Out and About

Spring in rural Northeast Missouri is a time of change as it is in many parts of our wonderful country.  For us, it can be cool one day and actually hot the next.  It may say it is going to rain and be bright and sunny all day.  We need the rain very much, but we also enjoy the sunshine.  It helps with the spring fever.

Spring fever.....well, for city people, it may be a stroll to the park, but for this country person, it is work, and hard but rewarding and refreshing work.  I have flower beds to clean out and then put out all the wonderful adds to my beds, like birdbaths and wind chimes and even ceramic birdhouses.  I enjoy some ceramic poppies on long metal stems which an artist friend made for me.  They are bright red, yellow and blue, and until the real things bloom, they cheer me.

My hot box is planted with many kinds of veggies and each time I head to water it I am waiting to see the first sprouts.  Yes, I do a little happy dance when I see them.  It means the seeds germinated and plants will grow if I tend to them.  I should even have plants to share with others.

As I grocery shop, I cannot help but stop to pick up a few pounds of potato sprouts for planting and some onion sets maybe.  I also found a wonderful new daisy plant this year called an Osteospermum or South African Daisy.  It is just so wonderful so I have plants to get another this week when in town.  You see our town is 15 miles away and I really only try to head that way on Tuesdays and Thursdays and of course Sunday for church.  

On Tuesday I go to the Y for yoga (wonderful) and swimming laps, a hit to the hot tub, shower, do the library run, and visit friends at the quilt shop before heading to the famous Java Jive coffee shop in downtown Hannibal, Missouri, where my knitting circle meets.  We have lunch, knit and talk and talk and talk.  Afterwards I may go visit another friend or run an errand.  

On Thursday it is a repeat at the Y and then I usually do errands such as grocery shopping.  I may hit our church thrift store mostly to visit with my friends, but sometimes find wonderful things for my stash for crazy quilts.  However, I don't look long because I so enjoy living in my country home that I want to get back, take my Daisy Mae Foxhound for a walk.  Yes I go for a walk with her on days I am at home, maybe several walks to total about 4 miles.  But on my Y days I still take her for a walk of maybe a mile.  It is about the quiet and the time outdoors with my best friend forever.....Daisy Mae, my dear dog.