"A Hazy Shade of Winter"

OK. Time for something a little less depressing (love you Heather)

It's winter here in the NC (as you can very well see). The temperature was in the low 70's so we just couldn't resist going to the beach. Obviously, we weren't the only ones with that idea.


In fact, there were so few people at the beach, we were able to keep Tara Bull off of her leash most of the time. (Yes, she ran like the little demon she is. At least until she got tired and just followed right behind Heather.


Ok. One little depressing thing... it seems that the Little Mermaid's remains were spread all over the beach. (The "real" one. Not that Disney crap.)
This is somthing you don't see every day, a pine cone on the beach.

An Early Spring

April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

-- TS Eliot, The Wasteland

This stanza perfectly captures how I felt when, the day we returned from Utah, I found daffodils shooting up out of the still-cold ground. Although I suffered through the winter, longing for warmth and sunshine, I guess I am not ready for spring—for the hopefulness of green buds and the joyfulness of the bright flowers that will fill our yard for months.

Mixing memory and desire...I can't think of anything more painful. Can't I just stay in the dark cave of winter for a little while longer?

(And, for the record, April is indeed the cruelest month.)