Upon awakening on April 1st, 2023, having anticipated the dreadful scene we’d see – I braced myself to see the aliens who invaded us in the form of an unwanted blizzard.
I flipped on the deck lights.
Well…without any coffee as fuel for my brain, it sure looked like a spaceship sitting on our deck.
Yikes, there was a face looking back at me in our window. I wanted to scream too. Sigh. “Oh, joy, more snow!”
WTH kind of April Fools’ Day joke is this? I anticipated and hoped for March to head out like a lamb instead of a lion. Is that proverb ever true?
In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb by Lorie Hill
March roars in like a lion. So fierce, the wind so cold, it seems to pierce. The month rolls on and Spring draws near, and March goes out like a lamb so dear.
In 2021, I didn’t have to dread the arrival of another snowfall in April, I had flown the coop and flocked with others to FL to enjoy the beach. This year, I didn’t have that anticipatory escape planned.
I scrolled through my Instagram account and saw a friend’s posts about breakfast on the beach in Aruba…I wondered how many people have flocked to warm places this year.
This April 1st, as the morning light revealed itself, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere warm and it was clear the forecasted storm had hit us hard and covered us in ice and snow again.
I looked to the right, left, and straight on – white SNOW everywhere.
As the daylight appeared, I didn’t let the April Fools’ joke being played on me be revered.
But if we learn to think of it as anticipation, as learning, as growing, if we think of the time we spend waiting for the big things of life as an opportunity instead of a passing of time, what wonderful horizons open out!
Anna Neagle
This storm gave me a chance to take a peek at what I won’t see in our yard come June. Maybe even in May, I won’t see this scene. Will I miss it? Right now, I’d say, “Nope!”
You see, I’ve been watching the Robins who somehow know that snow on their tails at this time of year means spring is near. They don’t let a snowfall every third day bother them much.
They’ve been eating the last of the crab apples from the trees instead of worms popping up from the ground. They must anticipate the worms will wake up soon.
I knew that all we needed to give a punch back at the storm was for the sun’s power at this time of year to warm up the day, despite the chilly 20 mph winds, the snow would melt and disappear.
My wish came true as the skies cleared and turned bright blue.
A few hours later it looked even less like a storm that would stick around.
Under the trees, the warmth of the sun helped re-reveal the barren ground! Spring is going to win!!
And today, we have plans to attend a play/musical (Little Women) at our local theater that is fully opened up and back to normal. The show is sold out. I smiled when I heard that, even if it means we might not have the best seats. But…it also means the antics of COVID are gone. They prevented us from the normal gathering of people at places for way too long. I’m glad we held on to our faith the day it would be gone would eventually happen. Cheers to all of our collective perseverance!
Post Inspiration – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “antic.” Use it as a word or find a word that contains it. Bonus points if you do both. Enjoy! And Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sunday Stills – Awakening
PS – What has awakened your spirits for spring? What is your favorite color in the spring? Are you planning travel or heading to any spring/summer/fall gatherings for the year? Do you have any spring projects you’re preparing to get done?
Undeniable signs that the snow will soon melt into the ground, giving your Mr. some lawn mowing to do soon! And gardening, your flowers will rejoice, Shelley!
Yes, indeed! I’m sure you remember those signs from back when you lived in MI. Yep – we’re both looking forward to outside time in the yard. We’ve got a few projects in the queue, you’ll get a kick out of one involving a lawn mower!! 😉
I love lawn mowers! 😂 I do remember those days but it’s been ten years now.
Yes, I remember. He’s modifying one with all sorts of parts to make it a remote controlled one to use it to cut one of our rental properties that is on a 45 degree hill…keep your fingers crossed that it’ll work. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Oh, that sounds like a great project, Shelley! I’d like to help! 🤙🏻😎
I’m sure I’ll find ways to blog about it and solicit advice ;-)!
Wow, Shelley, aliens in the form of snow certainly descended on your place! Beautiful nonetheless, but it must be startling to waken to All. That. Snow!! Here in San Diego spring is here, but I do a weather check for home in Spokane, and there is a chance of snow this week. Will it never end?? I’m sure your garden will awaken to a wonderful drenching and blind you with its beauty very soon!
Yes, indeed, we’ve been invaded by snow, snow, snow.
I hope you had lots of warm moments in San Diego and that you won’t go back to a cold Spokane.
We both will enjoy the pops of spring once the ground thaws and the plants sprout!! Spring is near!!
That snow melted fast, because the Sun was sick of looking at it too! I hope that you’re through with snow for months to come.
Yes, I love that – yes, the sun is sick of it too! While we’re ready for the snow to be gone, we don’t like too fast of a melt as it floods yards, rivers, creeks, basements, etc. A slow melt is like reading a great novel over several weeks.
I do really feel for you Shelley. That sight of snow would make me miserable for ages especially for this time of year 🙄
Thank you for your empathy, Brian. Each day now we’ll see more signs of spring. I need to remember these winter days so I don’t complain when it gets too hot! 😂
Well thank goodness for Mr. Sun because I think I would have wanted to return to bed and put the covers over my head. Even the birds look a bit miffed. I had heard Wisconsin had a heavy snowfall but because of the tornado stories swirling around as severe weather stretched across the U.S., I didn’t hear much about it. I hope this is snow’s swan song for you Shelley – you’ve been dealing with snow since November if memory serves me right.
Yes, thank goodness for the sun! A lot of the snow melted yesterday and overnight. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the storm was the last for the season! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Yeah, our storm was nothing compared to the tornado events, my heart breaks for all of the people and losses. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💔
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you Shelley. I felt like I complained about the high winds and worrisome weather, but like you I feel badly for those people in Arkansas and other towns that had such severe weather and they have another outbreak of bad weather for Tuesday.
Thank you, I’ll do the same for you and all the areas affected! The weather is creating havoc in way too many places!!
We have some severe weather coming in overnight tonight – I am shutting down soon as it will come thru around 2:00, so I may just get up then to be aware. Plus tomorrow from noon to 6:00 we have very severe weather with 2″ hail and strong tornadoes. This is unusual weather the meteorologists are saying … I hope it fizzles out.
Oh, dear, I hope the night went well and the storms bypassed your area! We were supposed to have bad storms, but they missed us. I haven’t checked to see where they did go though…
They came here as we always get your leftovers. 🙂 All is well here, but I know I aged a few years and got a few gray hairs until we got the all clear.
Oh, my, this weather isn’t even for the birds! I’m glad you survived!!
Even the birds say “enough already!”
I agree!!! And…there’s green grass popping up with the worms……………….I think spring may finally be here!!! Yippee!!
I saw a Robin yanking a worm out of the ground today at the Park – it reminded me of a cartoon, like it would go backwards with all the yanking and tugging on this worm. I watched a Robin who had a worm once and unbelievably documented it in a blog post. It cut the worm into several pieces, four I think, and left it there. I don’t recall if it finished it bit by bit or took it to the nest, but I think the former. I swore it was a big worm and couldn’t slurp it down and was afraid I wanted it. But to watch its actions – I watch and observe … I am no Jane Goodall, but can learn a lot about critter behavior that way. 🙂
Wow – that’s a moment to capture, I’m glad you wrote about it in a blog post too. I see Robin’s tugging but never watch long enough to see what they do with it like you did. Interesting, thank you for sharing!!
Well, it was a quirky thing to photograph. The look on that Robin’s face. I mean, they always have a rather surly look to begin with, but with me standing there watching it, it appeared madder (than usual). I hope you weren’t eating breakfast while reading about the Robin dissecting the worm. 🙂
LOL – no, thankfully, I wasn’t eating breakfast! 🤣
You’re not lucky in your country. Winter is long this year.
…”it also means the antics of COVID are gone” but Husband and I catched Covid 10 days ago, at work for the first time. Thanks to our customers, our holidays programm was one week sleeping, resting listening to the tempest wind, inside the seaside coast home.
Hi Anne – yes, we’ve had a run with the long winter. The snow is melting quickly though.
The COVID antics ran amuck from Nov – Feb in our area. All emergency use stuff ends in May/June. Since Mr. and I tested positive for it in September we didn’t catch it or whatever variant is floating around through the flu season. I listened to a doctor from England yesterday that said that Omicron & variants have helped achieve herd immunity. YAY!
I’m thankful to read you and your husband slept, rested, and recovered from your variant – your healthy diet no doubt helped. 🤗 Still not as much fun as not having it and enjoying the seaside coast home. 😥
Thank you for your kind words!
You’re welcome – take care!
All that snow. Not sure I’m still thinking kind thoughts about the stuff. As for your questions:
What has awakened your spirits for spring? Warmth
What is your favorite color in the spring? I like yellow daffodils.
Are you planning travel or heading to any spring/summer/fall gatherings for the year? No vacation plans at this time
Do you have any spring projects you’re preparing to get done? Boring as this is to say, I want to clean out and organize the garage. It’s a mess and drives me nutty… well, nuttier.
Hi Ally! Thank you for your visit and for answering my questions, I always enjoy reading your replies. I’m happy to report, the frost has mostly come up from the ground and the snow is melting at a good pace without flooding. We’re heading into warmer temps, so my spirits for spring are springing a bit more than last week.
It’s funny you say the garage drives you nuttier…I SO want to clean out our garage and organize it, but, it’s Mr.’s stuff for the most part and I don’t want to mess up his “I know I bought one, it’s here in a box that looks like this, or is about this big.” method.
🤣😂🤔
I hope you’re getting time out on your new deck to enjoy the view of signs of spring! I’ll be thinking of you and your deck when we start washing, stripping old stain, and restaining ours. We may be done before the snow flies again! 🤔😂
Great photos, Shelley, even if the subject matter was unwanted. I’m sorry to be late. I had a very busy week and I’m catching up on the essential blogs. I got this one in just as Linda released the prompt for tomorrow. Say hi to the robin for me, and have a Happy Easter.
Hi Dan! Thanks for catching up – I totally understand busy weeks, there’s no pressure from me! I’ll tell the robins hi, and the bunnies 😉 – Happy Easter to you too!
I think I have made it through my first MI winter. My last puff of winter experience may have been similar to yours. My daughter and I attended a play together, Becoming Dr. Ruth, at a very intimate local theater she had never been to. We both laughed and cried which, if you know anything about or better still remember Dr. Ruth, should not be a surprise.
Daughter Mini-Me had to drop me off and pick me up at the theater so I wouldn’t slip on the snowy/icy sidewalks downtown where the theater was. After the show, she drove me through the by then more lightly falling snow to pick up a filing cabinet I purchased on Facebook marketplace. The snow picked up on the 10 minute drive from her place to mine, and then was heavy again for the next half hour or so. Then, magically, it stopped and was mostly gone by the next morning.
If you have a chance and/or interest and/or see this comment, you might want to check what I have been posting about my late in life relocation here to the semi-frozen till recently upper Midwest! Here’s a link to a good place to start following my story.
https://hbsuefred.com/2023/02/17/six-weeks-between-homes/
Yay – congrats on making it through the first winter and for your new place to create your perfect home.
That’s so fun you enjoyed the play – the one we went to hit every emotion too – I even teared up a couple of times.
I’ve yet to purchase something off of FB Marketplace, but I see a lot of items flying in/out of there.
I enjoyed your post and photos, thanks for sharing the link!!! And, thanks too for stopping by here to share your thoughts!