Whoo-hoo!

I just sent out my last work e-mail of the day. It was the e-mail where I sent the final draft of a WHOLE BUNCH of work that I have spent most of the last 4 weeks on. In fact, that e-mail pretty much closes out the real work required from me for an entire project. And that project is one of the 4 things that I need to complete to leave my job. So, I am VERY excited! If I weren't still on antibiotics, I would probably have poured a celebratory glass of wine and sipped it slowly while staring at my sent files. Yep. It feels THAT good!

Instead, I'm posting some spring pics for your perusal. Enjoy!

And, yes, that is my poor wild aloe that migrated from somewhere in the neighborhood. It has survived many years in a pot that was much too small. Now that it has all of this room, it is flowering nicely.

I'll try to get a picture when these are all opened up nicely....









The lavender is, of course, making me happy.









And, as always, the lovely delicate flowers of my rosemary....

The weather is so perfect, that I won't waste it sitting here today. I'm off to the outside!

Bad Blogger! But I have pictures...

Yes, yes, I know it has been over a week. I can say now (that all my work friends that read this blog have been informed!) that this job transition time is quite a bit tougher than I expected. The bosses are definitely resistant to the idea of me just leaving. One has exacted a promise from me for a role in the 2nd quarter - through the end of June - and the other is trying to figure out how to create a part time role for me through the end of the year. I have said that I would consider whatever he comes up with and left it at that.

Managing this change is taking a lot more attention than I expected - with bosses and project teams and colleagues. And that has me thinking very carefully about my intentions - as well as with the intentions that others have for me! - and how that plays out in my particular version of reality. There are a number of ideas and theories there for me to consider, and I'm still working through all of that. But that is, possibly, a post for another day.

Today, I just wanted to share some spring pics - since I'm finally coming out of my sinus infection and new antihistamine induced fog! Spring has definitely sprung this week. And I have proof!
This tree - in our front yard - is bare for the winter. In fact, these lovely little leaves cover the lawn during the fall and they refuse to be moved by the leaf blower. But you can tell it is still early spring for this tree. The little dark spots that you can just barely see in the foreground are leaf buds that haven't even opened yet. In a few weeks, it will be impossible to see the sky from any vantage point under this tree - which is GREAT for the summer.

This is the last of my rosemary plants to bloom, but it is doing a great job. The other two are not doing so well. The one to the left of this is dead and the one to the right is very unhappy. More attention to be paid there this week!







This, of course, has me very excited. You'll probably have to click the picture to see it, but there are several flower buds on my lavender! Yeah! Lavender flowers! And I thought it couldn't be done here! Whoo-hoo! Of course, getting these guys through the summer will be a bit trickier, I suspect, than it is for those of you in slightly more humid climes.... But I'll post pics AS SOON AS I have an actual flower!

So, there you have it. I am here - just a little crazy around the edges - and spring is here, too. And it is so very nice to see.

Poetry Thursday

I am a bit surprised to find myself posting a poem on Thursday again. This one just showed up this week when I used the opening phrase. I will be the first to admit that it is not high end literary poetry, but I was vastly amused while writing it. If you get any of that by reading it, it will be worth the taunts of any English majors.

Spring is a bad idea
In structured corporate days
Plans drawn up on the fiscal year
Include no time to window gaze

Blooms and birds are unmanageable
They refuse proper action plans
Not team players, not achieving the goals
To influence and win powerful friends

The nature bit that still claims us
Is best ignored on a day like today
Memos and meetings are more critical
Than our childlike desire to play

I'll be sending an e-mail petition
To all florescently lighted cubes
We can all work together, on this one rare occasion
To try and get this distraction removed!

Beware the Ides of March?

Spring is well underway here in the Southwest. There are blooms on all of the citrus trees - even the lemon tree that we thought might not have survived our few nights of freezing temperatures. The afternoons are already hot in that clear, bright way that happens even in the city in desert country. When I open up the house in the mornings, though, it is still cool enough to make my hands cold. The birds are back in full force, raucous when the sun comes up and twittering in the background all day. It is the time of year when we all grin and remind ourselves that this is why we live in Arizona.

Spring fever doesn't make much sense here. Our winters are mild and sunny. We are free to roam all winter with most days just requiring a jacket. We are not stuck in closed houses, avoiding the cold and waiting for the freedom of spring and summer. If anything, our restlessness stems from a desire to get the the most out of the next few weeks or, possibly months, before battening down the hatches for the summer.

Sometime in the next few months, the Valley of the Sun will take on an entirely new character. It will become impossible to open the door without thinking about blow dryers and ovens. The temperature will still be over 100 degrees at midnight. So, instead of writing about how lovely this day is and think about the things that I need to do before the summer comes, you will all have to forgive me while I head outside.