Spring is here. It truly is. I find myself expecting that any minute, the clouds will roll in and the rain will start, but the weather channel tells me to expect good weather all this week. Woo-hoo!
I drove down to the south end community garden yesterday, to see what progress had been made. Somebody has roto-tilled the whole thing, so it's a blank canvas, waiting for us to paint it with corn and squash and peas and beans and lettuce and all manner of things........I took my gardening gloves along, in case there was anything happening, but I was alone, and I have no idea what the plan is, what is supposed to go where, so I'll have to go back when there's a group session going on.
Meanwhile, I took a 35-minute walk on the Parkway Walkway, in the sunshine. Just up the path from where I park my car, there's a very small farm with three alpacas. Part of the ritual is to stop and say hello to the alpacas, who looked at me as if I were an apparition, not just that woman who's been walking by every few days for years. They're probably amazed now because I don't have a dog with me. The dog I used to walk was Lupa, a beautiful Golden Retriever. Lupa belonged to Jane and Franco (the friends we saw in Bullhead City on the way home). Robin and Lupa fell in love when she was just a puppy.
Until she died suddenly, last year, she really had two homes. When her folks wanted to go away for a few days, they would pack her overnight bag and bring her to our house, where she would settle in quite happily, and Robin would spoil her unmercifully. We sometimes took her out to Pacific Rim National Park - and when we went to Orcas Island (in the San Juans) a couple of years ago, she went with us. When her folks were at home, we would frequently bring Lupa over to our place for the night anyway, just because. We would walk her once or twice a week - more for our sake than for hers. Robin misses her terribly, and so do I - but for me, the sad time is when I'm out on the Parkway Walkway, which was where we often walked together.
So, there I was, walking, moping a bit. This was the first proper walk I'd had in days. I'm so glad to be feeling well enough even to want to walk, much less to do it. Back to my daily Walking with Willow and Leslie routine - and none too soon. I'm going to have to replace all my clothes soon, if I don't start taking some weight off.
When I get home tonight, I'll be wanting to hear all about the Writer's Conference where Angie and Kathryn have spent the weekend.
Oh - and I pre-ordered my copy of Kim's The Unbreakable Child yesterday. I'm hoping it will arrive just as I'm finishing Kat's Tender Graces. This is just too exciting.
3 comments:
Oh, thank you most kindly for the blog shout and for ordering Unbreakable!
I too, am excited to hear about Angie's travels and it is Spring here, but Mother Nature is getting ready to slap us one-last-time as a reminder of winter's brutal. : )
Hugs, hugs and hugs about your pup. I lost mine in Feb and still walk around expecting to see and hear her.
Hi Sandra:
Yes-- that is how alpacas look at things-- llamas have a bit more of "do I know you?" disdain about them.
It's hard to miss animals. There are cats we've had here I still think of a lot, one in particular.
Still trying to catch up with a Google Reader that's about to burst at the seams in very limited online time. The community garden sounds quite intriguing.
Kim, thanks for the hugs. I'm sorry your spring is delayed. From what I hear, we're having summer this week, but next week it will be back to winter again, so I'll be grumbling. Meanwhile, I'm loving this. Sunshine, and more sunshine.
John, My almost-twenty-one year old cat died last fall. I still find that as I'm going out in the morning, I remind myself - did I feed Katrina?
Maybe by the time the garden is in full flower this year, I'll have my digital camera - and I'll do a virtual tour.
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