Spring Despair

When I'm sad, a beautiful day with blue sky, bright colorful flowers, trees blooming, sun shining, and birds singing, it all intensifies the feelings of gloom and despair. Yes, that's what I'm feeling. Despair. That must mean things will get better. I wish they'd start soon.

Fun in Downtown Corvallis

Tonight HHusband and I were delighted to hear the Oregon State University trombone choir give a concert at the First United Methodist Church. Oh, my. They were everything you would want to hear in a trombone choir. I hope to hear more of them, and the rhythm section that accompanied them on The Pink Panther. Their rendition of Let There be Peace on Earth was inspiring. I would like to hear that played regularly everywhere. They ended with the theme song for double oh seven. Their bass trombonist was quite amusing. Such an powerful concert. I think the leader's name is Henry, and he said they would soon, as in maybe a couple of weeks, have a web site, and it would have some sound bits to listen to.

Before the choir, we were at The Darkside Theater watching the new Neil Young movie. A very good movie and a good concert. When Neil Young found out he had to have brain surgery, he put on this concert before hand, and recorded it, then afterwards, when the operation was a success, he added some more bits. We always see people we know there. We are so lucky to have this theater in Corvallis. It is locally owned, and going there is always a pleasure.

Not only did we have a wonderful evening of conerts and movies, but the day started off with beautiful weather perfect for admiring the new blooms on the gravenstein apple tree.

Corvallis Orchestra Concert

Tonight the Camerata String Orchestra gave a concert at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library in the Corvallis Main Meeting Room at the invitation of Friends of the Library in celebration of National Library Week. I felt so lucky to get to hear them play in that small room. I could hear all the soloists, and the balance seemed perfect. I imagined myself as a guest at the large country estate of someone living in the late 1800's, with French doors leading onto a lawn and gardens just behind the orchestra. The music was that euphonious. Afterwards everyone, musicians and audience alike, was excited and happy at having either performed so well, or been privy to such a fine performance. Mr. Charles Creighton, their conductor, treated the entire orchestra to gelato at Roberto's afterwards, which offer was met with eager enthusiasm by the young musicians.

Dentist Wednesday Ramblings

There I am at the dentists, bright and early, and the first buisness question he has for me is do I want novicain? Do I? Well, yes, thank you for asking. I also got a blanket because it was hot in my house when I left, so I forgot to wear a sweater or coat or sweatshirt, and it was reasonably cool in his office. The topics of discussion other than dental had to do with horses, barns, stalls, rabbit manure, and flowers. Apparently his children give him stuffed animals to take to work with him so he won't get lonely or bored, then they give him care instructions for them. He said he had to separate them once because they were getting rowdy. Anyway, drinking coffee today is quite an adventure, because my face is numb up to my eyeballs. My new fillings feel nice, though. The old ones were wearing out and getting rough.

I'm expecting friends from across the country to come visiting in a month, and one of them makes great coffee. My darling HHusband likes his coffee a bit on the weak side, and he makes better coffee than I do, so I sometimes have to break down and go out with friends to coffee kiosks to get great coffee. Corvallis is lucky, because we have several places that sell coffee from Allann Bros. My favorite is the Creekside. I can't wait to go there again. Maybe Darling Her Highness Daughter and I will get to stop at a hole-in-the-wall coffee store that sells Allann Bros. Coffee between her lessons today. Wednesday is lesson day, and they're back-to-back.

HHusband has a couple things posted on Craig's List, and the last two days, I spent waiting for people to come buy stuff who said they would come at a certain time, but they ended up not showing up. There's another one today. Let's see if they show up. Waiting for people to not come is not my idea of fun.

Wonderful Day, Plenty of Coffee

Oh, how delightful it was this morning to wake up and smell delicious coffee and then get to drink it, too. I don't know for sure, but I think the coffee I made yesterday was from beans that had not roasted long enough. Another one of my wonderful neighbors roasts coffee beans in his home roaster, designed and sold by another Corvallis resident, or so I've heard. Usually his beans are oh! So good, but I think he must have messed up the batch I brewed up yesterday. Either that, or I messed up brewing it. Today, everything was great.

Now, I see by the clock that I have to take off, but I just wanted you to know how happy and well caffeinated I am.

A cup of coffee, please.

Yesterday was OK. It was Daylight Savings Time, but it was also Sunday. I thought I got up at 6:30, but it turns out to have been 7:30 DST. That's OK. Plenty of sleep. This morning was different. HHusband (who gets up at 4:30, and my alarm goes off at 5:30) must have been feeling coffee-esk, because he drank it all, and when I went to the pot, two drops dribbled into my cup. I repeatedly started to make more, but in the rush of making lunches for everyone, kept forgetting to follow-through. The upshot is, here I am, but I've still had no coffee. At least I remembered to turn on my alarm, so it would wake me up this morning. It starts off with the I Love Lucy theme, and I think it was up to playing the theme from Green Acres with Eddy Arnold and Zsa Zsa Gabor, or her sister, I've forgotten now, before I finally drug myself out of bed. It's OK, except I was too late to get any coffee.

Fun with Family

Darling Her Highness Daughter and I went on a road trip this week. She brought her CD's because Her Friend borrowed her i-Pod to take on a different trip, and I got to listen on the car's machine to music I don't normally listen to, and she actually talked to me. Sometimes she talks, and sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes when she talks, you start looking for the OFF button, but she wasn't like that this time. We had a lovely time, or at least I did, and she didn't complain. We saw Grandfather, an aunt, an uncle, and lots of beautiful scenery. She slept in my old bedroom at my dad's house, and thought it was a great room, even if it is being mostly used for storage now. Dad went to SO MUCH WORK tidying up his house for our visit. He even planned a wonderful meal, and he planned for help preparing it, and everything went according to his plan. This was all so flattering, that he went to so much trouble to make our visit as delightful as possible.

New Flowers in Pots

I bought a few new flowers and planted them today. It was so nice and warm and almost sunny. Now I'm going to have to close up all the windows and doors I have open to let in the fresh air. So much for fresh air--It's getting cold in here. I think I have to put away my things, while I'm at it--empty flower containers and trowel and things. Then I'll start dinner. I'm on a soup kick, and every meal lately has been soup and salad. Darling Daugher, AKA Her Highness, ate eggs this morning, which amazed me. A milestone in breakfast dining. I scrambled them and, thanks to my friend Andrea who taught me how, they were good. Pretty sad when you have to have someone teach you how to scramble eggs, isn't it? I'm waiting for D. D. to realize the joys of mushrooms. That will be more fun than eggs.

Rain Sun Rain Sun Rain

It's one of THOSE days. And, my outlook changes with the weather. Trying to get involved with cleaning my house, and its easy when the sun is out, but when the black clouds come, so does the black mood. I finally hauled the cans back to the store to get the 5 cent deposit. While there, I ran into my friend's wife, who told me he how frustrated he's been lately with not being able to see well. He's had surgery to help, so hopefully that will get better. They are talking about moving in a year, and trying to divest themselves of some of the collections they've gathered that won't fit into their newer, smaller place. Oh! That reminds me. I got a package today from my father. He sent me two cameras, two magazines, two boxes (one for Her Highness) and a box of candy for HHusband. Such a treat. And a bar of soap. That elevated my mood for a while. Now it's pouring rain and the blackest clouds, but I've got to shake myself out of this malaise.

Coffee Kiosks

Oh dear me. Last night for some reason I just couldn't sleep. I'm usually a very good sleeper, so was surprised by my sleeplessness. A friend of mine said he hadn't slept in three days, and I wondered how did he carry on? I hope I don't get to find out first hand. Anyway, I had to rush off early this morning to an appointment, and felt deprived by my lack of coffee, so I stopped at one of the many drive-up coffee huts. Are they ALWAYS so cheerful and energetic? The one I was at is handily located, and therefore, very busy. Cars lined up around the place in both directions. All that cheer was a bit much, and why do they ask personal questions? Just give me coffee and tell me what I owe. I'm going to take a nap this afternoon. As soon as the coffee wears off.

Help! Goose Attack!

You will no doubt be glad to hear that trees are all civilized-looking and the prunings are not only picked up but carted off. HHusband and I got outside early, because the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, and we wanted to get the sticks up before there was a change. Everything went very smoothly. All the neighbors waved as they drove by, and all was quiet and peaceful, with bird chirpings and tire noise as cars drove by in the distance. Just us and the twigs having a lovely morning. Then there was a horrible yammer that kept getting louder and louder. We looked up to see the geese were repositioning themselves by heading right over our house. I was watching the stragglers trying to flap into goose aerodynamics position, and wondering if they'd make it when I was distracted by SPLAT! A cold wet feeling and thunking sound simultaniously assalted my senses as one goose got me on the arm. I was thinking about goose leavings as I was standing under them, and wondering if they left as much when they flew as when they are wandering around on the ground. My conclusion is that they leave it in a more scattered pattern, and it was a somewhat rare honor to be so marked by that goose. I might as well try to make the most of it. I washed off my shirt, washed my arm, and changed my shirt. We got to the PRC or RVP or RCP or RPC or whatever it's called, across Hwy 99W from Coffin Butte where they recycle yard scraps into compost, so early they weren't even open yet. We've never done that before. Because we hadn't had breakfast, we got some popcorn and coffee at the AV Market in Adair and had a picnic while we waited for the recycle place to open. Peaceful, warm, a morning to remember.

The Amazing Neighbor

Remember the trees? Remember my nice neighbors? This is crazy, but yesterday as I was procrastinating one of my neighbors walked up with a pair of pruning sheers and wanted to work on my trees. He said his trees were done, and he thought he'd prune our trees if no one expected him to pick up sticks. I got the ladder for him. Our job today is to pick up the sticks and take them to the PRC for recycling. HHusband drove up soon after he'd made a mess of the ground with some cuttings from a scouting expedition for good motorcycle roads and got out his own pair of pruners. Anyway, I guess my neighbor showed me! I'll try to get my pruning done in February next year, even before HHusband starts worrying about it. Or January, depending on the weather. I'm going to put it on my calendar now!

Laundry is my Favorite Chore

Here it is, a week later, and bulbs are up and blooming, the sun came out, the cats found the sunny spots on the carpet and curled up in them, and the other tree and two thirds are still not pruned. When I'm not doing something for someone else, I get stymied, because there's so much to do, I wonder what to do first. Everyone's gone today, and it's just me and the cats. Should I get the ladder and go outside? I'm trying to learn how to play a nice Kabelevsky sonatina on the piano, and that's all I want to do, but when I practice I feel guilty about all the things I'm not doing. I tell myself I can't possibly do laundry without playing the piano while the machines run, or I won't know when the drier stops so I can't take the clothes out and fold them immediately. Don't I need to do some laundry now? The sun has hidden itself behind a bank of clouds. It doesn't seem so nice out. Brrr. I think I'd better do laundry.

Tree Pruning Day

Today was going to be our annual get-everyone-out-of-house-to-prune-the-trees day, except no one could convince Her Highness to help with the tree pruning. Also, HHusband had a motorcycle out on the corner of the yard, as he often does, with a For Sale sign on it. Also, it was again, a beautiful day. That brought all the neighbors out, and most of them stop by to chat. Well some pruning did get done, maybe so much as 1 and 1/4 trees, but Her Highness wanted to do something outside the house, and in order to get outside the house without having to do anything with tree pruning, she convinced a friend to come over and help with the tree pruning. Wow! Friend of Her Highness actually came over and helped.

Someone came and bought the motorcycle on the corner, and that slowed up the tree pruning operation, but most everyone was happy with that. Buyer seemed pleased, Buyer's son was pleased, HHusband was pleased, Neighbor was pleased, stray dog seemed OK with it, I was glad enough.

By the way, does anyone else have stray dogs in their neighborhoods that are the size of deer? I keep seeing stray dogs that are large exotic breeds roaming around on their own near my home. Usually it's a Mastiff, but today's dog was a greyhound. I hope he made his way home. Her Highness tells me that in France, all unknown dogs are male. Or was that cats?

Good Day Sunshine

Today is so beautiful. All morning (I had to drive Her Highness around) I was smiling at the blue sky, the sunshine, the snow-spotted hills, the deer I had to stop and wait for, all the flowers and flowering trees...just everything. Today there were no scowling people anywhere. Everyone is happy. This is the kind of day that can make one forget dark and dreary ever happens.

Now is a good time to see if my coat is dry so I can put it on and go outside to clean up the yard a bit. Good luck with everything.

Cold and Friday

Whatever. I was hit by a cold blast of air when I went outside this morning, and all the people I passed waiting at bus stops glared at me. They looked so miserable! I was sick yesterday and spent the day under blankets with cats piled on top of me. They were very happy. At least someone was. I couldn't even read. The best thing about today is that I feel much better.

Have been reading about Michael Smith's bid for an Oregon nomination for repulican presidential candidate. I applaude his quest, and his many good ideas http://www.smithforpresident.com/.

I see a bit of blue in the sky so I'm going to try going outside again.