Spring and Stuff

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We're not celebrating the green day here (mainly because I forgot), but we are exulting in the apparent arrival of spring.  The new season doesn't officially arrive until this weekend, but there are signs of renewal here in the Treasure Valley.  Sweet, sweet, sweet relief! 

It actually hasn't been too cold and snowy this winter, but I annually find myself feeling cranky and irritable this time of year and antsy just to be through with the grey, cold days.  I had to work on Saturday, and when my alarm clock went off at 5:00 a.m. and I was in that weird state between sleep and wakefulness, I thought to myself, "Why is it so bright in here?"  I assumed that one of the boys had left a light on downstairs and that it was illuminating the backyard.  Wrong!  It was the nice layer of SNOW that Mother Nature had left us as (hopefully) a parting shot of winter.  "Are you kidding me?!"  It was one of the Saturdays I was actually kind of glad to be going to work.

Alas and luckily, Idaho has rather fickle late winter/early spring days, and we have had absolutely gorgeous weather this week.  Seriously, I just feel lighter and more optimistic and happy to be outside, soaking up some vitamin D.  I went out into the yard today and saw the following:

Not all of my daffodils are blooming, and not all of my trees and bushes have buds and tiny green leaves on them yet.  But there's enough new vegetation to let me know that spring has nearly sprung.

Another sign of spring is the announcement of the March Madness tournament pairings and the excitement that creates.  Adam has all of us filling out brackets and participating in a friendly family competition on ESPN.com.  I filled out my bracket in about five minutes one night, but Mike and the boys have filled out multiple brackets and are all convinced that they have made the right picks.  Apparently, even Adam's Young Men's leader from church knows about his obsession because he printed out and brought by a 2-ft. by 3-ft. bracket that he can fill out as the tournament progresses.  He is in heaven, but he has also informed us that only he can fill in the winners. I'll keep my hands off.

I felt so energetic this morning that I decided to make myself "run" a little farther than usual.  ("Run" is a rather generous verb, given my age and present physical shape.)  Lately I've been going a few times a week and walk/run/jog about four or five miles.  I told myself I was going to jog all five miles this morning.  So I did. . . except for when I had to pick myself up off of the pavement and brush off my dignity.  I was in my fourth mile, huffing and puffing and wishing I had been a more diligent exerciser this winter, when I noticed that the sidewalk was pretty uneven because of underlying roots and such.  I told myself to be careful, but it was probably less than 20 seconds later when I was stumbling and bumbling and splatting to the ground.  No major injuries--just a bruised ego.  The guy who was riding towards me in the bike lane did not stop to see if I was okay, but to his credit, he did not laugh uproariously either. . . at least in front of me. 

I've also been craving homemade bread lately.  I kept on waiting for a big burst of energy to propel me to make the stuff.  Well, today that extra spurt arrived, and I made the following:

Oh, my word, it was good!  Mike and the boys were in heaven, and I was wishing my girls and Andrew could be home to share it with us.  Maybe I'll find the energy to do it again when we run out.  Maybe.