A Gorgeous Day!

I couldn't have chosen a better day than yesterday for my Mental Health Day!  It was BEAUTIFUL and 59 degrees in the shade:  WOW!  I worked outside in nothing more than a threadbare sweatshirt all day (okay, and pants & mud boots).  I was pretty much exhausted last night and fell into bed just after 10:00.  But, as usual, it took me fo-EV-ah to fall asleep!  It seems that, when I lay down, my brain starts up.  Ugh.  It was all "in order to do this project, I need to get this figured out, and then I need to do this, and then, and then . . . ."  BUT, I guess it was worth it (going to bed at an early hour) 'cause I woke up about 5 minutes before the 6:45 alarms this morning:  AMAZE-BALLS!  ;)

Even though I didn't get my whole list done yesterday (see previous post), I got a LOT done and felt really good about my day.  I like the feeling of being physically worn out by the end of a day:  lets me know I was productive!

I just now remembered:  I saw the first skunk of the year on the winter driveway the other night.  I HOPE the dogs don't have a run-in with one this year!

There was SO much melting yesterday, and the yard in front of the garage is about 1/3 mud now instead of snow.  Once it is free of snow, I'll change the winter's snow tires for the regular ones.  The late snowstorm at the beginning of this past week was actually a good thing because I wouldn't have gotten that final layer of ice off the winter driveway as early if I hadn't needed to go out and plow.  As a result, that 4 1/2 mile stretch of road is free of snow now (at least, the narrow track that my car fits through is down to muddy dirt).

Check out this illustration of yesterday's melting.  These pictures were taken 8 hours apart:

11:30 AM - My lilac bush and a white pine just off the slate walking path leading from the side door.

7:30 PM - And, LOOK:  the first of the slate walk (to the right of the lilac bush) surfaced yesterday!!  Compare the two images of the white pine, in particular:  in the morning, the bottom boughs were still encased in snow!

Random:  while I'm uploading these pictures this morning, I'm also pulling ClipArt from the Web for signs advertising my Easter cards . . . and check this out:

Ummmm, yeah . . . this is EXACTLY what I think of when I think of Easter!  What the . . . ??!!

Here's the messy end of the kitchen (yesterday) waiting for me to clean it up and put away all the groceries that have been sitting around for well over a week.

Ahhhh, clean!  (At least this end of the kitchen is!)  And, everything is put away properly and in its place - not just shoved into the pantry.  (The door to the pantry is tucked between the upright freezer on the left and the glider rocker . . . which I'll have to recover at some point.  Warm pink is NOT my kitchen accent color!)

Do any of y'all have a comfy chair in your kitchen?  Honestly, I NEVER would have thought to introduce one to the space had it not been for a little house right down on the lake that my folks rented the summer we moved from the homestead and into town (before they'd rented the place in town).  (Clarification:  the rental is NOT the house / property they own now just outside of town.)  That was the summer before my senior year of high school.

This old, little ramshackled house had THE COMFIEST, most adorable (red gingham, if memory serves), tiny Lay-Z-Boy-esque upholstered chair nestled into a corner of the kitchen.  After we moved from there (and STILL, to this DAY!), Mom and I talked about breaking in to steal that chair!  (Actually, she did contact the owners to ask to buy the chair but they said, "Nope!")  Since that time (eek, 23 years ago!!!), I think both Mama Pea and I have always yearned for a kitchen large enough to accommodate a comfortable chair.  After all, WHERE does everyone congregate?  The kitchen!  And, every single time I've entertained here at the Swamp River Ridge house, there's always someone rocking away in that chair and chatting while I finish up meal preparations.  I hope Mom's planning on including a comfy chair in her new kitchen design (I'll bet she is)!

A couple of other seasonal "firsts" before I forget:  I saw the first pussy willows of the season yesterday (they bloomed a bit earlier down by the temperate big lake), and, this morning, I hear red-winged blackbirds!  Their trill is my FAVORITE summertime sound!

Another project on yesterday's list was clearing the big deck.  The weather has started to turn so lovely that I want to be able to sit out here before bug season starts (all too soon).  But, since the 4+ feet of ice and wet, wet snow was so heavy (and required chipping off with the ice chipper as I went), I cheated and just dug a path from the door off the sunroom to the place my wicker rocking chair sits by the railing.

A slightly distorted, but effective, view from the southwest end of the deck looking back at the sunroom.

After all that hard, sweaty work, I cracked a beer and sat down to survey my domain!  :)

We'll end here for today with a view of the (very!) snow-covered walkway between the large and small deck.  I think I'll let Ma Nature take her course with that . . . or, at least, wait until she's done most of the work!  ;)  This side of the house faces S/SW, and the windows are:  master bedroom (top left), master bath (top right), living room (bottom left), and dining room (bottom right).