Spring's A Comin! Sunny Days!

So nice to get some sunshine after so much rain. Makes one believe that spring is really on its way.

It was much needed rain, I agree, but still challenging to deal with. It's been a week of some serious cabin fever. Here's Cabin Fever Exhibit A, the smile that says, "I know I'm still in my pajamas, but I really want to go outside and ride around on this thing! I want it so badly, I even found my rain boots and managed to put them on All By Myself!"

Exhibit B: breaking out the paints, trying to drive away the rainy day blues with a serious dose of reds and greens....

So it felt wonderful to spend some time outdoors this weekend, weeding and reveling in the spring blossoms. Our plum tree is just gorgeous right now.

And the lemon tree is also just starting to bloom -- this tree is amazing; it has delicious fruit year round! (Mostly because we never fully harvest the fruit, I think.) But the spring flowering is my favorite. In another few weeks, it will smell simply divine right outside our bedroom window.

And in other happy springtime news, S took advantage of the nice weather to very kindly fix the flat tire on my bike. I loooove my bike!

Isn't she snazzy?

It's an Electra Hawaii bike (which BJ pronounces, charmingly, "Hawigh," as rhyming with "sigh.") I got it as a Mother's Day gift in 2006, when it turned out I was pregnant with BB but didn't know it yet. The pregnancy and then inevitable aftermath of life with two small kids meant that I haven't yet had much of a chance to ride it. I think I've been on it maybe a dozen times to date! And when I finally did get some time recently, it turned out to have a flat. Boo!

But now it's repaired -- thank you, S! He even put on the bell that M gave me for Christmas. (Thank you, M! I love it!) So as soon as it was fixed up, I took it on a spin to the post office to mail a Mama's Magic Studio order. (Yay for orders!) It felt wonderful to break a little sweat and catch some jealous glances. I've not ridden it much, like I said, but I always get noticed on this bike. This time, as I was getting ready to leave the post office, a big African American man stopped next to me as I was unlocking the bike from the rack. Our local post office is next door to a Harley Davidson dealership, so it gets some interesting passers by. And he was no exception. He looked us over, appraisingly, then he met my eye. "It's you," he said, nodding.

Maybe it was the sunshine, maybe it was my approval for his obvious good taste, but I had to grin back at him. I doubt I'll ever get on a Harley (or any other motorcycle, for that matter) but I'm content to be zipping around on my little cycle in its froot loop hues. Hopefully this spring will see me on it more frequently than last year!