RING MY CHIMES

These do ring my chimes

1. The color green. It’s the color of spring and there are infinite shades right now. Between the new grass in fields I pass on the way to work, through the new leaves on all the trees, to the pines, cedars and spruces in the neighborhoods, there are more colors of green right now than I have words to describe them.
2. Seeing the moon on my way home from work while the sun is still up. A little round I learned at camp kept going through my head as I drove. Mr. Moon, Mr. Moon you’re out to soon, the sun is still in the sky. Go back to your bed and cover up your head and wait until the day goes by. Ok, so I was in the fifth grade at the time. LOL
3. Squirrels. Ok, so they’re pretty much  rats with fluffy tails. But, it’s fun watching them search through the yard for seeds, hang by one foot from the seed feeder, chase each other around the house, and basically torment the cats.
4. Yarn shops. So many colors. So many textures. So many different kinds. From so many places. And I want it all! Whoops, I’m slightly delirious here. More about knitting later. Much more, if some things I want to write about pan out.
5. A used book website called Alibris. 97% of the time if their network doesn’t have it, it isn’t out there. I’ve tapped into used booksellers as far away as Australia. I think that was for a copy of Twelve O’clock High. Also the little notations, salutations and book plates in the used books. Darn I wish those books could talk.
6. Tea. Sorry, coffee is just coffee, no matter how you dress it up. Green tea, black tea, tea from Assam, tea from Ceylon, tea with lemon or without, tea with spices. Jasmine, Irish Breakfast, Darjeeling, gunpowder green, walking through the tea section is like taking a trip around the world. Tea, hot and streaming on a cold, foggy day. Preferably accompanied by a warm cat and a good book. But, you must choose the book carefully. You have to be able to manage the book and the tea with one hand. Use both hands to manage the book and quit petting the cat will get you the LOOK. That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s a little like suggesting that a confirmed teetotaler kick back with a beer and a shot.
7. And how can you have tea without muffins or scones. At least on Sunday morning. Warm from the oven, or at least the microwave. Never underestimate the power of a microwave to make three day old muffins taste almost fresh. Fresh enough to go with that tea and the Sunday comics and the cat, anyway. “Mom, you really weren’t interested in reading that silly ol’ paper right this minute were you? I’ll just sit on it and keep it warm for you while pay attention to more important things. Me, for starters”
8. Discovering that just about everything we planted last fall made it through the winter. Including the crape myrtle. It was looking pretty iffy for awhile but it is showing leaf buds at the base up through the middle. It may be smaller than we anticipated when we get done trimming out what died back but it’s looking good.
9. The ducks and geese at the local parks. They come in with such a gossipy clatter and a splash. Talk about an entrance. Then they either swim around the pond or amble across the grass chattering the whole time. Makes you wonder what they’re talking about. The quality of the bread offerings they’re bumming off the humans, perhaps. Reminds me of the after church coffee klatch when I was a kid. Everybody standing round, talking, eating, catching up with the week.
10. With a bow to Russ, all of you. (Big hugs all around)

There, that should balance that earlier entry a bit. Trouble is I’m doing this on my lunch hour. I have the tea but no cat and no book. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.