.  .  .  that I have outlived my use-by date.  A good number of things these days just don’t seem to be having the desired effect on me.  For example,  a well-meaning and clearly hopeful young woman slipped her card through my mail slot yesterday.

I wish her the best, but I will not be calling her.

Facebook is weird.  I have my privacy settings set very high and have, by choice, only a very few friends, and I have them only because they play Scrabble with me.  So, how I happened to see this post from the grandson of an acquaintance is a mystery to me.  Anyway, this twenty-year-old seems to be happy about his recent marks for his third semester at his local community college and is planning to move on to his state’s university system next year.   I do admire his efforts and positive attitude.  I guess.  He did grow up during a time when everyone who suited up got a trophy.

“Another great semester. I got a C+ in Human Biology, two A’s in both Study Skills and First Aid/CPR classes, a B- in English 100 (Composition and Reading), and two C’s in both US History and Literature classes. I was nervous at first, but I’m glad it turned out well for me during this Fall semester. I’m one step closer to moving on to a university. State U. here I come.”

A dear friend gave me a pot of hyacinths for my birthday.  They have burst into bloom and the whole house smells like springtime — instead of the usual eau de chien.

                                                         If thou of fortune be bereft

                                                        and in thy store there be but left

                                                       two loaves

                                                       sell one

                                                      and with the dole

                                                      buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.

To-ings and Fro-ings.  What a wonderful winter I have had!  For seven weeks .  With daughters and dogs.  I just dropped Elizabeth off at PDX for my seventh and last run up that way for while.  I love time in the car with my girls.  I pretty much raised them in the car, to-ing and fro-ing to school, ballet, basketball, riding, choir practice.  There’s just something conducive to conversation when you’re buckled in side-by-side.

On our way out of town today, Elizabeth finally bought her new MacBook.  We drove to the Mac Store out Center Street, past the Capitol Mall where we noticed that the cherry blossoms are just ready to burst into bloom.  I make a point of going there for the photo-ops every year, but today, I remembered that I have some pretty wonderful shots from springtimes past.

It makes no sense to me.  You can’t create more daylight by calling 6 a.m. 7 a.m. once a year.  The old Indians say it’s like cutting one end off a blanket and sewing it on the other end to make it longer.  Ah well.  Here’s what I saw out the east window this morning at whatever time you want to call sunrise.

When I opened the window, Rosie went out on “her” roof to get a closer look of how beautiful it was.