I think of Time, especially of Time's Passing, as a river - and I am a bit of cork or bark floating on top, tossed about by the currents and white water. Sigh! Last week is much of a blur for me ... but I will try to document it as best I can.
Last Monday we had our fifth? sixth? snow fall of this winter season. It was St. Patrick's Day (traditionally the date after which you should plant potatoes, if you are a gardener:) and we got about 8" of new snow. Maryland is usually much more mild in winter than it has been this year and, in some years, we have spring flowers blooming by St. Pat's. Not this year!
Tuesday I spent staying warm and at home lazily. I _had_ intended to drive to Ohio on Monday (to do a wild variety of necessary tasks relating to my Mom's estate settlements) but I decided to let the highway crews do their best to clean the roads before I ventured over the mountains. My route west goes along Interstate 70 to I68 and then US 50 - through western (mountainous) Maryland, then lengthways through West Virginia and finally across southeastern Ohio via 32/50. I have driven this route so often in recent years that I no longer need to refer to a map (a minor miracle for me as I can get disoriented very easily:). There is very nice scenery along this route with a few good places to stop for gas and food (lodging if I'm moving unusually slowly) and the trip (by myself) tends to be rather full of reflection and visual pleasures.
This trip it was, of course, still winter and the color palette was still heavily weighted towards the gray/dark gray/brown/muted neutrals. There were some sheltered valleys between mountains where I could see that the tallest deciduous trees had the tell-tale haze of early spring blooms - the swamp maples were hazy rusty red and easy to see from a distance. In one valley the haze was actually lilac-purple -- I'm not sure if that was a real color difference (maybe a sub-variety of maples that bloom bluer than usual?) or just an artifact of the light quality. It was lovely, though. :) When I stopped, I found that the buds on trees I could get close enough to examine were swollen and clearly ready to burst open with flowers and/or new leaves. Even Mother Nature's green creatures are tired of this winter!! :)
The weather was a bit milder while I was in Ohio than it had been - got up to 72 on Thursday (I think) and was in the 60's the rest of the week. Lovely, balmy, early spring blue skies. :) My Mom's crocus were blooming (the photo above shows some that grow just beside the front porch of her house) and her daffodils had yellow buds on them, just waiting for sunshine to pop out to full bloom. So pretty, especially this year!
I spent my time in Ohio (from Thursday through Saturday) doing a variety of tasks. Visited the county agency to get my oldest brother's medical benefits reinstated ... met the real estate agent and visited the small farm we have up on the market. The house and barn on that site are not livable any more. They remind me very much of the passage of time and the abandonment of farmland in general. I did take some photos for possible future art quilts.
I wish I knew the story of this place - it was unlivable when my parents bought it. The land itself is a lovely plot of about 34 acres, situated on the south side of a modest east-west ridge line of hills, and was filled with sunlight when we visited. The nearby homes ('near' is a country distance, maybe a 1/3 to 1/2 mile distance to each neighbor) are very nice quality and the place would be an excellent site for a new home, too. Our real estate agents thinks it might be purchased for a hunting cabin/preserve. The hills to the north of the house are wooded and filled with deer, wild turkey, etc. This property is, in microcosm, representative of the history of this entire portion of Ohio.
I also did some legal tasks while I was there ... and caught up with my brothers on the incoming mail, etc. I talked to a neighboring farmer that wants to rent Mom's fields this year, again. Apparently the local rate for renting some one else's property to farm is about $100 per acre, paid in two portions (one in spring, the other after harvest). Interesting economy. :) Oh, plus we asked him to mow the large pasturage area on Mom's farm (too hilly to plow but excellent for sheep or cattle to graze; Dad had entered the area in the local wild life conservancy plan and had put in a new pond and other improvements to entice water birds, etc.).
When I drove out on Wednesday, it was heavily overcast and rainy from place to place. Sunday, when I started home, the skies were again heavily overcast and I thought it might rain. Didn't, though, and I drove out from under the clouds just west of Cumberland, MD to blue skies. A welcome sight! :)
Monday I had a nutritionist weigh-in scheduled. I gained 1/2 pound last week ... which was less than I expected, thruthfully. Combined with the 2 pounds I lost the week before, I am still 1.5 pounds smaller than two weeks ago. :) Onward and upward - that's me, just bobbing along. I always think of Dorrie (from Finding Nemo) and her 'just keep swimming!' advice. Honestly, it seems to be my current survival mantra. :)
My carry-around hand work right now is another block from the Nature of Things b.o.m. project by Woolylady - the Queen Anne's Lace design:
I still have some embroidery to do on it to finish up (mostly cream or white French knots on the buttercream colored flower sections). I love Queen Anne's Lace and this block has been a real pleasure to work on. I think QAL was one of the first flowers I learned the name for when I was a little girlie. I do remember my Grandma Hampton teaching it to me one summer - I was fascinated with the idea of a flower being lacelike ... and had no idea who Queen Anne was but, like most little girlies, thought being Queen and having flowers named after you was a wonderful idea. :) Did you know that the scientific name for QAL is Daucus carota (hope I spelled that correctly:) - wild carrot. If you pull up a stem and sniff the roots, you will recognize the strong smell of carrot right away. I don't know if QAL is a wild progenitor of our domesticated carrots or just a close cousin. :)
Most of yesterday, other than my going out to weigh-in, was spent here at home trying to recover from the trip. Reading email, unpacking - oh, I did go to the pharmacy and pick up two refills and stop by my store to check the phone and email messages - and had lunch at Peace A Pizza (best salads I've found anywhere, so far, made with fresh and abundant ingredients:).
It is snowing today, again, here in Columbia so I have decided to finish phone calls (picked up a bunch of them relating to the estate) and work here at home on preparing my to-be sewing room. Tomorrow I have an appointment with the Orthopedist (going to discuss the whats and whens for knee replacement surgery) and I plan to go to the store to work on sorting out the remaining 'stuff' so we can get the area finally cleared out. :P
:) Linda
