The Smell of Spring

Witch Hazel 'Diana'
Originally uploaded by Rozanne.

I nipped out to the garden for a few minutes today to find that my witch hazel (pictured here) is blooming, as are a few hellebores and violets. There is a wonderful scent in the air that I definitely associate with spring. It's been in the 50s and 60s for the past week. Winter is on it's way out. For those of you shoveling snow in the Midwest or Northeast let me be clear--I'm not gloating, I'm marveling. I spent 93% of my life in the Midwest, so I know what you're dealing with and please know you have my sympathy.

Weather. Bored yet? If not, perhaps you'd like to hear a progress report on the bathroom and--for good measure--a cat story. Well--surprise, surprise--the bathroom is still torn up. Rusty, however, is immensely pleased because the door is now off its hinges, so the bathroom is no longer off limits to him. He spent the greater part of the weekend standing in front of the closed door attempting to fine-tune the patheticness factor of his meowing--to no avail.

As soon as the workers left this morning, he hopped into the tub and began making himself comfortable on the none-too-clean, balled-up drop cloth wedged between the toilet and the tub. I'm not sure if he was gearing up for a nap next to his new pal, the footloose and fancy-free toilet, or if there was some mesmerizing chemical residue on the drop cloth that he was grooving on. I took photos, so if you'd like to posit your own theory about what he might have been trying to accomplish, click here, here, and here.