Remember that last post about all the exciting bursts of Spring color?

This is what I saw when I awoke this morning:

Crazy, crazy weather.

Lately, I’ve found it terribly difficult to concentrate.  It seems more than not, my mind will just start to wander and my senses are caught up in the wonder of freshness and new that surrounds me.

As I was driving to work this morning, rather than planning for the tasks of the day, I was caught up in the explosion of forsythia yellow, the fluorescent red buds, pillow like puffs of pink and white on crab apples, and the lovely shade of coral on the quince bushes.  Waves of lavender henbit flood a fallow field in need of plowing.  Tiny unfurling lime green leaves and tiny spears of various shades whisper anticipation.

As I write this, a sudden shower has sprung up and the air smells like freshly laundered bed sheets.  Just moments before, you could hear peeper tree frogs from my open window and various familiar warbles and chirps as birds returning scope out the best places to build a nest.  A set of house wrens are quarreling.  She likes the space on the light under the eves of my house, whilst he thinks ¾’s up the pine tree makes a better location. 

It’s raining a bit harder now and the sky looks a menacing shade of grey.  The sheets of rain come on the diagonal washing away the winter grime.  A cup of tea is in order for such an occasion.  Milk and honey added.

A new start.  New beginning.  A re-boot, if you will.  The promise of vibrant growth come to life.  My mind continues on in lazy circles

You know, dogs love you without condition.  No matter how you might unintentionally neglect them, they always give back nothing but love.  I used to let her sleep with me.  

I miss my Sadie.  She died in my arms a few years ago.  I still love her and I still miss her.  She was my baby, and you never really get over that.  

Well, word has it that Armani is finally using me for an ad campaign for their new fragrance Mania.  The billboards are all over.  I'm thrilled to be chosen as Armani's Mania man!!  I'm not wild about the camera angle, but I guess the ad guys know best.

Here are some of the billboards in NYC and Chicago:

Aw, come on!  I nearly had you, didn't I?

Check out my new favorite site: Photofunia

The Box Turtle Bulletin recently ran this story.  I thought you all might be interested.  There is a direct link to the BBC also:

British Prime Minister Weighs in on Prop 8

Timothy Kincaid

March 6th, 2009

California’s Proposition 8 has become an event greater than itself. No longer a vote on whether same-sex couples can call their relationship “marriage”, Prop 8 has become a symbol, a rallying cry, an event that transcends its happening. Protests over its passage have not been limited to the state’s borders, or even the nation’s.

A further evidence that this ban is representative of the global fight over equality for gay people came this week in London (BBC) from Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Speaking about Proposition 8 in California,

Mr Brown said “this attempt to undo good that has been done is unacceptable”.

He added: “This shows why we have always got to be vigilant, always got to fight homophobic behaviour and any form of discrimination.”

Those inclined to irony might note that same-sex marriage is not legal in England, either. However, over there the amost-marriage-but-by-some-other-name has federal recognition and in California it does not.

The headache lingers and the night’s rest is fitful, so I go and sit by the window and look out into the moonless dark.  Smoky fingers of clouds seem to pluck the stars out of the sky one by one to deepen the blackness.  A feeble light from lingering snow.  A cold wind whistles through naked trees.

My mind is a raging sea of thought.

The stove’s belly grumbles with a shift of burning wood and belches a puff of smoke through the little crack in the pipe.  A copper kettle hisses unsuccessfully trying to keep the house from being too dry and I can see precious few lights in the valley where the town slumbers.  Everyone seems to be asleep but me.  I curl myself into a ball and try to rest my eyes.

More awake than asleep, my thoughts drift and whirl around at a dizzying pace.  Wishes, worries, woes.  The thoughts come and go and come back again.  It does no good to worry and it does no good to wish.  He promised hope and change, but have we been without hope for so long that change will not be soon enough?

Mortgage, shrinking investments, bills, bills and more bills.  Waiting for the damned green card already.  Expiring VISA.  Lousy job with no foreseeable promotion.  Faded friendships.  Apathy.  Exhaustion. Angst.  I feel my shoulders tense with each new wave of anxiety.

The glossy pages of the seed catalogue are slick against my fingers and as if reading some rare and precious book, I study each page with intensity.  After all, Spring holds promises of new growth and refreshment. 

I can feel my eyes get heavy and my body relax as I plan my garden.