April's New Year's Resolution

April at last. At last. Spring spring spring. So happy it's not winter any more.

Mind now, Spring is taking her own sweet time. The poplar tree has yet to unfurl the tiniest leaf - so it's not officially spring. Maybe today it will be. Surely by the end of this weekend that harbinger tree will have it's mist of gold clouding it's branches.  But 3 days without having to wear a coat is spring enough for me.

We're back from a Birthday Visit with LD and PD in South Carolina. It was a perfect trip - easy driving, no bad traffic, and of course - mountains of happy love from the moment we got there till the moment we drove off. The young darlings took us to the most magical place: Forty Acre Rock 

It's really 14 acres - but what a place - surrounded by several thousand forested acres that we trekked through - complete with caves and waterfalls!

And of course - there's no trip to South Carolina without hunting down Haile landmarks. Here I am, looking like a bobble head ...Lord - that man just can not take a good photo of me.

Here's the Birthday Boy himself - with his second cake. 

I took knitting and actually got a few rows done on my Fiona Ellis sweater but the knitting mojo just hasn't been there this winter. (not much else has either) I did get in some practice sketching though and am getting more confident about putting pencil to paper.

 But I know you all came here to read about my April Resolution, right? It took me a while to decide just what I wanted it to be but then fate - in the guise of an HVAC crew stepped in and made the decision for me. The Guys With Tools are here putting in a Mitsubishi Ductless Heat Pump system here at TheCastle. Here is Unit 1 and though it does feel big - and does feel different - honestly, that wall is so cluttered already - it hardly matters, now. Does it? And warm in winter, cool in summer does have to come at a cost. One aesthetic will just have to move over to accommodate another.

As for the Resolution? Well - first the back story. On the second floor there is a 4 foot knee wall, accessible by 6 cabinet doors. Perfect spaces to cram STUFF and over the years I have done some serious cramming. And for more years than I like to admit I have started my New Years Resolution list with Clean Out The Knee Wall Closets. Three of them have been done. Three are disasters. The Guys With Tools had to get into one of the disaster areas and now all of that stuff is dumped on the guest bed - so no. Nobody is invited to spend the night till I get that put away. So April's resolution will be to restore order to at least one gutted knee wall closet and also the other disaster area that must be shifted in the spare room. That spot where I have dumped yarn bins, family photos, Unfinished Knitting Projects, and who knows what else. The Guys With Tools have to get behind that mess too so, duh. Right. Resolutions by default - but I will be so glad when they're accomplished, so relieved and so proud, that I plan to reward myself with a desk to put in that corner of the room and make it my home office.

And then I will follow Juno's example and crash on the sofa.

March Mission Accomplished

My New Year's Resolution for March was to create a Christmas Card mailing list. It's the kind of mindless fun sort of job I enjoy - but it's really so mindless it was hard to make myself sit down and actually create it. Then suddenly I realized it was almost April and I hadn't begun. And so. Sunday morning I sat down with the huge stack of old cards, envelopes, and the crusty Rolodex and began to type.

 VOILA! 

I haven't decided what I want to do for April - though we have HVAC guys coming early next month to put in a ductless heat pump. Four Mitsubishi Hyper-Heat Ductless Units, in fact. Here's what they look like.

 

So it might behoove me to clean out the corner in the spare room that is heaped with yarn bins, fiber tubs, laundry baskets full of family photos, a spinning wheel, a chair and several bags of unfinished knitting projects. That might be my April Resolution - or better yet - putting it all back in useful and accessible order might be the real resolution.  Sigh. Sounds like werk to me. 

A more fun resolution might be 

So now it's discourse between head and heart - or conscious and subconscious - or Left Brain and Right Brain. Either way - I will probably do at least some of both. And with that TheQueen will bid March adieu with this fascinating photo of the sun's reflection in a pool of water.  Juno is intrigued. Or is it Callie?