is lying on the couch crying and mourning her father. Her mother tells her, “Forget about it dear. You have homework for tomorrow.” Comforting words to a girl whose father had been sucked to bones. The spider is currently on a rampage.

When I was a kid, my first records were red and yellow and had songs like Farmer in the Dell and singers like Gene Autry. The records were 78-rpm, the ones with the small holes. I had a record player I had gotten for Christmas one year. With it came some Christmas records. I still have many of them. The Caroleers were big as were the Sandpipers. Bing got into the act with a song called How Lovely Is Christmas. I haven’t played these songs in a long time. They were in my room, forgotten. I found them again yesterday.

When I was older, I bought 45’s. One side was the A side, the side with the hit. The other side, the B side, sometimes had a great but seldom played song. I still have many of those stored in a cylindrical container called Disk-Go-Case. It looks space age. I still remember many of the songs but some are strange choices for me. I have to think that maybe they were gifts. Conway Twitty, Laurie London, an unknown singer to me, and The New Happiness are a few of them. Some records are by familiar singers like The Village Stompers and The Big Bopper. I have one of my all-time favorite songs, Scotch and Soda by The Kingston Trio. I spent a lot of quarters playing that song on the jukebox in the school canteen.

I’m going to listen to a few of these records today. I have a couple of those discs you put in the holes of the 45’s so they can be played. It will be a trip back in time.

The sky is covered in whitish gray clouds. It rained during the night and will continue raining on and off all day. The breeze is chilly, but the air is warm, 50˚. There is a fog warning. I need go to the dump today so I’ll go in between rain drops.

When spring is poking its head through winter, mornings are my favorite time of the day. The birds are back and singing to greet first light. A warmth breaks through the cold. Everything feels lighter. The air smells fresh. This morning I saw the first green shoots of the dafs in my garden. I did a happy dance.

I buy flowers when I go shopping. I put them in every room. Tulips and dafs make me smile. They bring color. They bring spring even on the coldest days.

The dogs are out a long time in this weather, even when there are no possums. Nala keeps busy with the stuff she steals. Yesterday she stole a stick of butter I thought was safe. It was far back on the counter. Later, she brought in a dog food can from the yard, a can she’d stolen earlier. I hope that’s a trend: Nala cleaning her own mess.

Last night, I put one of the cat’s food dishes near the gate so I’d remember to take it downstairs to wash. I was playing with Jack when I heard a sound I didn’t recognize. I looked and saw Nala had her head through the hole in the gate and was licking the dish which was clattering against the floor. I moved the dish, the path of least resistance.

I loved my mother’s brownies. She didn’t use a mix. She baked them in a square metal pan. When they were cool enough, she’d frost them with chocolate frosting then sprinkle the top with jimmies. It was a chocolate overload for which I gave great thanks.

My overloaded laundry basket still sits next to the cellar door, and I’m finally tired of seeing it so I’ll haul it downstairs to wash. Nala follows me to the cellar. It is a new space for her to explore. That worries me.