It’s late afternoon and as I glance out the back window at the thermometer I see it is almost eighty degrees. This has been a strange year in central
Marilyn likes winter and having a fire in the fireplace. This past winter we burned nearly seven ricks of wood, not really for the heat but because a crackling flame warms the emotions and puts you in a mellow frame of mind.
Flowers have bloomed here since the last snow and today the irises, perhaps the last perennial of spring, began blooming. Since Marilyn feeds the birds, our backyard looks like an aviary. The same five wild ducks that lived here well into the summer last year have also returned and today the hummingbird vine began blooming in a burst of hundreds of trumpet-shaped flowers. This is a signal that it won’t be long before our hummingbirds reappear.
Last night I cranked my hot tub to a hundred degrees, enjoying the water and my new gazebo enclosing it. It was dark and I only had the faint glow of a fluorescent lamp to light the tub. I wasn’t alone. An ephemeral light danced across the surface the entire time I sat there, up to my neck in warm water. I could pass my hand through it but I couldn’t touch it or make it disappear. When I went back to the house, I kept hearing a mechanical noise coming from the living room.
Today I learned that my wild ducks prefer cat food over bird seed and they love Whisker Lickin’s and Pounce just as much as my kitties do. I’m starting to believe that the money we spend on food and treats for the animals exceeds what we spend on ourselves.
I decided that the dancing light in the hot tub was a spirit, enjoying spring, rebirth, and the glorious hot water with me. The mechanical whir is a different story. I finally dug out Princesses’ favorite motorized rat from beneath her blanket. Marilyn had turned it on earlier and that’s where it ended up. It was still running, but like me sometimes - getting no place fast.