"Bits and Pieces"

Just a few bits of this and some pieces of that in my world on March 14, 2012....

 

1.  Last week it was hinting at Spring.  Bare trees would pop into colorful displays practically overnight.  As I drove about the city.  I would suddenly see wildflowers that weren't there the day before.  Landscape nurseries appear to be filled with brand new plants covered in blooms and buds.  The temperature weren't terribly cooperative.  It would tease us with temps in the high 50s and low 60s and then dump us back into winter at night.  Then it would throw in a couple of cold, grey, rainy, dreary days in the mix and everything just seemed to lose its vitality and good cheer.   It's been a yo-yo effect, up and down, up and down.   It's almost impossible to know how to dress for this kind of mixed message.

 

But yesterday?  Yesterday it happened!  High temps in the mid-70s, bright sunshine, gentle warm breezes rustling through the trees and suddenly it felt like Spring!  Real Spring, clear, bright, comfortable, awakening Spring!   Ahhhhhhh............. It was still here today and  I hope it will still be here tomorrow!  I am really tired of my "winter" clothes!

2.  On a related matter, I just love Daylight Savings Time!  I know its an arbitrary choice that a lot of people don't like, but I'm not one of them.  Being a late riser (which results from being a late go-to-bedder) having more sunlight/daylight into the evening is very helpful to me and it just makes me feel good.  I think it is a good way to negate the affects of S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder; it's why I get depressed in winter....not enough sunlight!!)  So from now until sometime in October, I should be a happy camper!

 

3.  Things I have learned about our house guest this week:

• For a little dog, she sure takes up a lot of room in a bed!!
• For a little dog, she sure puts out a lot of heat!
• For a little dog, she sure can hear every little sound...no matter how quiet I'm trying to be!
• For a little dog, she sure can jump fairly high!
• For a little dog, she sure still wants to explore our whole big backyard repeatedly!
• For a little dog, she sure has a loud bark!
• For a little dog, she sure is a cutie!!

4.   Several days ago I wrote about helping stage a house for putting on the market and it's practically instant sale.  Well, today the seller of said house and I went with her realtor to see a few houses that are on the market.  The whole reason she was selling was to move to something smaller with less land and work!  But now with the sale, she has to find someplace to live!  She has some time, possession of her house won't happen until May or June, but she wanted to get started looking.  She asked if I would go with her when she looks at houses to provide another pair of eyes!  I love looking at houses, so I happily agreed to help out.  We saw four houses today one was a dump (really!!  icky!), a second needed some work, but was on a hill and the driveway and walk to the front were both very steep, a third was lovely, beautifully updated, nice yard, great layout, but it was kind of a split level and there were a LOT of stairs, the fourth was a bit small but very attractive; unfortunately, the neighboring houses were all practically on top of each other and it felt like there was no privacy at all.

 It was fun, but we didn't find her dream home.  From what we learned from her realtor, she can expect to have lots of choices coming up in the market very soon.  She'll just need to make a decision right away.  Evidently her house is not the only one that sold quickly.  All of a sudden Austin has turned into a hot real estate market.  Things are selling fast, so if you see something you like, you have to move on it right away or it will be gone.  According to this realtor it is anticipated that Austin will attract around 90,000 new residents this year! (I think that's what he said.)  90,000!!  Yikes!  The great news for home sellers, but there are all sorts of downsides to it as well!  But boy, what a change from the last few years!  Realtors are dancing in the streets!  Sellers are finally finding buyers!

The rest of us?  Not so much!  "Why not?" you might ask.  I can give you the answer in three words....traffic, traffic, and more traffic!   More traffic??  Peachy!

And that just about wraps it up for this version of  "Bits and Pieces."

"Sunrise Sunset"

It is officially summer!!  Whoo hoo!  Yesterday, June 21, marked the Summer Solstice, sometimes called Midsummer, sometimes Litha, and a variety of other names related to various ancient and historical practices, rituals, and beliefs.  Thousands gather at Stonehenge to watch the sunrise on this day every year and have been doing so for centuries.  Litha is one of the lesser holidays celebrated in Wiccan.  The Druids had a thing about the Midsummer moon, which they called the "honey moon".  They performed their marriages on this day.  (Guess you can connect the dots and figure out the whole honeymoon thing yourself, huh?) Shakespeare even wrote one of his most famous plays about this time of year.  

Being neither ancient nor Pagan (don't believe everything you hear!) I don't celebrate any rituals or practice any belief system related to the rising and setting of the sun or the moon. I don't get up in the middle of the night to be ready to greet the Midsummer Sun.  I'm already married, so I don't need the Druids to come fix that!  Nevertheless, this is one of my favorite days of the year. 

If I lived south of the Equator this would be the Winter Solstice!  That's all due to the rotation of the Earth and the Sun.  (Just don't ask me to explain how it works!!  I'm lucky I remember that much!)  Anyway, if I lived south of the Equator, this would be still be a lesser favorite day.  And none of that has anything (well....not MUCH of anything) with temperature.

Nope.  Its not the temperature, it is the amount of visible daylight! 

June 21 (or sometimes the 22) is the longest day of the year, and conversely, the shortest night.  Simply, more sun, and less dark!  (Except, of course, south of the the equator, where it is exactly the opposite.)  I look forward to this day every year.  I love the sun!  When the sun is shining I am generally a happier person.  So on Summer Solstice, I'm more likely to be having a happy day!  Even if it is a cloudy day, it doesn't matter too much, because its still light outside for a longer period of time.

When I think about it, it's a bit surprising that I don't celebrate any rituals or the like related to the sun, considering how I feel about it.  Not that I'm tempted to, you understand, but I can definite understand how all those ancient pagans felt!

The Winter Solstice in December (except south of the Equ....oh, I'm sure you got it already!  If not, go look it up!).  The Winter Solstice as I said, is the exact opposite:  it is the longest night and the shortest day.  That is not what I like about it exactly.  On December 21, it's true that we have the shortest day, BUT every day thereafter gets a few minutes longer than the one before until June 21 when summer appears again!.  I can live with that!

Of course, even if I vaguely understand about the northern and southern hemispheres, I have no idea what happens the closer you get to the Poles (either North or South).  I 've read that at the Poles, the days and nights can last for really wonky amounts of time, even all 24 hours!!  I don't really get that, but as it's really ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN' IMPOSSIBLE ....uhmm....unlikely that I will ever visit either Pole, I guess that doesn't matter.

So, I am glad to once again greet Summer, and especially the summer sun!  I welcome that early/late "Sunrise Sunset" thing with a happy heart!  Yes, June 21 is one of my favorites days.

.......Of course, it COULD also just be that my birthday is now only four days away!  Even if I lived south of the Equator!!!) 

"Certified Blues"

I'm sorry to have to say it, but I seem to have the "Certified Blues"!   I'm cranky and restless and generlly dissatisfied with life right now.  Now there is no reason to worry or anything, this is not life threatening or anything, I just do not deal well with the sun disappearing for weeks on end with only tiny peeks through the clouds every 3rd or 4th day.   My Seasonal Affective Disorder hasn't gone away.  I'm SAD.  I hate being SAD!

Years ago, I had a boss I had worked with for a long time introduce me to a new member of our staff.  I'll never forget it.  He said, "I'd like you to meet my assistant.  She's been a great help to me and she's a great resource for you too.  Of course, she's in a bad mood from January thru March, but the rest of the time she's great." 

Oh yeah, he knew me well!! 

We were living in Chicago at the time, and that's not the best place to find sunshine in the wintertime!  A few years later we moved to California and I thought, "Great!  It never rains in California.  No grey!"  May I be the first to mention if you did not already know this, the song LIES!  It rains like hell in California, practically all winter long some years!!  And even if there's no rain, there is still fog and grey, windy days.   So I was still SAD in CA.

Fast forward a few more years and off we went to Texas.  The first few years we were here were great!  Winter was truly mild and the sun shone a lot.  It was super.  I didn't get SAD at all.  But the last two winters have swung to the other side of the pendulum and the rain, the grey, the fog, the lack of sun has been happening pretty much daily.

I remember the first flight I was ever on that took off into a big, grey, rainy cloud bank that covered the whole sky.  It was an awful day in Chicago.  We were flying somewhere for a business thing the Big Guy had.  I was very SAD and didn't really want to go anywhere or do anything.  Nevertheless, off we went into the "wild grey yonder" straight into the clouds where it didn't seem like you could see a foot in front of the plane.  It only took about 30 seconds or less, but suddenly, we broke through the clouds into wonderful, beautiful blue sky sunshine!   When you looked toward the ground, all you could see was the top of this huge cloud bank.  It looked like great big white puffy, cotton balls spread like a blanket below.   It was gorgeous! 

I guess I had never really thought about it, but I was simple amazed that on the ground it was a horrible, ugly day, but just a few thousand feet straight up, the sun shining brightly, doing its thing, just like always.  I never realized that before that flight.   Sometimes knowing that the sun is still up there is reassuring and can help me fight off my SAD-ness.  Other times, it just makes me mad!!

Well, today I'm MAD-SAD again.  I think maybe I've written about this before....so if this is a repeat of old news, I apologize.  It just when it gets like this I can get so far down Misery Road, that I can't think about much of anything else.  It's the reason I haven't been inspired to write much lately. 

I hope it doesn't last much longer.  MAD-SAD isn't a nice place to be!
I'm so ready to be rid of these "certifiable blues"!