outside

We've been able to get out and about a bit lately, what with all of that Springtime in the air and all. My only sadness is that Jack isn't able to join us for much of it. He joins me on the patio, in our backyard, for a bit of sunshine and Springish smelling, but is really needing to rest after his recent hip injury. I'm hoping that after a little more rest and some of the treatments he is receiving, he'll be able to take a short walk down the street again {soon}. I'm afraid walks in the woods are out for the time being and I have found that I have been {unconsciously?} choosing places that don't allow dogs. I used to feel sad when we went to those places without him but knew he couldn't join us anyway. Now it seems to assuage my spirit a bit. I know he can still smell the woods on me when we return. I'm sure in his good-hearted-doggieness that he understands {mostly}. While I'm sad I can't take him with us now, I am happy that I took him as often as I did in the past.



Eva by the creek and some of the first trillium of the season!



Eva checking the water at the Audubon Society for newts.



Samuel and our one brush with frog-ness on Sauvie Island. I think we missed the frogs this year. We did see several snakes, though, out basking in the sunshine with the rest of us.



Eva and Samuel at Smith and Bybee Lakes. We heard frogs here and ended up seeing dozens? hundreds? of tadpoles on one of the flooded paths. I tried to photograph them but they were having none of it. Who can blame them. The herons were also plentiful that day. We also saw two black tailed deer and a bald eagle!

Spring

Here's what I wrote about Spring a few days ago. I think the tone in the first paragraph lacks a certain Zing! (which is why I put off posting it. trying to locate that Zing!) I was looking for to convey the most recent Spring shift in the air I was feeling. Upon rereading it, however, I wonder if the tone was perfect for that day. I'm posting it now because it seems subtly different enough from how it feels on this day, that I know that things have already shifted again, which feels good to me right now. The {seeming} lack of movement in the season had begun to feel heavy to me, as though no matter how hard I tried to open my eyes, I was still yawning and sleepy after a long and rainy nap.

"Slowly. Imperceptibly. {Until it's not.} No longer winter-moving-toward-spring, but simply spring. Spring. And soon, she will move-as we expect her to- toward summer. But until then- until then- she is spring.

Just last week, I wondered at feeling warm again and when that would feel real. Difficult to fathom when Spring's hail and sleet continued to pound the patio roof. Surely, those first flowers signaled a break. A subtle shift. And now? No longer one flower pointed out as we drive past, but several pink and white trees fully lining the boulevards, leaving me hoping. Knowing. There will be dogwoods. There will be irises. Ducklings. Subtle shifting and suddenly, a noticeably warmer day takes us for a much needed walk in the woods and we no longer wear coats. We leave our hats in the car, forgotten for now."

salad

Today I finished up the last of the blueberries I dried last summer. Suffice it to say, I will definitely be drying more next summer. They take quite a bit of time in the dehydrator but are completely worth it. I still have several bags of frozen blueberries in the berry freezer and while we are enjoying them immensely, I wish I had dried a few more. Next time. The dried pears are also good, but not nearly as versatile.

My favorite way to eat the dried blueberries has been in salads, particularly the ones I have been making since the bitter spring greens have started in my CSA basket over the last month or so. Today I had dried blueberries, tangelos and pink lady apples in a salad with walnuts, carrots, scallions (the first of the season!) and our first radishes from the farmers market. All of this was chopped and tossed with fresh baby greens, also from the farmers market. I like salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil on my salad. It took me a while to get used to this simple dressing, but now I love it.

I love this time of year for so many reasons, not the least of which being that I can finally stop buying the California baby greens every week for the guinea pigs. I eat mainly local, seasonal vegetables from my year round CSA, which I love and am happy and grateful to be able to do. The guinea pigs, however, really love their morning greens and unfortunately, there are a few months in Oregon when there are no local greens to be found. Even the Romaine lettuces go away. While the greens and lettuces haven't returned yet to our grocery store, they can be found in abundance at the farmers market. This last week, the pigs have been enjoying their new local fare, but request that I hold the spinach and bok choi, please. They prefer dandelions. I don't blame them. I must say, I was excited to see if I had found someone who would finally eat the spring bok choi that starts showing up this time of year. Of course, I prefer kale.

Slice of Life Tuesday

{on Thursday}

This week's theme is Yellow. I'm obviously gaga for daffodils.

spring photos and one guinea pig

No alphabet today. I'm barely here, just popping in to upload a few spring photos.

Bother. Yesterday was M, which I mistakenly missed. Too bad, too, because I had all kinds of M words, like Mad Men, which I am currently {thoroughly} enjoying. I woke up this morning to the realization that when I sat down to order the groceries, I had also intended to blog. I decided to wait on the grocery order, due to circumstances beyond my control and completely forgot about blogging in the meantime. I am currently waffling between a c'est la vie attitude and one that sounds more like Grrrrr...

Of course today, after thinking about the letter K all day yesterday, was bursting with words that start with K. I can't remember any of them now, but I definitely noticed them when I heard them. Eva has been enjoying playing Scribblenauts lately. (Hey, there's the letter L.) She plays with me and either types or writes in the words or she plays by herself and writes in words from some of the workbooks she likes. She also likes to type in just a few letters to see what comes up. I've been so surprised to see creatures like guinea pigs showing up {seemingly} randomly after she has typed in a few {random} letters. If you don't like synchronicity, perhaps you're partial to luck? Either way you look at it, they are both something good happening to you, at just the right time that can seem too good to be true and highly enriching and note-worthy (or yell-across-the-room-to-tell-someone-else-worthy, depending...)