Spring Fling

Traveling dog...

BEST FIRST DAY OF SPRING BREAK EVER! My day wasn’t as dramatic as I just implied, but I did have a lovely day. I slept in, got a latte, lazed around, did the crossword puzzles AND the jumble (“…on a dead end!”), finished save-the-dating,

Off you go little ones, do your job...

vacuumed (blech), watched “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” (shamelessly, mind you)(I’m on volume 3), ran, and took some backyard/garden pictures. I say the “Best first day ever…”so vehemently because with the advent of every vacation, except Christmas, there’s just too much going on there, I ponder how well suited I am to a life of leisure and not having to show up anywhere. I am totally content puttering around the house and straightening up our things or reclining on a beach or whatever it is that I do with my free time. The tricky thing, though, is that I can get quite crabby by the time my vacation time comes to an end. I really don’t think it’s because my happy time is coming to an end, I actually think it’s because I’m ready for the structure and community that work allows me. This happens to me at every vacation. It’s great, I guess, since it means that deep down I do like to be employed for reasons other than monetary ones; that I like what it is I do, even if it kicks my hiney all the dang time. However, being at the start of my break, I’m soaking up every second of it even if I’m just cleaning and taking care of life’s business…SPRING BREAK 2011 SAN JOSE WOO HOO YEA!!!! Minus the body shots…

I’ve been on a phone camera kick recently. As mentioned, my little computer is quite slow. Blogging and internet and such is fine, but loading up the camera takes a toll so this way I can just email the picture directly to myself. Hence the quality of the pictures isn’t as good as it could be, but ohhhhh well. I “snapped these shots”, though, because as much as I love summer, spring is just such a close second (something I have definitely mentioned before). It smells soooo good outside these days (depending where you are, I suppose, but you get it) because of the jasmine and other fine fragrances nature allows us (citrus blossoms! Etc.) and I LOVE how the day time lighting in the house has a tinge of green to it because of how many green leaves are outside the windows and just how concentrated that green is (not to mention the different shades of it: light-almost-yellow-green, deep-hydrangea-leaf-green, grass-green…). Today the sky was grey but the cloud cover was fairly thin, so the grey is very bright if you can picture it; this bright light reflects that green and I just can’t STAND how pretty and luminescent it all is and how it casts everything in this light. Plus the days are still getting longer…waxing, if you will, as in the opposite of waning, not the waxing that is painful…I digress. While summer woos me like no other, the green is not quite as fresh as it is now and once June hits us, the days technically shorten just a teensy bit every day, though one doesn’t really notice until later. So I would love the warmth and sunshine of summer with the beauteous coloring and promise of aforementioned summer; sprummer ifyoupleasethankyouverymuch.

Another thing about the gardens is that there's always a surprise. My decade old cousin and his neighborhood pal play in and around the yard/house/street/wherever. See if you can spot some of the evidence of their misadventures here.

I live by the kitchen door...

I do too!

Those green leaves I love!

Pretty and sweet-smelling trumpet flowers...these are a bit worse for the wear but they bloom often and smell soooo nicely!

How much is that doggy...

Hydrangea leaves and buds...soon to be flowers!

More hydrangea...

and more!

Backyard wisteria...

Backyard persimmon...

Backyard Japanese Maple...

Street sycamores...

Backyard view...

Anyway, this day has been quite nice. I’m sitting on top of clean laundry on a freshly made bed waiting to go to yoga (which hasn’t happened in quite a while, incidentally) and Mr. M and I are going to get a quick bite after so I’m excited for the night ahead. I have also mapped out a brief schedule for myself for the rest of the week so that I can pencil in grading. I find that I am really drawn to absolutely any other to-do when the grading piles up and that makes it necessary to make a list that includes the grading since I’m a slave to my lists…so...happy Monday (really!!)!  Post Script: I went to yoga and, as always, thought “Why don’t I do that every Monday?”