Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Spring Has Had A Relapse

Remember all the excitement lately about Spring? It's been in all the newspapers, on the news, even on the Web: Spring officially began Monday, March 20, at varying times around the world, in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway. For our Southern Hemisphere friends, their Fall is beginning. But, I digress. And so does Mother Nature. It is a toasty 36 degrees Fahrenheit as I type this at 9:30 pm, and the projected low is 30 degrees. Spring? Somebody please share with me what is spring-like about 30 degrees? Now, I like (no, I LOVE) winter, but don't go advertising spring weather, then renege on it. I like things to be consistent, weather-wise. I hate having to have 2 wardrobes out at the same time because you don't know from one day to the next if you'll be needing a parka and long johns or if a tank top and shorts will be perfect. It just ain't right for your heavy sweaters and your sundresses to be in the closet at the same time. What's worse, it's even more offensive to wear a heavy sweater one day, and a sundress the next.

Remember all my previous rants about the ever-changing weather here in Arkansas? Well, in Spring and Fall especially, that's the order of the day: there IS NO order of the day when it comes to weather here. The most consistent characteristic of weather here is that it is INCONSISTENT. So I suppose for the time being my sandals and flip flops will share space with my snow boots, and my sweats will cohabit with my sleeveless blouses and shorts. Sigh............................

Moving on...........Remember the tempting photo of the BAKLAVA from the last post? It's not much more than a happy memory, now, folks. Used to be that I was the only one who would eat it, but now it seems everybody wants to jump on the baklava band wagon. I thought about posting an "After" photo, but it is such a heart-wrenching sight, I just couldn't force myself to inflict the pitiful images on you. Be grateful, people. That formerly lovely tray of luscious baklava looks like the proverbial plague of locusts grazed on it on its way to Equatorial Africa! LOL ;)

I will say, though, that Cecil only ate a few bites, and Sue, Irma, Lamar and I ate most of it. I ate most of it. Really. I did. It was really good. I feel bad about eating most of it. But it was really good. If Brian brings me another tray of it, I will feel terrible...BUT I WILL EAT MOST OF IT AGAIN, folks. LOL :)

Irma has asked me to help her by typing some of her school work for her. It's a journal she wrote for English, and I have already read over it and summarily proof-read it. I asked her if this stuff was supposed to be fact or fiction, because there are several "slight" discrepancies I noted on the first reading. Her answer: what her teacher doesn't know makes for a cooler, more interesting paper. Ahhhhh..........okay. Also, grammar, spelling and punctuation "are not important----the teacher justs wants the REAL person to come through in their writing."
Okay. I may hyperventilate when I try to type that journal, what with all the lies, mistakes and mispelled words contained therein. Send lots of happy thoughts my way, folks, I will need them.

I am just a little anal retentive about spelling, punctuation and grammar sometimes, though you can't tell by my blog. Honestly I seem to notice it more in "legitimate" writings than on blogs. It just seems to me that people who write and publish for a living should do a better job with the spelling, etcetera.

Well, the fictional account of my daughter's (if I am still her Mom in this literary piece), exciting, new and improved life awaits my attention. Peace and love to all.

8 comments:

Jenny said...

Oh, it's Spring now! Thanks for the news! We seem to only have two here in Roatan: rainy season and non-rainy season.

Hey, thanks for the comments on my blog, too. Sorry, the only two places I can figure out to respond to your question are in my comments page and in yours. So, figuring you're more likely to read your OWN comments page, the short answer is YES! Gracias!

For the longer answer, with a forewarning, you can check out my comments page!

Loved the picture of the baklava!

Anonymous said...

The weather is funny, especially this year. I wore more shorts in January than I did last October. We too are in another cold snap here in DFW. Well, it's a cold snap for us. Low of 35 tonight and high of 55 tomorrow. I lived in Chicago for 10 years, so I should be used to this, but as with anyone, your body adjusts to the climate you live in.

I just hope a warm winter means a cool summer. I'm sure living in Arkansas, you know the feeling of an intense summer. Having an average high here of 98 in late Jul/early Aug, and knowing it always goes well above that, I cherish Spring as much as I can. All two weeks of it, here anyway, before the summertime heat. :-)

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Jenny,
Welcome, and thank YOU!! I will tell everyone about the new link to your blog when I post again, but I would be willing to bet the more observant of the crowd will be visiting even before I point it out in the actual post. ;)

You can comment or ask questions of me on my blog or yours. I read both several times a day. Or, my e-mail address is:
lenadianejennings@yahoo.com

Feel free to contact me by either means. Looking forward to getting better acquainted. :)

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Mike,
Just read your latest post on your blog, and it was a blast, as well as a blast from the past. ;)

As for the weather, there is really not that much difference in your weather and ours, with the exception that we generally see more snow than you, and you generally see more ice. Of course, the last 15 years or so, there is no such thing as general, weather wise. We are a little further north, so it gets a little colder, and we have longer cold snaps than you, usually.

Last year was the first in ages that we had an actual SPRING. This year? Who knows. Everything is greening up and blooming early, but now this cold snap.

My Uncle Bill lives in St. Charles, Missouri, about 40 miles north of St. Louis, and they have 4 inches of snow on the ground, and it's 20 degrees right now. He said his peach trees were in full bloom, so he figures he's lost all his peach crop for this year.

Oh, well. Que sera, sera, a la Doris Day. LOL :)

Jeana said...

Here in Texas we have a saying: If you don't like the weather, just wait. It'll change any minute.

As far as your daughter's writing style, I fail to see a problem. I know having visited my blog you will not be shocked that I said that. :-)

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Jeana
Re: weather--For Arkansas..........Ditto---What you said. :)

As far as your writing style on your blog, I think it's grand. As long as you don't pretend to be a college language professor or that you write for the Large Metropolis Times, Monitor, Herald,etc. I just have the opinion that if you write for a legitimate published reading source, your grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc, should be correct.

I do know most of the time when I make a mistake, but sometimes I choose to write or spell something a particular way to make a point, or just to add color, or just because it brings more attention to a phrase. Same thing with grammar. I have a slight problem with books telling me how to talk, when 75% of the general population speaks a different way than the books say we're supposed to speak.

Oh, well, this is turning into a rant when I just wanted to reassure you that I love your blog, however you type, spell and so on. ;)

Thanks for visiting, come back. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Diane and Jeana. Just a little bit of useless trivia for you. That statement you made about the weather, Jeana? It actually originated in Oklahoma. It is a statement Will Rogers had made concerning the sudden climate changes that occur there. Being raised in OK, I learned that as a little kid. As an adult, and having lived in 4 different states, I find it is used almost everywhere now. I think there is a correlation between Will Rogers's statement spreading and global warming. :-) Now let's all get out there and cut down some trees, while we take in the fresh clean smell of smog. :-) (Well....I did say this was USELESS trivia.)

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Mike,
I actually knew about the Will Rogers thing, but I had forgotten until you reminded me.

As for cutting down trees--Around here, it is absolutely imperative that you then BURN them, and anything else you can find to torch, too. We joke in my family that all farmers have to be pyromaniacs: it's required. Seems they can't stand for a fence row or ditch bank to harbor refuge, food or forage for any wild critters. They torch them regularly, and it's an especially nice touch for the wind to be gusting over 40 mph when they set the fire. We think it's just gravy if they throw a couple of old tires and some diesel on it to make sure it burns, with plenty of belching black smoke.

Makes for some lovely, nicely scented line-dried clothes, too. ;)