Is it Spring yet?

It's getting there... but not quite fast enough, in my opinion. The bluebonnet plants are popping up all over the pastures, there are ladybugs on the porch, turtles and ducks in the pond, and scores of birds dining at our bird-feeder and bathing in our fountain. And every morning, at least three or four deer are munching the grasses in the side pasture... and I hope they're not eating the bluebonnets before they have a chance to bloom.

Everyone says that this will be a banner-year for the bluebonnets, and I hope they're right. Last Spring's bluebonnet count was more of an exhibition than a true explosion... so I'm hoping that our house will look like it's sitting in the middle of a sparkling blue ocean by April.

The Mardi Gras celebrations in Galveston and New Orleans came to a close last night... and a cold celebration it was indeed. Lower-than-ever temperatures have been reported all over the south, and I'm sure my cousins on Long Island are thinking that our 38-degree nights are nothing at all to complain about, given the fact that they've had days and nights in the single digits up there, with houses and cars and roads covered with ice and snow that hasn't even had a chance to melt.

As luck would have it, our little friend Miss C is up in New Jersey this week, in the midst of all that frigid weather. The company she works for sent her up there for a training class and conference meeting, and she won't be back on Texas soil till the end of the month. Needless to say, she was not a happy camper when she got the news that she'd have to fly up north in the middle of February. "Couldn't they have sent me to Hawaii?!"... that's what she told me on the phone before she left.  I suggested to C that she wear boots, bring her heaviest coat, pack extra sweaters and socks... and I told her by no means to walk around Newark after dark. (With apologies to Newark, I truly don't believe that city is as safe as Houston or Galveston for a young girl out walking by herself.)

After this afternoon's tea party (every Wed. is our "Waldorf Wednesdays" group), I took down all of the Valentine's decorations. I've scaled down a lot on Valentine things... everything fit into one plastic bin, and not a huge bin at that. I sent a lot of Valentine decorations to my cousin's little girl, and to my friend Fran's granddaughter, and I also sold a bunch of red glass hearts and vases in my booth at the antique co-op.

I've got a bin filled with St. Patty's Day decorations and glassware, and another bin filled with Easter things. As each of those bins come out of the storage closet, I'll sort through them and probably send some items to my cousins' kids, and also sell some things in the shop.  We used to have such big parties and gatherings for every holiday... and for the holiday-less months, I'd make up a theme so we could all celebrate something.

I know one thing we can celebrate out here---- the end of this stupid cold weather!