like a lamb...

& so march ends! in this post i had hoped it would be so & the last several days surely lend some credence to the old wives' tale...in like a lion; out like a lamb.morning coffee on the deck (light coat needed but brilliant sun was quick to warm) with a swirl of birdsong that included a very precious treat~~ a jenny wren calling from our neighbor's tree! these sweet little birds were a favorite of my daddy (his birthday was yesterday). every year he would be sure to have a jenny wren house in one of his trees. he took great joy in leisure time on his swing listening to this wren's beautiful song. they nest in the area of PA where i grew up, but they do not here in eastern NC. however we are graced with their migratory visits in the spring & fall. imagine my joy the first year we lived in our home when i heard this song on my daddy's birthday~~ a gift from him for me, it seemed.D.'s parents have been here since last week & his mom is doing so much better. they are enjoying an early spring (PA is still a bit behind in temps & blooms). & i am enjoying family time multiplied plus boyworld healthy & on spring break!...aaahhhh. you cannot imagine how grateful i am for this time right now...it has been a rough month in so many ways at our home...even the gentle end is tempered by sadness. my soul sister L.'s mom passed away last week & our friend D. remains in the hospital with some complications. it seems so strange some days to look at a brand new blossom emerge, to breathe its glorious scent~~ the beauty collides in my brain with the sadness. when they both settle into place, the hope of springtime wins.

this 'n that

weather

spring & winter are currently battling it out in our area for domination (i hope spring wins...very soon!!). i take great comfort in today's equinox & the sun's return to my hemisphere (sorry, brad...you can have it back in 6 months!). this past week we have had high temperatures that are as unpredictable as a teenager's moods (sorry, boys!)...one day the high is 50F/10C, the next day it is 75F/24C.

therapy

when you get a text message at 10:30am on a thursday from your surfer-friend that reads "surf city pier in 30 minutes" if you can, you go...we could & we did!! & then we came home totally rejuvenated. best PE class evah!!internet fasting (as in no internet before 5pm during lent)...yeah, i've taken it in the solar plexus with this one. i have fallen into the cycle of using an entire pack of post-it notes each day to scribble all the online things i must accomplish after 5pm. then i find that at 5pm i am either running errands or preparing dinner, so the internet actual access is later. then i am tired. i can't read the day's post-it notes. & i start to fall asleep in front of my keyboard, telling myself i will take care of stuff tomorrow. all in all it has been a serious reorientation of time management coupled with an improvement in prioritizing. at lent's half way point i can honestly tell you that i miss the computer time more than i miss the chocolate!...but i will gladly enjoy both in due time :-)serendipity

mid week we were on our 5th or so day of constant cloud cover & it was one of the days that winter had an edge over spring for sure. at dusk it was windy but the rain had stopped & in my cabin fevered state, i grabbed my coat & headed out for a walk. as i rounded the bend of our street, through a clearing in the trees i could see the most incredible line of pink-orange sunset just along the horizon. the rest of the world retained its rainy-day grey, but against this, that sunset, no matter how tiny, was just amazing! & so worth bundling up & being cold.tonight

after a week of unbelievable busy-ness, i am posting this & then heading off to cuddle with D. & watch an italian flick. summer language classes are creeping up on me rather quickly & it is time to get back into my foreign film-watching groove...buon week-end a tutti!!!!

march forward...

did you ever hear the old wives' tale about the month of march..."in like a lion, out like a lamb...in like a lamb, out like a lion?" i'm not sure about how much truth it contains, but i'm hoping it's correct this year. we are awaiting plummeting temperatures & *another* forecast of snow. but unfortunately our "weatherman" is out for the count. Little Man is in a feverish state. His big sister, home from college, has taken up a place on the other couch, also ill. (how grateful she is to be home rather than in a cold dorm room!) i'd say this qualifies for "in like a lion" at casa piacere!

the things you accomplish...

...when your internet is down!!

let me tell you, my home management efficiency (& D.'s & the boys') went through the roof over the last week thanks to our internet service provider.


all the lawn care that has been neglected since the end of last summer~~ done! (our neighbors might just think new folks moved in!)


all, & i mean *all* the closets in the home~~ cleaned out!


my gi-normous stack of books~~ shrunk!


right after the snow event last week, our ability to get on the 'net everyday was impossibly slow or non-existent. at first i was peeved. then (after lengthy discussions with our provider's customer service) i turned off the computer & took a look around.


i think i just may have needed that break...very much.


lots of gratitude for...
125. the "schedule post" feature on blogger

126. warmer temperatures & a bit of sun

127. team boyworld helping around the house

& here's a bit of a treat for y'all...128. my favorite sunrise in january '09...

freeze frame

ok, so first it was this...cool!~~ no, not like the hip people mean it...it really was cool like "it's-15F-but-it-feels-like-5F" cool.

fastforward 4 days & remember that we southern-dwellers panic with a few flurries~~ this is today...this was mid-morning...& this is now, a mere one hour later...Little Man is on top of it (forecasted 3-6 inches, **inches* not flakes, people!)...my steel magnolia is enjoying her new winter-wear...& i am hoping phil does not get lost in the white-out!...more photos later~~ for now i am resuming my place by the fire under blankie with deep, eternal gratitude for...

123. electricity &

124. heat!

hey! who moved the equator??

i'm beginning to think we've slipped a few degrees latitudinally here in eastern NC as we brace for our 2nd onslaught of snow in 3 days. (in our neck of the woods, any snow~ even one flake~ in november is an onslaught!) Little Man informs me that we could expect to see a dusting on the grass later today & low temperatures tonight of 24F/-4C (almost 20F below our typical november lows!) with wind chills around 14F/-10C. right now we have leaden sky with a stiff wind from the north...& a fire in the hearth!! if nothing else, this weather sure does ignite a bit of the holiday spirit!

in a few weeks Little Man & i are off to see Baby Girl in costa rica where i fully expect to find our misplaced weather & pack it in my bag for the return trip!

solace

no, this is not our typical southern weather by any stretch...snow squalls blowing across the bay gave us a moment of white out today!Little Man was so excited to finally be able to call our northern family members & give this weather report...look closely now...yep, total accumulation = 18 flakes per square foot! time for some hot chocolate by the fire... (northern dwellers are forbidden to laugh at this post! ;-)

trade-offs

i think we brought something home from chicago, something more than sweet memories & great coffee...though i don't remember searching for it, buying it, packing it, or stowing it in the overhead compartment. but nonetheless cold weather came home with us! i'm talking mid-january type weather. brrrrrrrrrrrrr...& that abruptly reminded me of the top 5 things i will miss with the passing of the season...

1. morning coffee on the deck. i know i can still drink my coffee out there when the temperature is 30F/-1C degrees, but the coffee gets cold waaaay too quickly. & really, dressing up like i am competing in the iditarod is not much fun either.

2. going to sleep with the windows wide open, enjoying the sounds of the night bugs. let's just say, our 'window of opportunity' will remain closed when we dip below a nighttime low temperature of 45F/7C degrees ;-)

3. waking at 3 am to the sound of a mockingbird serenading the moon. i just don't hear him in the fall or winter...maybe he's not impressed with the cold either.4. packing only summer clothes for travel. summer clothing=lighter weight=more options. winter packing in the backpack is a true challenge. jeans & heavy sweaters...hmmmm... you do the math.

5. daylight filling the sky in the early morning hours. it is easier to open the eyes at 6 am when it's light outside!

but that got me to thinking...season change is not all gloom & doom. to be fair, i reminded myself of some things that bring comfort with the lengthening dark~ my top 5 consolations that come with the colder weather...

1. coming in from the cold morning air after hound patrol's first morning jaunt & wrapping my chilled hands around a steaming cup of coffee2. going to sleep snuggled under a down blanket

3. waking in the middle of the night to a crystal clear winter sky filled with stars. sometimes i slip out onto the deck & cannot believe the beauty spreading above me. & the still silence of a winter night is breathtaking.4. wool socks, cozy scarves, warm sweaters & soft mittens!

5. longer evening hours of dark are perfect for lighting candles & a fire in the hearth or in the fire ring outside.what are your cold-weather consolations?

the storm without a name...

yesterday found us hunkered down with an interesting weather event raging outside our windows.Little Man's predictions of that low pressure keeping us in check were right on...that storm surpassed hanna in interest (higher tide, higher sustained winds over a longer period, greater amount of rainfall) & it brought the ever-popular jim cantore back to our beach. (but our favorite camera crew found themselves landlocked in colorado...hey, R.!!!) any attempts at non-science school yesterday went away with our winds, in favor of instrument readings, graphs, charts, radars, & sky observationsbasically it was Little Man's dream day. but it is not all fun for him; it is also a responsibility...he is a national weather service weather spotter for our county.for all our interesting weather & thanks to Little Man's connections, yesterday gave us a first...a call from the national weather service to let us know that we were in the path of a tornado! not cool! the call came at the very moment we were in the middle of a torrential downpour &, of course, we could see nothing. talk about some nail-biting drama. we don't exactly live in the most tornado-proof home (not one room without windows & no basement), so we make do in our ground-level, non-living space that has only the teeniest window.we never did see or hear (thank God!) the confirmed tornado (i had a much closer call in may) but we did watch the storm that spawned it pass over our bay in the distance. this morning i could find nothing in the local news online to indicate harm or damage from that storm cell, & we are now enjoying gentle winds & bright sun with a higher-than-normal tide this morning.

postcards from home for Baby Girl...

dear Baby Girl,


autumn rolled in right on cue this week, something your tropical self probably isn't missing!we're hard pressed to get above 80 (it's almost wool sock weather for me!!)...& the wind!!! holy cow, it's incessant. Little Man is forecasting gale force stuff over the next few days based on the development of an off shore low pressure system .we'll see! i'm just trying not to get blown over...all that action in the atlantic makes for good things by the beach for surfers like your brother.he caught some serious rides on monday afternoon...i'm sure it's not quite the stuff from the pacific that you are privvy to, but it works for him.the school days are much like you would remember...Little Man is in the final battle between aeneas & turnus. Big Bro is on the cusp of the divine comedy (you know i can't wait for that again!). & i just finished my course...hitting the "send" button for that last paper was pure joy! i have exactly one week to indulge in some fiction (looking forward to this) before the next class begins.maybe i should re-read the secret life of bees in preparation for next month? speaking of books-into-movies, guess what comes to the big screen on friday...nights in rodanthe! you know how much we enjoyed watching them film on the beach. i'll let you know how it compares to the read.today's big news...it's back to the big city for my weekly italian classes!! the boys are marking time before next year's travel with their own italian lessons...with me at home (remember those days?).but i am getting rusty since july with verb tenses, & when i got the email informing of this year's classes, well, wild horses could not keep me away...well, maybe wild dogs! speaking of the canine species...you know your hounds are in mourning over your absence.it's really quite pathetic...they lie outside your bedroom door with the saddest of looks. (unless there is food to be had or a football to fetch)well, Baby Girl, it's really just ordinary time here & we wait expectantly for more tales from you, our intrepid traveler...tales of toucans & poison dart frogs & howler monkeys!


love your momma

rise & shine!

good morning, sunshine!!!...hanna came ashore about an hour south of us last night with tropical storm force winds (highest speed~ 55 mph), less than an inch of rain, & a storm surge of water that did not leave the confines of the bay...it was just like a standard astronomical tide. now what remains is a bit more wind (in the 30-40 mph range). i will say that we did fare so much better than we did through ophelia in '05 wind & water-wise...that time the bay was in our yard, we lost power & our roof gave up about 1/3 of its shingles! i cannot say enough in favor of our windows that were replaced since '05...during ophelia, even with our windows boarded up, the wind howled & shook those windows. with our new windows (not boarded up for this one) we barely heard the wind, even in the middle of the night with the worst gusts...& i slept so much better for that! Little Man spent most of the night awake & has informed me that these trees in our yard were basically laying down in the grass through some of last night's wind!...glad i missed *that*! has anyone out there ever noticed just how difficult it is to photograph wind???...(those upsidedown steps that you see in this photo are the ones that came off our dock & floated away through the night!) for a more technical analysis of hanna, please head over to Little Man's blog...for those of you still in hanna's path, you have my prayers for safety!

hanna & pajamas!

yep, that's right...we are battened down awaiting hanna's visit & i am blogging in my pj's! what a difference 24 hours makes!!...yesterday...today...now, the prep work is over...everything that was outside is now inside. the dock is stored under the house. the boats are safely on land. the evacuation checklist is back in its file for now as there are no mandatory evacuations (whew!)...as of now, our county has issued a curfew for tonight. the candles stand ready for later. Little Man has two computers with all sorts & types of weather sites running (radars, forecastings, etc...) it looks like ms. hanna will be paying us a visit as a strong tropical storm or a cat 1 hurricane...our resident weather geek just reported wind speeds of 70mph with gusts to 85mph (these speeds are still several hours away from us as i type this). we began feeling the steady winds last night...15-20mph sustained all through the night. today they dropped a bit to 10-15mph...no big deal, really, but it was enough to keep the bay full of white caps. about the water...the forecast calls for storm surge of 4-6 feet...landfall will coincide with our overnight high tide, so i am sure we will have some bay in our yard. our low tide this afternoon actually looked just like high tide as the wind is blowing from the east & pushing water *into* the bay in spite of the turned tide. times like this make me very glad our home is on pilings, keeping us dry through this type of surge. even though we worked hard before nightfall, we did find some time to hang with our weather channel friends!that's right...Little Man got the call yesterday from one of our road crew buddies...they were filming nearby through the evening & it was a pleasure to spend time with them...Little Man enjoyed another opportunity to get more career advice & dream of a possible future!...oh...i almost forgot...please keep the very last of our bird families to hatch in your good thoughts as they weather the storm just outside our window. we have not seen them fly yet but have hopes that they are big & strong enough to get through this...& now i better get this post up...dark has arrived & the winds are picking up again (around 25mph sustained!)...more later if the power cooperates...

& as always...my hurricane season prayer...Psalm 107:29:"He hushed the storm to a gentle breeze, and the billows of the sea were stilled."