March blew in...

Susan Branch calendar

It's been an eventful week, and not all in a good way.

My last day at work was supposed to be February 29th, but something came up at the last minute, and my boss asked if I would mind staying another two days. Of course!

Early crocuses. Aren't they dear?

On Friday afternoon, my boss was in the office, so we had a lovely talk about what the last three years has meant for each of us. I offered to turn in my key, or did he want me to keep it for the occasional re-entry to do some mundane office tasks for him. And what about my email: did he want me to set it to forward to him, or I wouldn't mind checking it daily and sending on anything that might come in that he would need. At the end of my several suggestions about how to handle this or that in the wrapping up, he said, "I don't want anything to change." That makes it easier! So - I'll be available when he has the occasional need for some clerical help, or until I find another job that will keep me from being on call now and then. I left feeling good about being able to be a support to him in some small way and with the hope that his business picks up again. More for his sake than for mine; it's very disheartening to him that business is so down right now. Ironic, because during the worst of the economic recession, he was very busy. And now that things are picking up elsewhere, he's not seeing it.

Saturday I had to go to the post office to pick up a registered letter, which turned out to be from the day program G attends three days a week. A letter informing me that March 15th will be G's last day there. No prior warning. Out of the blue. It's a long story which I may tell later, but I made the mistake of opening the letter and reading it while I was still at the counter, waiting for change for my stamp purchase, and I burst into tears. Not my usual style, in public or not. I feel, at the moment, as though I've been punched in the stomach. It's unjust, to say nothing of unprofessional.

Oscar's rubber chicken, with his head under the oven.
This is how I found him Saturday night, and I know how he feels.
Luckily, it's not fatal.

Sunday after church I had planned to meet two of my caregiver friends and best advisers for lunch, and the timing was perfect: I got wonderful sympathy and practical advice from them on this latest development. Find a new day program for G, and after he is settled, deal with the way this was handled and the assorted problems that have plagued us since G started there last June. I'm still reeling from this change, but this morning I visited a potential location (much farther from our house, as are all the other options) and hope to visit another one tomorrow.

Sunday evening my parents were here for a bean soup dinner; my mom brought the salad and her wonderful oatmeal cookies, and besides the soup and bread, I made cranberry and ruby red grapefruit compote. Really yummy, from EatingWell.com. Lots of good conversation.

Cranberry and ruby red grapefruit compote

In a few minutes, I'm going to my friend and neighbor's for lunch with her and another neighbor, so that should be fun. I'm taking some freshly cut pussy willows for them.

The Happiness Advantage

A friend sent me a link to a TED talk which she titled "funny and interesting." The speaker is Shawn Achor, and my friend was right - he is funny and interesting. In a very entertaining way, he explained that while we think success will make us happy, it's just the opposite: happiness will make us successful.

I'm now reading his book - also funny and interesting - and it's reinforcing some of the other concepts on happiness that I've been reading about over the last year. If you need a dose of happiness and have about 12 minutes, take a look.

Reasons to be cheerful - under the wire

It took just a few days for the pussy willow branches to open -

now their feet are out of water and they are hanging upside down for a bit.

This is the last week for PlanetPenny's Reasons to be Cheerful, and eek! I have less than 6 hours before the deadline.

The weekly cheerfulness has been a wonderful theme for me, and a great way to visit other people's blogs and get to know new people. Thank you so much, Penny, for hosting such an uplifting party all these weeks.

This past week I met some friends for dinner and a movie - dinner was at an Italian restaurant with a half-price-wine-by-the-glass special. The food was great, and the conversation started off with one friend's description of a cooking class demo she had just attended. So much fun to discuss the vegetables she had never cooked with before, what our experiences have been with them, what vegetables our mothers cooked when we were growing up...I could go on and on. Then we walked down the street to our 1928 movie theatre, built for the advent of talking pictures, to see The Artist (the opening scene is in 1927 as the silent movie industry is shifting gears to talkies). Great film and wonderful to see it in such an apropos setting.

Last night our church sponsored a fundraiser around Late Nite Catechism. Such a wonderful, funny, and poignant interactive theater production.

The actress who played Sister, who is teaching an adult catechism class, was excellent. Very funny, as well as thought provoking. The fundraiser was beautifully put together by a creative team of women and included being able to buy indulgences before the performance and during intermission. Not all of us really knew what indulgences were, but we bought them anyway (they were beautifully handmade cake pops).

We still have some snow from Friday morning, which didn't stop the snowdrops and crocuses.

Today was sunny and 50F. And now even the daffodils are coming up!

Thanks again, Penny!

Edited to add: What?! 30 minutes ago the link said "closing in 6 hours." Now it says Closed. Oh, well! Still cheerful.

An Etheree on Snow

Morn
has brought
a changed state.
Overnight, snow
adorned tree and branch
with ethereal charm.
Treasure the beauty of it!
For tomorrow it may be gone,
melted into glittering riv'lets
of liquid, reminding us of what's lost.


For Mrs. Micawber, who introduced me to this form of poetry: Ten lines, each having the same number of syllables as its line number.

And thanks to my dad, who sent a picture of this morning's view from their windows.

Coaxing catkins

There is a tree in the neighbor's yard that stretches over their fence and intertwines with our ancient lilac bushes. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but in early spring, it has pussy willow or catkin buds on it. (I just looked up pussy willows and still am confused about what is in the neighboring yard. It's a big tree and not in a wetland. So - anyway...)

Two years ago the electric company trimmed tree branches away from the power lines along the back property line and left branches from the neighboring tree in our yard. I was very pleased to get several bunches of pussy willows without even trying.

Because this winter all the plants in our area are way ahead of their normal spring awakening schedule, I checked the back yard yesterday to see if the pussy willows have started opening, and yes!


I've put some in a vase with water (and freshly cut forsythia branches to force) and some in a vase without water. I'm curious how quickly the ones with their feet in water will open. Once they have opened just a bit more, I'll take them out of the water to keep them at the catkin stage.

Pussy willows, forsythia branches, spent Japanese anemone

Edited to add: I think I'll enter this in the last-of-the-season Making Winter Bloghop, hosted by Thrifty Household and Silverpebble. It's not a very wintery post, but then our weather is strikingly not wintery this year.

For your viewing pleasure

I've seen this twice over the last couple of months - on bb's blog (I think), and on An Urban Cottage. Two minutes of an incredible natural phenomenon.

Downton Dénouement

Ah, Downton Abbey, you did not disappoint!

Don't worry - no spoilers here. It was a wonderful episode, some plot lines resolved, many still unresolved, and I'm looking forward to Season 3. And watching repeats of Season 2 on PBS, which they will surely have.