Changing Perspectives

The things that ordinarily would have annoyed me a few weeks ago, are now amazing and delighting me. I'm sure I'm not the only person who is discovering what once was a nuisance now seems rather wonderful. Such as? Well, mole hills come to mind. Always annoying in the past, now I find myself thinking, Well, at least moles don't have to know about COVID-19, and their life goes on, as always. 

I've had similarly kind feelings about the most annoying pest we have in our neighborhood, eastern cottontail rabbits, which have overrun our area and devastated many beautiful gardens. The rabbits eat just about any flower that's colorful and pretty, so they've become the archenemy of our neighbor gardeners. Now the rabbits seem more like a part of a bigger picture of sustainable life--a life without daily briefings by the White House, without the incessant chatter about COVID-19, about what new social restrictions have been put in place. Crows, robins, even a tiny Rufus humming bird have been flitting past my living room window this morning. I'm finding comfort just from their presence, oblivious to the virus.

This afternoon a neighbor friend and I will get together out in front of my house. We'll be wrapped up in winter jackets and hats and we'll sit in chairs six feet apart, but at least we can have some social 'in person' time. Who would have thought about how draining it is to only be with yourself. Sure, I can talk to myself (and I do), make phone calls--even FaceTime calls (I'm so grateful for the ability to see my family/friend as I chat), but only to have self-company for days at a time is intellectually and emotionally depleting. 

The photo is from my midday walk. I loved how this dandelion was able to plant itself in a crack in the street and bloom! Will I be that adaptable as the corona virus spreads? I hope so.  

Social distancing gets real

It's Saturday night, and plans have fallen through. Hm-m-m. Oh, I know, I'll take my birthday 'free meal' coupon to Ivar's, a Seattle favorite fast fish 'n chips restaurant (with lots of other stuff, too, of course), and have dinner there. 

I notice how little traffic there is at 7:00 p.m. as I'm driving, but I'm still surprised to find a parking spot exactly in front of Ivar's--that's a first! 

But walking in was a real gut punch. This is a restaurant where you place your order and pay--then seat yourself. Sometimes you have to wait for someone to vacate a table--it's so popular. Not tonight.

Daffadowndillies!

Several years ago I made a promise to myself about keeping up my blog: I would write a minimum of two posts per month! Seems like I didn't keep that promise in February, despite the extra day where I could have crammed one in. But the idea for the second February post, despite rattling around in my head for ten days, didn't seem to matter enough to stop other activities to write it. Until today.

Today, the third day of March, seeing what was happening beneath my front window, I HAD to stop everything and write.

Daffodil, jonquil, narcissus--daffadowndilly. All names for the beautiful yellow flowers blooming outside in my garden and emanating joy and hope from their vase in my dining room. Hooray for March and its birth-flower. Hooray for yellow, which has always been my favorite color.

I love daffodils, and I'm especially happy that the rabbit population infesting our neighborhood doesn't feel the same way. Daffodils are among the few spring bulbs that are not tasty to rabbits, apparently.