This And That, The Goodbye April Version

 

Why? WHY?!

Tomorrow is May 1st, and I am still trying to figure out where in the heck April went. Also, will someone please inform the Weather Deities that it is May and not February. We have had two freeze warnings in the past ten days, and I have 11 basil plants sitting all over my kitchen, waiting to be put in my herb garden. I've already trimmed them down once. It would be great to get them into the ground before I have to do it again, you know? Look at those hideous temperatures and ALL THAT RAIN. Ridiculous and completely unacceptable. WHAT IS HAPPENING? I already put away all my sweaters and toasty clothes. It's just wrong.

Speaking of basil, our friend Butch who owns a local garden center sent over a plastic grocery bag full of basil trimmings from the greenhouse. I wasn't feeling awesome, but I immediately got out my food processor and all the ingredients to make pesto. Thank goodness Rick is amenable to helping, and the tedious job of pulling all the leaves off the basil went quickly. As a result, I have this:

The Goya jars are old; I am still boycotting them.

That, plus a few cubes that I froze, is just a little over a quart of pesto, and it was well worth the effort. A couple of the jars went to Butch today, and I'll likely give one to Jared. THE REST ARE MINE, ALL MINE!

Back when the weather was lovely, I started letting Piper out into the back yard while I was on the patio. He always goes out to the front yard with me each morning when I put out peanuts for the blue jays (and squirrels), and he behaves very nicely. After several minutes of hollering at me from the back door, I let him out for a trial run. Here he is, relaxing among the daffodil fronds, which he nibbles on.

I can't wait to uncover and get the pond and waterfall running;
he'll really enjoy that.

Inspired by Julie, I started thinking about going through my books, which are also double-shelved, one row in front of the other. A Little Free Library several blocks from me has had the same crummy books for years, most of them being old management textbooks and religious stuff. The door recently blew off in a terrible storm we had, and I was going to get Rick to repair it before I cleaned it out and put my donations in. Luckily, someone already replaced the door, and they also got rid of the shitful books in it. I've set aside a few books so far, but I need to do a deep dive. I've got a few cookbooks to put in there, a graphic novel (the original Creepshow by Stephen King), some little kid books, and I'll see what else I can part with. I never even read Creepshow; I bought it because I was a major Stephen King enthusiast until his writing started getting repetitive and his endings kept sucking. It's this one:

photo found on Ebay; mine is in mint condition

Speaking of books, I finally finished Dark Renaissance:  The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Biggest Rival by Stephen Greenblatt. It was a very deep dive into the life and death of Christopher Marlowe, poet, dramatist, spy, and Shakespeare contemporary. Honestly, it was a bit of a slog, but also fascinating. People during the Renaissance had it tough. Being a Catholic got you tortured and killed; being suspected of being Catholic also got you tortured and killed. Queen Elizabeth I was constantly on guard because Mary, Queen of Scots was a threat to her throne. Liz took care of business, though, and had her executed. Both of them had myriad spies, and Christopher (Kit) Marlowe was just one of many working for Elizabeth.

I have since moved on to John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs, which is a compelling book about Lennon and McCartney, starting with the early days of their partnership, which lasted more than 20 years. I've been a Beatles fan since I was four or five years old, thanks to my older sister, who was obsessed with them and played their music all the time. This tells their story via hit songs in chronological order. It includes some photographs and so much that I never knew about the Beatles from their inception to the dissolution of the band to the death of John and more. I'll finish this one up tonight or tomorrow, but I'll be thinking about it for a long time, especially when I hear any Beatles song.

Speaking of Rock and Roll--actually just Rocks--I ordered those cute little ghostie rocks that were the header image in my last post. I decided to treat myself for my birthday (3 May). They're arriving today, but we're currently at the lake. I can't wait to tuck them around my yard. 

We were at the lake last week for a couple of days, too. I wanted to try and reset my sleep, which has been lousy lately. I got a little better sleep, but I was still awake at about 6:45 AM. It was okay, though, because I saw this gorgeous sunrise right outside the sliding doors of the bedroom:

#NoFilter

Finally--and thanks for sticking with me thus far--I'll be celebrating my birthday with Joy in my heart. One of the reasons is because of my wonderful family. Jared, Sam, Jordan, Theo, and Rick make me happy every day. Another reason is because of you. I am so grateful for this community of ours and how it has led me to so many, many friends. I am fortunate, and I know that. Thank you all.