Tag: spring (Page 6 of 13)

My Spring Manifesto

April 13, 2012 / Lindsey / 5 Comments

Different from a to-do list, a manifesto — to me — is the ‘long view.’ It reminds me of my priorities at present.

And rather than a lengthy list, I feel that simpler is better.

If you wrote a Spring Manifesto, what would you write?

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Here’s mine:

– Always have fresh flowers in the house.

– Go outside every morning, preferably with tea.

– Do lots of hand stands, for the sheer joy of it… & stretching, to regain lost flexibility.

– A temporary library book ‘fast,’ and a general reduction in reading for now (to make more time for writing and project-doing).

– Rest.

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Gratitude Sunday * April 8, 2012

April 8, 2012 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

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– More glorious weather! Punctuated by a couple of strategically timed snow days, when I had lots of moneymaking work to do and was glad not to have the temptation to be outdoors.

– Artichokes.

– Meeting F and his co-worker friends for lunch. It always cheers me up 🙂

– A clean bathroom! It’s been so long…

– Shopping at the thrift store, and finding treasures. It’s like panning for gold, kind of! I found a couple treasures for my mom, too. She’s been wanting a juicer & a citrus juicer. While I was at the thrift store, I saw a nice juicer & matching citrus juicer, for only $5.99 each! I called her up when I got home and she flew down there, arriving 2 minutes before closing, and bought them! They work perfectly and are really quality, probably from the mid 90s when they made stuff a little better than they do now; one of them is actually made in Spain. So she now has two awesome juicers for only $12!

– The extra spectacular redbuds this year.

– The beauty of the neighborhoods at this time of year when everything is blooming!!!

– Smelling apple blossoms in the moist morning air! Oh my gosh.

– Spur-of-the-moment plans. Those are the best!

– Doing lots of handstands on the grass; they’re fun and it feels so good to move my body again… after so long of feeling way too crummy to do any such thing, and not having the energy to move in any “unnecessary way!” Ha!

– Getting the tomatoes into their walls-o-water.

– The full moon shining in the kitchen window while I did my moneymaking work at night. Sure beats working in a cubicle!

– Being outside a lot. It’s so vital for me.

– A sweet bike ride to the store and back with my Hubby yesterday. I love those simple pleasures so much.

– The most wonderful Easter day I had today. My parents went to brunch while I opted not to (the buffet would have been torture I’m afraid)… and instead I had such a sweet time alone. I’ve been feeling pretty inward…reflective…quiet lately, and easily scrambled too, and this glorious Easter morning spent alone was just… right. I also gave myself the ‘day off,’ so I stayed up past 11 last night to complete and send off some time-sensitive moneymaking work, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it today. Today’s rule was no moneymaking work, no to-do’s to accomplish, no garden work, no garden planning, etc. Just a day to be outdoors and enjoy. I moved through it at a leisurely pace. I walked slowly. It was amazing. I felt more relaxed than I have in so long! I packed some nice food, stopped at the bagel place to get a cinnamon raisin Easter Bagel, and had my own little brunch under the apple blossoms at my parents’ house while they were gone. And then puttered around outside. I couldn’t help but transplant some little lettuce, beet, and turnip seedlings to space them out better, but even that was at such a relaxed pace that it didn’t feel like work at all. We took a leisurely family walk in flip-flops around the park in the perfect evening. And Hubby took a long bike ride and stopped over on his way home! From start to finish, I enjoyed this gentle day so much.

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Did you have a special Easter?

What are some of your gratitudes this week?

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This week in the garden

April 7, 2012 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

It was another million dollar week of weather! The trees are in full bloom, as are all the tulips. The neighborhoods are absolutely gorgeous right now! And the redbuds are spectacular this year. We even got some snow this week, but it doesn’t seem to have bothered the blossoms very much. The moisture was very much appreciated after a month with not so much as a drop. Things are greening up beautifully.

I planted the potatoes, and got my tomatoes into their Walls-o-Water. The chives are at their peak right now; have you ever had cottage cheese with fresh chives and avocado chunks? Add a sprinkle of pepper and maybe some Tabasco too. It’s a staple for F, and it’s so yummy!

Here are some pictures from the past week:

The apple tree is blooming…

And all my tomatoes got to go on a trip! They got packed into a box, then into a bag for carrying on the handlebars of my bike, then they went with me to my Friday morning meeting, and then finally to my parents’ house after the meeting… and into the ground, each in their own Wall-o-Water.

Playing in the compost bin…

Hubby’s beloved scallions have sprouted!

When I leave in the evening, the onion sets are taller than when I’d arrived!

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Gratitude Sunday * April 1, 2012

April 2, 2012 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

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– Such sweet comments from the wonderful people who visit my blog! THANK YOU!

– Lunch outside on a restaurant patio this week, with my Honey and a couple of his co-worker friends. That was so nice.

– Not needing to ‘live’ next to the space heater, hah! This warm weather has been wonderful.

– Discovering Mt. Vikos brand Haloumi cheese; a new obsession! (Their feta is so good too.) And equally thankful that my stomach… which is slowly healing… can handle it better than it would have a couple months ago! Yay!

– Tabbouleh, my continuing obsession. (I still need to share that recipe… [Edit: here it is: Classic Tabbouleh])

– The smell of hyacinth. One of my Top 3 Favorite Smells Ever. And even better, having a couple of stalks of it here in our kitchen; it’s so heavenly! And so ephemeral…

– Getting a difficult, nebulous (moneymaking) project completed!

– My sweet Hubby. My sweet Parents. My sweet Cat. My sweet Neighbor, Margaret. I am surrounded by such loving and wonderful people, I am just so lucky.

– How much F. makes me laugh! I love his sense of humor.

– Dreams, for making it clear when I need to back off on what I’ve got going on in my life. When I’m overwhelmed, I have scary dreams where I’m trying to escape a tornado or a tsunami, or am drowning. These three themes recur whenever I need to hear the message to “slow down.”

– Returning unread library books… one concrete step toward simplifying and de-overwhelming myself.

– Making time to just sit and journal… to think through and reflect on what’s transpired with this massive illness. Wow… lots to think about, and work out in my mind… it feels good to journal it… to process it… to integrate its many, many lessons…

– How incredibly good and normal I’ve been feeling… oh my gosh. What a blessing… I can’t even express it.

– Being barefoot in my garden.

– Being outside this weekend. I absolutely needed it.

– The quietude over at my parents’ house. At our house, there is constant, unrelenting traffic noise since we live next to a busy street. At times it drives me berserk. So to give my ears a rest feels soooooooo good.

– Getting so much awesome stuff done in my garden this weekend, with gorgeous weather to boot! I feel really really good about what I accomplished.

– Seeing so many newborn worms in my garden soil! They’re really teensy and cute.

– Doing handstands around my parents’ yard, just like old times. I was amazed that after 2 days of hot weather and hard labor in the garden, I was still energetic enough to be spending energy ‘carelessly’ on handstands! Truly amazing… (I hope Murphy doesn’t hear me saying how good I feel…)

– The smell of apple blossoms in the air as I ride my bike. What a special time of year! (They’re blooming 3 weeks early this year!)

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What have you felt especially grateful for this past week?

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In the garden this past week…

March 29, 2012 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Boy it’s been a busy week! There are lots of things I’ve wanted to post for you but other things have been happening like moneymaking work, enjoying the gorgeous weather, lunch out with my Honey, visiting my mom and dad, gardening, and resting my still-healing body.

Anyway, here are some pictures of what’s happening in my garden — and also my parents’ yard, where my garden is located. Lots of stuff is popping up in the garden — turnips, lettuce, spinach, arugula, radishes, bok choi, and probably others by now, too.