Welcome to Pink on St. Patrick’s Day

 Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! 

It’s been a long few days weeks months. I’m right now watching the Disney Channel Original Movie “Luck of the Irish” - a movie that kickstarted my interest in my heritage (I am not Irish, like at all). 

Lots of people were out dressed in green to celebrate St. Patrick banishing the pagans snakes from Ireland. Though there were also plenty of people out in their finest pink today too in the DC area.

It’s a beautiful day in the DMV. So beautiful in fact, the cherry blossoms are at Stage 5 in their bloom cycle (the stage before peak bloom). This is fairly early for the blossoms, though it might be becoming the new norm for the blossoms to peak in March instead of the historic April.

Thanks climate change.

And speaking of climate change, DC will soon need to cut down over 100 of the famous trees along the tidal basin because the land the trees are on is slowly sinking back into the swamp. This includes the infamous stumpy (which I do not have a picture of, but here’s a Washington Post article), a tree made famous by a Reddit meme. 

Yeah that’s right, DC is sinking into a swamp (it was built on one) and the city hopes to prevent further erosion by building a sea wall. The tidal basin floods daily and parts of the original walkway are now always underwater. 

Unfortunately, fully grown trees are too hard to uproot and plant. So, the city has to cut them down. I’m sure grafts of the old trees will be used to plant new trees once the project is complete. There are plans for the National Arboretum to take some clippings of old Stumpy, so there might be hope that the Child of Stumpy eventually comes to live on the Tidal Basin after the sea wall is complete.

In the meantime, the Cherry Blossoms are blooming. The Martin Luthor King Jr. (MLK) memorial looks particularly stunning while framed by the pink trees. People come from all over to see the trees and partake in the festival (which starts next week).

If you’re in the area or already planning on visiting the city, the best way to see the trees is to either park near Jefferson and walk through FDR memorial, towards MLK or fight for a space near FDR. You also can’t go wrong taking the metro to either Arlington National Cemetery (walk over the bridge and make a right at Lincoln), Foggy Bottom (walk past Lincoln), or from Smithsonian (walk towards MLK, then follow along the Tidal Basin and loop back along the 14th street bridge). Personally, I think the best trees are around and near the FDR memorial, plus you get a great view of MLK, Jefferson, and Washington.

I know I’ve been a bit sporadic with my blog posts. My personal life has been a bit of a mess and I recently learned some more tragic news this week. Thank you for still reading and checking up on me. I’ll try to restart my webcomic and food blog soon, I just have a few more things to do first before things settle down again.

Until next time.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Scary Blossom

 I am a local to the Washington DC area. I spent my formative years within reach of the heart of the city center. I know this city, it’s seasons and it’s moods. 

This past week was the start of our tourist season. Bus loads of sightseers and out of town visitors are swarming the city. Traffic is worse than usual and everyone is driving five miles under the speed limit.

It’s Cherry Blossom time y’all.

Otherwise known as “Scary Blossom”, the DC cherry blossoms at peak bloom are truly beautiful. However, the tourists make navigating the city nearly impossible - even worse than the forth of July and protest season. (Okay the 4th of July might be a bit of an exaggeration because the tourists are also insane, but Cherry Blossom is when the chaos begins).

No more is Washing DC for the locals to the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia tri-state area). Now, we’ll have bus loads of school children visiting our world famous (and mostly free) museums, monuments, and government buildings. Protests will kick up activity in about a month - though they are easier to navigate. No one will know where they’re going (not just the tourists, but the new construction will create new,  longer routes to get to work).

For an event that lasts about a week (depending on weather, wind, and temperature), the Cherry Blossoms are an important part of DC culture. The original Sakura trees were planted along the Tidal Bain in 1912. These trees were a gift of friendship from the People of Japan to the People of the United States because of a correspondence between First Lady Helen “Nellie” Taft and the then Mayor of Tokyo. The original 3,000+ trees are over 110 years old and one of the icons of the city.

We put these flowers on everything DC related - along with the Washington Monument and Capital Building. Coffee mugs, pins, patches, chocolate bars, and more have pink blossoms and white buildings on a blue sky background.

One of my paintings of the event.

And yes, they are beautiful.

Sakura or Cherry Blossoms are incredibly pretty. When their petals fall, it looks like pink snow swirling through the air. They are the unofficial signal spring has begun and that warmer weather is around the corner. 

And they let the residents of the Washington DC area know that tourists are coming.

It is worth it to see the DC Cherry Blossoms once in your life. The Tidal Basin is a lovely area and the trees frame the backdrop of many of the monuments. My favorite area to see them is around the FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) memorial all the way up to Jefferson. I haven’t done that walk in years, but it is beautiful on a clear day.

Another of my paintings of the Cherry Blossoms

However, I can’t stand the traffic and clusters of tourists standing in the middle of roads and pathways while they decide where to go. Parking is a nightmare and the metro is overcrowded at all times, not just peak rush hour.

I love DC. I love the Cherry Blossoms.

I don’t love the tourists.

But that’s part of the life being a resident of Washington DC.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to False Spring

 Last week was the solar equinox. 

Spring has "officially" begun in the Northern Hemisphere.

I celebrated the changing of the seasons by spending time outside and planting my balcony garden. I'm hoping to have some tiny tomatoes, lots of herbs, green beans, lettuce, and strawberries. I also included flowers to attract pollinators like butterflies and bees. 

And this weekend I had to bring everything in because Mother Nature decided it needed to go below freezing most of this weekend.

Thanks climate change.

Yes, changing climate is part of this annoyingly inconsistent weather patterns we've been experiencing. It's more of a thorn in my side than a tried and true problem. 

To save my garden from a late frost, all I had to do was move all of the pots inside my apartment. Sure they get less light, but they'll stay warm and eventually go back outside without any problems. It's an inconvenience to move everything, but it's not that difficult of a thing for me to do.

I have a solution for this last hold out of winter. 

But what if I couldn't move my garden? What if I had already planted it right into the ground instead of pots?

Well, a quick Google search would help me find tips to protect my garden from the late frost. There are loads of tips and tricks to protect plants from a sudden frost as it's become an issue to have a short warm spell followed by a cold snap. At worst, I have to replant my garden.

But what if it wasn't a garden? What if I had planted a whole field of crops that I depended on to harvest at the end of the season and I couldn't replant the crops? What if it wasn't just cold snaps I needed to worry about, but extreme heat or droughts? What if there was a biblical event that wiped out everything my livelihood depends on?

Why am I even thinking about these things if all I have going for me is a tiny balcony garden?

My garden is a hobby. I don't depend on it for financial needs or food. It's something nice to have that occupies my time and occasionally lets me add some extra flares to my meals. 

However, the food that I don't personally grow, I get at the store or farmer's market. If I buy my food from the store, that food might come from anywhere in the world. The food's journey from it's origin point to my dinner plate is long and has a lot of points of interest that can add to the costs I spend at checkout. These added points might be customs fees, fuel for transportation, storage costs, and enough money to pay every person who's labor went into growing, packaging, and transporting the food. Each point adds an extra layer to the price you pay at checkout...and then tax is added.

Of course, I might be able to cut out some of the costs and points of interest by getting my food directly from the farmers. Especially since each step in the process to get the food from the grocery store from other countries contributes to higher inflation. There's also less risk of food spoiling on a long journey than to buy it locally.

Except, I'm not hear to argue the virtues of where to buy your apples. 

And boy don't these apples look good!

I'm more pointing out how a cold snap might affect my ability to buy apples from my local farmer. Depending on the circumstances, the price of apples may go up, there might be shortages, or both scenarios might occur. The worst case is that there are no apples and the farm has to close down because they can't pay their bills. That adds to the overall decrease supply of apples that can be bought overall which further drives up price if demand doesn't change.

But importing food should help with supply right? Surely if we can't grow our food locally, we can still find sources to help with supply?

Yes, but there are risks. 

We've seen during the pandemic the problems associated with supply chain issues. Ports were overflowing with cargo that wasn't being unloaded because people weren't able to work. This lead to shortages at the grocery store and eventual higher prices. We're also dealing with higher fuel costs which is also going to drive up prices.

Oh, and now there's a war going on in one of the highest grain producing countries in the world.

All of these things are going to cause food shortages. Add in our good friend climate change and suddenly crops that were once easy to grow in a specific location, can't anymore. In my home state of Virginia, we've been having issues growing tomatoes since the early 2010s because of the changing climate. Will states famous for their tomatoes like New Jersey start having these same issues in the 2020s? 2030s?

The simple solution might be to have farmers change to crops that better suit the new climate.

Except that's not really that simple. We're seeing weather events that are unprecedented, heat waves and droughts that can take out the hardiest of plants - even the ones we're genetically modifying to account for these climate changes (humans have been messing with plant and animal genetics since we started farming - why do you think corn has a husk). 

If crops fail, people starve because demand for food doesn't go away. People need to eat to survive. 

This leads into many other topics (such as human migration, new diseases, and other catastrophes) that I don't have the time (or mental capacity) to get into. 

Needless to say, climate change is here. We have to adapt. I might be annoyed that I had to move all my plants inside because of a sudden cold snap (that are coming later and later into what should be considered Spring), but this annoyance is also tied to a deep fear that one day we might not be able to keep up the food supply with demand.

What will we eat then?

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week. 

Welcome to the Wilderness an Hour from DC

 "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints." - unknown.

Looks like a scene from My Neighbor Totoro

This quote has been attributed to a number of environmentalists and founders of conservation movements. A quick Google search claims it to be from John Muir, but a quick scroll down the search page shows that there are others who might have coined this phrase. 

But who said the quote doesn't make it any less important when you go to wilderness for an adventure. 

This weekend I went to the Shenandoah National Park and stayed in one of the three Lodges off Skyline Drive. It was so much fun (worth the scolding I got from my cat when I got home). I found the accommodations perfect, though they're more like motels or cabins rather than 5-star resorts. I had little to no cell service and the only area with wi-fi was the main lobby. The main lobby was incredibly inviting - excellent for bird watching or curling up in a rocking chair next to a roaring fire in the fireplace. 

I stayed in Skyland which had several trails within walking distance of my room. Some were very popular like Stony Man and White Oak Falls. Others had almost no one on them like Miller's Head (which led to a beautiful view on an old fire watch). There's also a stable for horses on Skyland with the option for horseback riding starting in late May.

I walked so much that by Saturday afternoon - when the weather took a turn to grey skies and rain - I found myself passed out for several hours before crawling out of bed for dinner. 

I've never hidden my love of hiking and getting lost in the wilderness. It's dangerous to go off by yourself, especially if you don't know what you're doing, but I've made it a habit to always let people know where I'll be going, knowing how to handle an emergency, and picking trails that will have some people around.

Thankfully, the Shenandoah National Park has an app with maps and resources for hikers. If you can't use the app, most trails have a map at the beginning of the trails that you can take a picture of. They'll also let you know the estimated amount of time to complete a hike, how much water you should have, and any other gear you will want to have on hand. 

One of my favorite investments has been my headlight flashlight that sits snuggly on my head and provides white and red light. It makes climbing up rocks easier in the dark without precariously balancing a flashlight in my hands.

As I don't have much service up in the Shenandoah, I don't have my headphones in. I can take in all the sounds of the woods. There are plenty of bird calls and songs, the sway of the trees, and the occasional howl of wind. Its in this atmosphere that I have nearly ran into deer, had a close call with a depth-perception challenged hawk, and a startling encounter with a bald eagle. There were a lot of deer this trip...and possibly a majestic peregrine (its a type of falcon). 

Surprisingly, the closest I have ever gotten to a bear was less than 10 miles from my house in New Jersey. It was while I was at my favorite hiking spot with two guys on our way to a place aptly named Bear Swamp. 

I didn't seen any bears this trip, but I'm sure they were around. 

Though spring is in full swing in and around Washington D.C., the Shenandoah mountains appear to be about a month behind. Certainly there were plenty of flowers (some of my favorites on this trip were little purple buds clinging to the eastern side of rocks). Friday and Saturday had hardly any trees budding, but this morning there were little dots of green everywhere. What a difference waking up in a cloud makes. 

Yep, that's right, last night I went to sleep on a mountain and today I woke up in a cloud. I could go five minutes of the road and see clear blue skies, but the next moment the wisps of water vapor were flying up the western ridges. It was eerie. It was beautiful. 

All of this is why Shenandoah National Park continues to be one of my favorite places in the world. I highly recommend it. There's plenty of hiking, amazing views, camping, and horseback riding (seasonal). There are great places to eat and park rangers to ask questions to. 

The wilderness is about an hour and a half from D.C. The next time you want to visit the capitol, might I suggest I short detour to the wilderness in Virginia...the Appalachian Trail is there.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Spring 2020

It’s finally spring!

It also might snow in a couple days...thanks climate change.

This year is a lot different than years past. We’re in the midst of a global crisis and mostly confined to indoor activities. Thankfully I can still go for walks in the woods, but going anywhere that might attract a large crowed is a solid “no”. That means I can’t visit the Cherry Blossoms that have just hit peak bloom.

I’ve decided instead to fall back on to one of my favorite hobbies: gardening.

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to have a garden - though I’ve been a plant parent for a few years and have volunteered at the New Jersey Botanical Gardens at Ringwood. Growing up, my parents had cultivated a small garden against the east side of our house. By the time I got to high school, I had taken over the vegetable part of the garden (mom ruled the herbs, while dad always made certain we had his favorite flowers). My favorite thing to grow: green beans. Though I hated eating them, they were super fun to cultivate and I’d give them away to anyone who wanted some.

Once I got to college and started working when I wasn’t studying, I wasn’t able to maintain my part of the garden. After graduation, there was never a right time or location to start a small garden. I was living in apartments and all but one had a patio to put plants outside (sadly the patio was too shady for vegetables). I probably could have started a small garden at my previous apartment, but I was so busy, it never occurred to me.

Recently I moved across several states to a new place and it’s perfect for a small container garden. Add in me mostly staying at home and it’s the right time for me to enjoy one of my old hobbies again. Thankfully my new balcony has a lot of light.

I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal and that a lot of other apartment dwellers might not have the same opportunity, but starting an apartment garden is a great way to have some extra herbs and veggies around. I’m not sure it really saves money, but it does make me feel like I won’t have to constantly run to the store to have some fresh food around.

I recently spoke to one of my cousins currently locked down in San Francisco and they also want to start an apartment garden. Unfortunately, the climate in San Francisco isn’t ideal for the plants they want to grow. My cousin is adapting by looking into getting a greenhouse and working with plants that will do well in the limited environment available.

This is how we’re coping with social distancing, the anxiety of going out, and the scary times we live in.

If you can, I recommend starting a garden. Start small, only a few plants that are fairly easy to cultivate (I find peas and green beans are fairly easy veggies, while mint and rosemary are tough to kill herbs - though I have sadly killed a rosemary plant before). Look into plants that attract pollinators like butterflies and humming birds or provide protection against mosquitoes and flies.

If you can’t start your own garden, that’s okay too. Some areas have volunteer programs (where you can work solo or at least keep a good distance from other people) to help out with gardens. And gardens take a lot of work from planting, to watering, to weeding. Some community gardens work with food banks and help struggling families (a plus at any time).

This is a stressful, anxious, and scary time. Part of me still can’t believe I’m living through it. Gardening is one way for me to focus my energy and keep me sane. It’s not for everyone, but for those of us who enjoy it, it can be a wonderful experience.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Rules are Rule are Rules

Spring has officially arrived! Yay! The sun is out longer. Its finally getting warm. And the news is filled with tons of stories about the biggest annual event that takes place this time of year.

I am of course talking about prom. (What were you guys thinking I meant?)

Between over the top "asked to prom" proposals to the never ending controversy over what is appropriate prom attire, I can't seem to escape the high school dance's drama in my news feed. Which is odd, considering my prom was notably uneventful. Oh it was fun, but drama free (at least from my perspective) and I can't remember anyone being turned away because they wore an inappropriate dress.

Heck I don't remember us even having a dress code at all for our prom.

Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment (or extremely susceptible to click bait), but for some reason I love clicking on these stories, skimming the article, and then rolling my eyes when I finally reach the comment section. Because you know what the most common type of comment is on anything regarding kids complaining about their dress code (or just how unfair life is in general)?

"Rules are rules."

I really hate this phrase. Even if I agree with the "rules" being discussed, as soon as I hear/see this argument my inner Mindy (the small Animaniacs* child who always almost kills her loyal "silly puppy", Buttons) surfaces.

Why? No, seriously why? Why are these rules the rules? What is the logic behind them? Why do they exist? Why do I have to follow them? Do they serve any purpose other than to annoy me?

If the answer to any of the above questions is along the lines of "because I said so" or "so as not to distract other people", I am liable to burst out laughing. Neither of these so called explanations have had any effect on me since I was six. They are inadequacy and only serve to annoy me further.

Now some people might respond with "well, that's life" or "tough cookies that's the answer". And again I might burst out laughing. Yeah life's not fair. I am well aware of this fact. Doesn't mean I have to take it lying down. As an adult, I can fight back against unfair rules or protest laws I don't like as much as I want. Why shouldn't we expect kids to as well?

See that's the funny thing about rules (and laws) in general. There doesn't need to be anything fair about them. The sole purpose of rules is to maintain some form of order. We as a society need order to properly function (at least that's what I've heard, I don't know whether it's true or not). Thus we have rules.

In theory, rules should make some sort of logical sense. Why can't I go in the construction zone without a helmet on? Because I might get hurt from a falling object. Why do I need to keep the walkway clear on the train? So that people can easily move around in case of an emergency.

However, like many things, rules don't always age well. Society changes and things progress, but our rules don't. The advent of the Internet has certainly been an interesting example of this phenomena (pretty much on steroids). Our rules and laws aren't keeping up with how quickly the Internet is evolving. Remember Napster back in the early 2000s?

If rules don't make sense or feel outdated, then they should be challenged and changed. There used to be a law in the state of Virginia that bathtubs were forbidden inside the house. In modern times this seems like a silly law, but I'm sure at some point in the state's history it made logical sense. The rule/law needed to change to how bathing was treated by society.

Without rules, we would have chaos and anarchy. Now I much prefer order to chaos (this is just a personal preference), but I can't deny the fact that order can get a little dull at times. Throwing in a little chaos challenges order and can even help to improve it. Too much, however, can cause serious damage.  It's a delicate balancing act. Then there are the people who just want to watch the world burn. Though they too might have a point, it could cause all of humanity to go extinct.

So about that dress code thing. I honestly think most dress codes need to be updated and changed. Fashion is always changing and evolving. Women can wear pants now (believe it or not my university didn't always allow women to wear pants on campus). We no longer have people measuring how long swim suits are at the beach. It is, gasp, okay to show an ankle or two. And it is perfectly acceptable to wear socks with your sandals (I will be laughing at you, but it's not against any rules).

To tell kids to not challenge rules (outdated or otherwise) is a disservice to them. Kids and adults should always question authority figures and the rules they make. Rules can be made that give an advantage to a group of players while causing massive disadvantages to another, more vulnerable group. They should be challenged and removed. Challenging authority and the rules they make is an important part of what makes America great. After all, if the founding father's hadn't challenged the rule of Great Britain, the US might not be the crazy independent country it is now.

As David Bowie once sang (may he rest in peace): "And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through."

So the next time you see or hear people protesting rules they think should be changed, don't tell them they should just live with what the powers at be decide. Listen to them, they probably have something important to say.

Unless they want to disenfranchise someone, then you have my permission to laugh in their faces.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now, I'm off to go protest bathtubs being inside houses in Virginia. Clearly they should be back outside with nature.

Until next week.

*If you guys didn't know, Animaniacs  is on Netflix. I have been enjoying rewatching this show. I think some of it has gotten better with age.

Welcome to the Hecktic Month April

It's almost April 15th. If you live in the good old U. S. of A. then it's almost time to file your tax returns. Isn't that wonderful? No? Well too bad it still has to get done, whether we want them to or not.

April always seems to be a busy month. Before I graduated (college or high school there's not much difference for this), April meant that it's was the homestretch. Exams were just around the corner, which was then followed by the freedom of summer. I miss those days sometimes. Sometimes the state exams even started in April.

Last year at this time, I was getting ready to move to New Jersey. This year I'm getting ready to move to a new place, thankfully only ten minutes away. I seem to never catch a break in April.

This year I think the seasons decided to play a massive April Fool's Day joke on us in North America (at least on the east coast).  Here in New Jersey, we were supposed to get snow last weekend. It was still miserably cold, but there were only a few flurries. My home state of VA, though got a light dusting and apartently they got a small storm by my mom in MI. Thanks April, it wasn't like we hadn't already had a weird winter or anything.

I'm one of those people who likes stability. April is rarely a stable month. I think it's because it spring. It's a time for new life and a fresh start. The flowers are starting to bloom, a lot of animals are having babies, and it's finally warm enough to go outside without five layers of clothing on.

I've heard that April used to be the start of the new year (this was back a long time ago Europe). It makes sense since winter has left and life seems to return to the world. Maybe with all of the changes this season I'll make a seasonal resolution (in addition to any New Year's resolutions I may or may not have made). This season I resolve to bring positive change into my life and grow to except that some things are just out of my control.

Now, I just need to survive my birthday, moving, and my three month review at work. It should be a piece of cake.

Or at least manageable.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Let me know if you guys have any seasonal resolutions too!

Welcome To Daylight Savings Time

Arguably on of the worst days of the year, Daylight Savings Time is both cruel and nice to have. So we lost an hour of sleep last night, but we get to have an extra hour of sleep in the fall. And despite the fact that it's now darker in the morning, we get a whole extra hour of sunlight in the evening. Seriously, why don't we just have our time zone set to "Daylight Savings Time" all year round? It would certainly make life easier for those of us who have a hard enough time sleeping already.

But what is far more important about loosing an hour of sleep last night is that it's finally going to get warmer! Yep Spring is just arose md the corner. No more snow storms, ice will be a thing of the past and I can finally turn off my heater!

This year I have a few plans (besides moving).

- I'm going to plant a window garden. I got these really nice vases or candle holders (I'm not actually sure what they are) and I'm going to plant herbs in them. My pet cactus will finally have some company.

- Go to an amusement park. I have a need for speed and riding some rollercoasters will drive away the last of my winter blues.

- Go wine/beer tasting. I am in need for some new flavores and possible road trip.

- Spring cleaning. Wait why is this on my list...oh right now that winter is done for I need to freshen up my place for when people come by to hang out. I hope I don't find anymore spiders.

So thank you Daylight Savings Time. You might be the worst thing ever dreamed up (along with jet lag and insomnia)for the next week, but at least warm sunny weather is just around the corner. I just hope nothing floods too badly during the melt down.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Enjoy more sunshine in the evenings.

Welcome to Spring

It Appears To Have Finnally Arrived

Spring seems to have finally shown up. There is definatly a thick layer of yellow pollen on my car. I'm sneezing more  and I don't need to have my air conditioning nor heater on (saving on bill yay!). 

Spring is definatly a more mild season than winter. Sure we've had more rain than usual and a sink hole opened up in Baltimore and swallowed like 20 cars. That was both terrifying and somewhat hilarious at the same time. I think I need to check on what I think is funny.

Honestly the biggest thing about spring is that it's not too hot and too cold (usually). However, this area seems to go from extreme winter to extreme summer in two days. There is no slow transition. We used at have a saying at my old college. "Welcome to Williamsbuge where the weather's made up and the seasons don't matter."

Spring also means I'm another year older and supossibly wiser (not really, but it's a nice thought). It used to mean the end of the school year and the start of FREEDOM, but I only get three weeks now (it's a French company). 

Spring is here, but I'm not as interested as I was for winter. I just hope my area doesn't flood.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please share or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers. Until next week.