Waterlogged

I think the worst kind of weather is cold rain. Aside from catastrophes like tornadoes and hurricanes and such, or consequences like power lines down or pipes burst, I mean. If we look strictly at the weather itself, and imagine a steady, soaking rain for days on end, and temperatures in the 30s at night that warm up to 40s in the day (0-8 C) – it’s awful. And it’s been our weather for three days, and our forecast for the next three days. Flood warnings in effect through the week.

Snow is at least dry! And absolutely delightful while falling, and even in the first day or two on the ground. Freezing temperatures are often accompanied by sunshine or stars. High winds are irritating, though often brief, as an upper air system passes through, the jet stream dips, or in conjuction with thunderstorms, always exciting. Hail is exciting. Freezing rain can be very bad, but as long as you can find a way not to drive, it is magical.

But this cold rain!

Forgive me my complaints. I am watching signs of spring in the garden. There is a faint red blush at the tips of some bushes and trees, and a faint lime green blush on others. The daffodils are blooming! But still the flowers must remain removed from us because I cannot cut them and bring them closer. This year I cannot bring in armloads to fill the house, because Jupyter loves to knock over bouquets of flowers. These signs stir me to go outside and work! To clip, to rake, to pull weeds, and cut the lawn…but not in this weather. I am cranky just looking at it.

We are back from Disneyland and all five of us had a good time with some pretty magical memories. I returned home in time to practice with Pedro and write out my final composition for Spanish class and get it turned in before PCC teachers went on strike. I finally, finally wrapped up a draft version of my Cherokee newsletter. That thing takes so much time for me. I love it, so I keep doing it, but it really does burden me now and then. Want to see? Click here for the website with back issues. I have been volunteering to publish this five times a year since 2014. Anyway, I’ve had feedback from my proofreaders, and I will get the March edition emailed to our list very soon.

Local Cherokees elections are going on right now too. For some crazy reason, I volunteered a few years ago to take over the elections for our group. But our membership is growing and it is becoming a seriously big job. And expensive, and time consuming. We should probably switch from paper and mail and stamps to digital. I think the group should work on that in 2026. Anyway…Me and my “team” of one more wonderful Cherokee volunteer, will count ballots Saturday morning and announce them at the meeting that day.

One of my absolute best natural gifts is that I tend to turn toward beauty and gratitude most of the time. It occurred to me that I am grateful the weather is awful because if it had been nice, I would be outside working and would not have time to work on Spanish, or elections or get the newsletter done on time. Staring out the window of my office gives me so much time to consider what I plan for the future of our lovely gardens. I stare at the puddles collecting, and realize ways to improve upon the plans in my mind without ever wasting time digging or purchasing.

Now that my chores are finished, and I wrote a blog post (waiting for Pedro to send me his Disney photos, then I’ll write about our fun trip to southern California where we both were sun kissed in the gorgeous weather), there is nothing to prevent me from working on my book!! I am having a blast writing my Post Office story, and I wish, I truly wish, that I had nothing else to do at all other than write, so I could finish it and show everyone. But there is steady, albeit slow, progress, and you will see it eventually.

Have a great week! Stay dry, stay safe, get some sleep, lean toward beauty and gratitude.