Now that spring is finally here:

Wow. Two posts this week. Can you believe it? Well, this one isn't going to be one of my normal doozies... just a list of things I happen to like about Spring, since... it's finally here. Man, this has been one long winter. It is one of the first winters I have enjoyed in a while, but I am also quite ready for it to be over. I want to see some sunshine, and play outside again.

Anyway, without further adieu, I bring you my top ten favourite things about spring.

10.) Reorganizing after a usually haphazard winter. Today, for instance, I cleaned out my closet, took 6 bags of old clothes to Goodwill, did megalaundryfromhell... (where does it come from? I just washed a crap load of stuff on Sunday! Oy!) and reorganized my living room bookshelves. That felt really good. When we moved in here, I just sort of placed things on the shelf to have it over with, and it was... well... semi-organized... and then semi-not-organized, to the point that I found Vonnegut books on every damn shelf, and there are six five-foot shelves in the case. Good Christ, that took a while, but it is done. Oh yes. It is.

For the benefit of my friends, I did make sure that my copy of the Bible remained sandwiched between the Quran and the Kama Sutra. Order. Yes. And... as my friend Korin so eloquently put it, "Praise all that is horny, and holy!"


9.) Hearing birds sing outside my window when I wake up. There is one type of bird I have been trying to identify for years and years. I swear I have the call... down. But no one can tell me what kind of bird this is.

Dont'cha hate that?

There is also an instrumental jazz/funk song that I have been trying to identify for years and years now. I tried singing it into that program called "Soundhound", and it came up with stuff that wasn't even close. I have a feeling it could be something by Jimmy McGriff, but still have not found it.

I do remember it accurately though, and even heard it again the other night while I was out and about, at a bar. My friends hadn't heard it before, and didn't know, so I asked the server if she knew what was playing, and she said that it was some muzac sattelite jazz bullshit station they had piped in, and she didn't know, either.

Damn it! But I digress... since I realize I went a wee bit off of my intended topic.

8.) Going for walks in my neighbourhood, or to other neighbourhoods not far from me. Who the hell needs a gym? The world is my gym, baby!

7.) Parties that go on into the wee hours in our backyard... complete with bonfires. Oh... always a good time. Yes, indeedy. What better thing is there than drinking, and then burning stuff? I mean... really.

6.) More opportunities for play. Park days start manifesting again with other families, or just us. At home, we break out the badminton net, and start playing whenever the weather suits it. We dine outside at home, or just hang out in the backyard. All of this is making me so happy just typing it!


5.) FLOWERS!!! That said, one of the things I miss about my old house, (now ye olde rental,) was the amazing flower garden. We had (well, I guess we still have, but don't get to see every day,) wisteria; red, white, and pink peonies; daffodils; spring and fall crocus; daphne; hostas; azaleas; rhododendrons; 6 varieties of roses, including variegated, and mini; iris; red and orange crocosmia; 3 varieties of honeysuckle in red, white, and pink; tulips; and I'm sure there may have been others I'm spacing right now.

Seeing all of that colour again is so stimulating and important to the senses. I try to surround myself with lots of colour in the winter time to compensate for the lack of active flora outdoors, and will often buy cut flowers to place around my house, so I can cope. But it still is just not the same. There is so much more to it than that. Flowers are so fascinating. They play on more than just one of the senses, and I could not imagine having to deal with winter year round; with no flowers. Thank the gods for hot houses... for those times we can't just go outside and cut them from our yards, 'non?

4.) That vitamin D fix that doesn't come from a bottle. I started taking a therapeutic dose of Vitamin D last winter, because I had my levels tested. And while normal range is between 20 and 40, and while my doctor likes to see levels right around 55, mine was at a 9. I was sick a lot. Go figure. This year, when I had my bloodwork done, my levels were at a 35, so they are improving. I think this may have a lot to do with why viruses are so rampant in the winter time. Vitamin D is so key in helping immune function. I got sick once this winter, and it lasted less than 2 days. Not bad. Not bad at all...

3.) Weddings! Y'all know I do those, right? I have shot... well, one wedding, but I am an ordained ULC Reverend, and I do, indeed, perform wedding ceremonies! They are so much fun, and I always get the biggest rush from doing them! Now... if they would just re-legalize gay marriage for more than 5 minutes... sigh... since that was the real reason I became ordained in the first place. I was over the moon for that week in '04 that it was possible! Le sigh. That doesn't mean I won't do a handfasting, or commitment ceremony, however. And it will happen again. It has to, dammit!

2.) Photo ops come back to me. I will be opening my studio in the fall, but in spring and summer, I do get a lot of outdoor clientele wanting family photos, and the like. I also take plenty of my own personal fun photos this time of year. Much more so than I do in the wintertime. It becomes a time that I flex my creative muscles and come up with new techniques, and try different things out. I love it so much!

1.) Longer days. As much as I complain about losing an hour in the mornings; once I have adjusted, I do appreciate it. And... while some people with small children don't like this because of the fact that bedtime does become more difficulut, I will say that there is a definite upside. I have a lot of windows in my itsy bitsy kitchen, but who the hell cares when it's all dark outside? What good do they do? Not much. But the other night, as I was cooking dinner in the daylight, at the normal time, I thought to myself: "Oh yes. Order... has been restored!"

It's coming! Yes! Yes, it is! Whee!

-H