Wednesday Hodgepodge: Springing Forward

Good morning and welcome to April! Happy April Fool's Day if you celebrate it. I do not...it seems to be that in recent years every day is a day for fools. Anyway, I'm linking up with Joyce for the Wednesday Hodgepodge. So glad it's back for a while! You can join in the fun or find links to other participating blogs by clicking the button below.

1. Has spring sprung in your part of the world? How can you tell? Did March come in like a lion where you live? Going out like a lamb or something more ferocious?  

Spring is beginning to show her face here in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. The grass is that incredible emerald green it only wears in spring and it needs mowed, already! My poor Poodle (she's a tiny toy) is up to her chin, but it's been so wet and rainy lately that we haven't been able to get it cut. Some of the flowers are beginning to bloom and the trees are budding out with dogwoods, magnolias, and redbuds wearing their blossoms proudly. 

March did not come in like a lamb. She came in howling on the wind and bringing snow. She was fickle at best throughout her days and while she gave us a few glorious, teasing days of sunshine and warmth toward the end, she left us, riding out again on howling winds and soaked us with flooding rains.

2. The last thing that caused you to spring to your feet?

My knee and hip don't actually allow me to "spring," but I'd guess something with the grandchildren is what probably made me get up the quickest. The little ones are 3 years and 8 months...those little fingers get into so much!

3. Do you have a spring clean to-do list? What's one chore on the list you've already managed to accomplish? What spring clean chore do you most dread?

I can't say that I really have a spring cleaning list. The need to do a major spring cleaning kind of went away along with coal and oil furnaces, I think. For the most part I just continue with regular cleaning. It is nice, though, to get the windows open in the spring and let the fresh air in.

While not spring cleaning, exactly, I have been chipping away at some long put-off chores during this time of sheltering at home. I've gone through the closets and donated several bags of clothing (I was brutal in thinning the collection this year), I've cleaned and organized the pantry and some of the cupboards, and today we are defrosting and cleaning the big freezer. (Yes, we were going to do it yesterday, but my husband wasn't in the mood...and I didn't really protest.)

4. Tell us something you've learned about yourself or the wider world as a result of social distancing/the virus crisis.

We are not as horrible and hopeless as the news would have us believe at times. I love all the wonderful stories that have been coming out about the kindnesses people have been doing and the creative ways they have found to stay in touch.

5. Something you love that's the color pink? 

Peonies. I love them and can't wait for my neighbor's big patch of them to bloom. They face our house and I probably get to see them and enjoy them more than she does. I'd grow my own, but they don't seem to like our soil.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

My Bible study group "met" for the first time since we've been under lock-down last night via Google chat. Isn't it wonderful that we have all these ways to keep in touch with the people in our lives these days? And so many can continue to work from home because of the technology at our disposal. I'm really not feeling all that isolated because of it. 

I know that's not true of everyone. My husband, for example, doesn't really embrace social media so he is climbing the walls. (Actually, he's taken up residence on the sofa with Netflix becoming his new best friend.) He has seriously lost all motivation. 

My Bible study teacher had a lot to say about the present circumstances last night. He advised us to view this time as a gift from God. A time to deepen our relationship with Him and also with our spouses and any other family that might be living with us. We should take this time to appreciate the world and our blessings in it. We should rest, reflect, recharge.