The Sun is Too Good to Be True

Who else thought it was beautiful today? I'm loving spring being here. Last thursday I walked around campus taking pictures and it was wonderful. The pics didn't turn out that great, but it was so sunny and gorgeous so I didn't care. 

Current discussion in the living room: A commercial came on when everybody is yelling for "mom" because they can't find anything. The sister and I are both complaining because whenever we can't find anything and mom tells us where it is and we still can't find, she eventually comes in and it's exactly where she said it was. Dad said he's pretty sure she just carries everything with her and presents it at opportune moments. 

Photos By: Char

Well Hello Mr. Spring

Welcome back dear friend. F21 has been suggesting your arrival for some time now. I have yet to feel completely assured in your staying, I need to fulfill some things first, however I'm starting to feel more comfortable. Please don't let me down. And please bring me all of these dresses in my size, for free. Please and thank you. 

Tulip Sprouts

Many people who know me think that winter is my favorite time of year. As soon as those flakes start falling I turn into the happiest of happy and start singing carols to absolutely everyone who will listen. And they're right, I do love winter. But spring is my time of year. If one day the president said that we had to vote on one season and that would be the only one that we could have I would totally rig that ballot and spring would win. There is just something about the way the breeze smells and feels on my finally bare arms. My whole body is relived to make it to spring. I love the noises, the weed wackers, the lawn mowers, the birds, the breezes, the rains. I love that I can hear what's going on in the parking lot below my window because it means the windows are open. When I'm at home during spring I spend every single day outside on the big swing on the back deck with Wicket and Boomer cuddled next to my legs and Jane Austen or Henry James (I'm forever trying to finish Portrait of a Lady) in my hands, the breeze hitting me and making me feel as though I'm really in that garden with Mr. Nightly and Emma. When I'm at school I'm often at a lose for what to do. There are so many things. If the sun was out I'd be outside taking pictures, but it's not. And if I was motivated I'd go for a jog, but I'm not. If I could focus I'd be reading a novel, but I can't. I'm absolutely filled with this restless energy and it peaks every time I feel the breeze float through my window and land on my cheek. Spring is always when I'm at my most creative as well, in fact this blog was born in spring. So instead of doing anything productive, I'm sitting on my bed, blogging and listening to spring. 

Spring Checklist

A few things must happen before I seriously  consider it spring. However, generally as soon I feel a little balm I start skipping and singing that spring is finally come...

1. It must feel like spring (smell, temperature, etc)

2. I must have a unique encounter with a robin

3. I must wake up to birds

4. I must fall asleep to crickets

1 and 3 have been completed...

There's Something Unnatural About Me in a Chemistry Class...

On most occasions, I agree wholeheartedly on the benefits of going to a liberal arts school. What's the point of college if you don't leave with at least a little culture? However, this "wholehearted agreement" ends when it forces a history major into a chemistry class. 

This evening at 7:00 I will take my first chemistry test in four years. Wish me luck...

On a brighter note, I'm starting to feel spring. Last year, on April 3rd, I had an encounter with a robin. My theory is that each robin is assigned a person to whom he is to announce spring. I haven't met my robin yet this spring, but I did see my first robin of the year and that's got to count for something. 

Not-So-Dandy Dandelions

Dandelions are the Rambo of weeds. There is nothing that gives me more satisfaction then grabbing that little weed and feeling those little roots give way and pull out whole. Now if you've ever tried to do this you know that this is not easy, but I have a particular knack. This past weekend when I went home my dad and I weeded and even though he was on the other side of the yard he said he could tell when I got a whole one because I get very excited and I "woo-hoo". This is quite a turn however because just 10 short years ago I was yelling at my parents when they pulled them or mowed because I thought they were pretty.

Spring is Lovely

Ah glorious spring. You don't have to know me very long before I will tell you that I hate the heat of summer, the sun, the dust, the dry grass, there is nothing good. However, all you have to do is see me in the spring to know that I love it. I find it almost impossible to stay mad in the spring and so I am bouncy and lovely for 2 months. It just fits me, a new beginning, wonderful weather, green and blue and pink and purple, tulips and lilacs and hyacinths, rain and thunderstorms, everything good is in the spring. And there is nothing I love better than my own backyard in the springtime. My yard is filled with crab apple trees and dogwoods and a redbud, it has a beautiful lilac bush and I've planted probably hundreds of tulips (fun fact about me, my thumbs are stubbornly green). We don't have a huge yard, but it's gorgeous in the spring. So when I went home for my sister's senior prom I just had to take as many pictures as possible. So now I'll share, don't mind my rudimentary photography and don't mind the funky ordering, it's too hard to move them around. 

First, my dog...

He was waiting for me to throw the ball

Yeah, he's pretty much obsessed...

He sniffed the camera. This makes me one of those crazy dog people huh?

This tree looks just like cotton candy in the spring

One of my special tulips, I think it's an Angelique?

I loooooove tulips

My favorite tree, the Redbud, got hit in a tornado two summers ago and we had to cut it down, but miraculously this offshoot started growing and it gets bigger every day!

My favorite crab apple, it's blossoms are such a rich pink and it's leaves are a saturated dark green color

This Maple was so small when we bought the house, now it's the same size as the house!

 I like this picture because the dogwood blossoms look like snow : )

One more of the cotton candy tree

No pictures of the hyacinths because they've already come and gone, and no pictures of the lilac bush because it's too early, but don't fret, they will be here soon and so will pictures!

Thoughts...

I feel like I am in Ireland. The soccer field my room looks out to is gloriously green, and whether that is because it's actually green or because it just looks green in contrast to the ugly brown trees I don't care. The grass is green, and I am a happy girl. 

And I would be gloriously happy if it wasn't for the fact that...

...there is TB in my dorm. And I'm pretty sure that I am going to die a dramatic death because of it a la Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge. Complete with a song and dance number and a midget.

(She dies of TB in the movie for all of you that just think I'm babbling...)

Robins Egg Blue

It's spring! I had an inkling this morning when I walked to meet my friend for lunch and a robin walked right in front of me, but my inkling was continually strengthened as the day progressed. Now at Manchester there is nothing strange about a squirrel walking so close to you you're forced off the sidewalk through squirrel intimidation, but the birds, they usually keep their distance, they know that there are no school rules protecting them from being chased or touched (oh yeah, MC has squirrel protection laws...). This little robin though, he wanted me to see him. I have a theory that each robin is designated a person to whom he is to formally announce that spring has sprung, and that little guy must have been mine. The real hard evidence came later though. My boyfriend was visiting with me this evening and we were looking up music online when all the sudden I heard something, well two somethings. First I heard a really steady spring rain. I don't know what the difference was

 but the rain we had earlier this week was not spring rain, it sounded different and it didn't smell right. This was a spring rain, it was fresh and clean and it smelled green. But there was something else too... crickets! I heard crickets tonight. It's been so long since I last heard them I wasn't even sure what they were at first. I had to make my bf turn the music down so I could listen. Two hours later and they are still chirping away, an unrelenting welcome to spring filled with promises of flowers and thunderstorms. What more could a girl ask for?

"And then the day came, when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."  - Anais Nin

And congratulations to Harry Potter, I'm glad that Filch found your wand!