Very springy out there

I'm home from RI, got home Monday afternoon to a nearly-all bare ground.  The driveway is almost all dried up, just a couple of wet muddy spots.  I did an amazing job of avoiding rutting it up this year, adding that to my not getting stuck in the snow at all and I think maybe I've learned how to be mature about weather-related driving things.

I had a nice time with my mother, she is in good shape.  We didn't do much, I took her to town one day and the rest of the time we spent at home, mostly reading, dozing and visiting.  And eating.  I skipped the lobsters this visit, it just seemed like too much work.  We had a delicious bagels & lox Easter breakfast, then lamb for Easter dinner.  Those were the food highlights.

It's definitely spring here in Hawkeye.  The woods are absolutely silent except for wildlife noises.  I love this time of year, those pesky leaves make so much noise in the forest once they emerge, it's just a hushed world right now.  I have fewer birds at the feeder but a greater variety.  Wow has the chickadee population declined.  I assume they're getting food elsewhere.  There's a rumor of a loon sighting but the ice isn't out yet.  There's just open water along the shore, it seems really early for a loon to show up here.

The ice is really dark so it's getting ready to go out.  I was surprised to see how much melted while I was gone, I guess it rained a lot and was warm.

My good good good friends were busy at my house while I was away, they finished painting the living room (except for the cathedral ceiling part, we still haven't quite figured that one out).  They painted the ceiling, finished the walls and did the trim.  It looks absolutely wonderful.  They cleaned and cleaned the tile floor and rugs.  Wow am I lucky!  I'm inspired to do cleaning and purging.  I did take down all the artwork before we painted (duh) and didn't put everything back up, it looks worlds better with just a few pieces on the walls.  Now I need to find places for the paintings and prints I didn't put back up in the living room.  Freshly painted walls sure do look better without the clutter of a pack basket, keys and the odds & ends I had put up. 

It's a rainy night.  We tried to walk the bog in the morning but there was too much ice on the boardwalk so we didn't get far.  This morning we're walking at Taylor Pond then I'll go to the thrift store for a few hours.  I felt bad leaving--I think Saturday must have been really busy and they were going to be short-handed.  Now things will settle down a little bit but not for long, nice weather brings out shoppers and droppers, receiving is a busy place when the weather gets nice.  It will be an adjustment after the relatively peaceful pace of winter.