Is It Spring, Yet?

The last few days, I haven't wanted to do anything except go outside and work in my gardens.  Alas, we are also approaching midterms, which means I have many, many papers to grade.  My mom suggested I work outside on good days and save the paper grading for evenings.  A good idea, but, some days, the need to grade papers outweighs the desire to garden.

However, the positive signs of spring around here are the blooming jonquils and paperwhites; my tulips (planted in the fall) are surging up through the ground; the irises are showing signs of blooming.  In fact, most of my plants are showing signs of life.

I have many packets of flower, herb, and vegetable seeds ready to plant.  Now, if I only had the time to plant them.  Sigh!

Maybe over Mardi Gras break?  I hope so.

Signs of Spring, 2008

Well, about two weeks until Easter, and, of course, we had snow today. Didn't stick, thanks to the 70 degree weather we had earlier in the week!

And, thanks to that same weather, everything around me is blooming. My Mayhaw trees are busting out in white; Mr. Lester's peach trees are purpley-pink; the japonica, narcissus, jonquils and redbuds flaunt their colors all around. A purple haze hovers over plowed and unplowed fields. I'm hoping the freeze doesn't affect the fruit crops--mine or Mr. Lester's. I'm anxious to see if I get any plums from any of the four trees I have, and, of course, I'm hoping the peach tree I planted last year produces more than five peaches.

I need to get started on my garden, but I'm going to wait until after Easter this year. Last year, I planted on Easter weekend and spent the entire time covering and uncovering my plants because we had a late freeze.

I love spring. Next to fall, it's my favorite season. I enjoy my garden. It's about the only exercise I get these days.

This has been a difficult week. I'm behind in my grading, thanks to a number of factors, but I refuse to provide any excuses for falling behind.

We had a candidate on campus this week; we took her to dinner last night at Indigo, a new Indian restaurant. The food was great. I had to drive home in a freezing, pounding rain. I hydroplaned twice because of the buildup of water on the roads. I had to lower my speed considerably, so I didn't get home until 10pm. Then I was up at 6am this morning to go back into school (I usually am not on campus on Fridays) to sit in on a class the candidate taught. Then I had a meeting. I thought I'd take a nap when I got home, but I ended up working on one of my classes and downloading papers I need to grade. By tomorrow, I should have about four sets of papers to grade. Sigh! And we have another candidate coming in on Tuesday. That means a late night on Wednesday, with my usually early day on Thursday.

I'm so glad spring break is coming up. Austin, here I come!