Golden days are here

 

The Carlton pear orchard just coming into bloom...including hundreds of daffodils planted by the previous owner to deter moles. What a beautiful way to do it.

Too cute

 

But ducks are famously messy, far messier than chicks because they love to play in, drink, and splash their water. They also poop about every 10 minutes. Liquid. Oh, well. Most people say they are worth the trouble. 

Amanda says these are very friendly and cuddly, born and bred to be backyard ornaments (pets.)

All of this takes me back to early childhood on our Pennsylvania farm when Dad tried chicken farming. We loved the boxes of chicks and ducklings behind the wood stove in the spring. Of course they weren't pets. And those colored chicks handed out at Easter back then? Something to play with before they showed up on the dinner table. Different times for sure. 

Anyway, I've been busy lately and nothing much fun. I spent 2 hours on hold yesterday morning to resolve a small fraud charge on my credit card. Something that should be a simple fix, but turned into a big hot mess. 

Of course a new credit card was immediately issued, then another fraud charge appeared on that number before it was even mailed! Sounds like an inside job to me. How bizarre. 

So now things are in limbo. My replacement card (in the mail now) is useless when it arrives so I need a replacement for the replacement. There's a good 45 minute wait to get a human being on the fraud line, and no guarantee they are "empowered" to resolve your problem. This does not inspire confidence in the new Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards Visa. Fancy name, bad service. 

We have a nice weekend of weather coming up, and a symphony tomorrow with one of my favorite works. Felix Mendelssohn was 17 when he composed the famous Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream. Wonderful music for a warm spring afternoon. I'll get back to the credit card project on Monday. 

Oh, so peaceful

 

I've asked John what he's looking forward to on this mostly German river cruise, and he says "Black Forest Cake." 

Well, as it happens, one of our cruise excursions is a bus ride out to the Black Forest where we will apparently see many cuckoo clock stores and a Black Forest Cake making demonstration.  

At the grocery store yesterday he found one, and they are hard to come by around here. Of course he bought it. He doesn't go to the grocery store often, so impulse buys whatever strikes his fancy. 

Not complaining-- it is quite delicious. Just something about the tart cherries and dark chocolate combo. Mit Schlag. We'll see if the Germans can top Alki Baking Company. 

I'm enjoying the peace and quiet this week as Seattle School District is on spring break. During the school year, we have to time our coming and goings around drop off and pick up time. Not to mention, the street is always parked up with staff cars. It’s la-di-da until Monday morning back to reality traffic. 

 

 

  

Trudging through spring

 

Yesterday was wet, cold and windy, a thoroughly miserable spring day in Seattle. On the bright side, there weren't any tornadoes. Poor battered mid west. 

So I was living vicariously through other people's travel. Our neighbor Wendy emailed this luscious photo from Sorrento, on the Amalfi Coast. She and her husband are on a 10-day Road Scholar tour of southern Italy. She said the fresh mozzarella was amazing, as was the rest of the lunch, served after visiting a lemon orchard. Sigh. 

You might remember, Road Scholar once had the lumpy name of Elderhostel. It's been around a long time, and reinvented itself as a non-profit travel company with educational tours geared toward older adults. They go just about everywhere, and I look forward to hearing how it went. 

In about 6 weeks we leave on our own big travel adventure, a Rhine River cruise, from Basel to Amsterdam. We also have a 4 day pre-cruise tour of northern Italy and Switzerland before boarding the boat. Hopefully not too jet lagged to enjoy that part.

I'm looking forward to the escorted tour experience, something different for us. There are advantages and disadvantages of doing your own thing, so the jury is out. 

There are a few sour puss YouTube reviews, but I've never met anyone who had a bad time on a European river cruise. 

In the promotional pictures, the sun is always shining on the Rhine maidens. Ha ha. 

Orchard daffodils

 

  

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

 

William Wordsworth 

 

 

April showers

 

 

And all that...

Well, at least the tulips last longer in this chilly weather. I've planted all sorts of fancy varieties over the years, but hard to beat the sturdy old red and yellow Darwins, sold in big cheap bags at Costco. 

Unlike the frilly ones, these will come back for several years, that is, if they aren't accidentally dug up or lopped off. Bulbs lead a dangerous life in this yard.

 

 

Very pretty, but most of what you're looking at are invasive ground covers and bluebells. Cleaning out the spring weeds and foliage is my biggest weeding chore of the year, then I can conveniently forget about it. Martha Stewart would rip out this mess and start over. But she has a hoard of gardeners to boss around.

  

 

 

It looks like the little chicks have all survived the first tricky 48 hours in the garage. There was one false alarm, but turned out she was just soundly sleeping, as babies do.  

 

 

In other farm news, the small trees at the far end of the orchard are starting to bloom.