I love spring – flowers blooming, trees budding out, no more threats of ice or snow storms that can last for days, winter coats and wool sweaters put away – what’s not to like about my favorite season. We were blessed with 80-degree temps this weekend and no rain on Saturday and Sunday so we took advantage of this gift from Mother Nature.
Friday evening Burl helped at the Shrine Circus so after work I hit the gym and then came home and alternated doing laundry with some reading (book report to follow). Saturday morning he helped again at church with cleaning up tree limbs from January’s storm so after Mulligan and I got in a long walk I tackled my closets – sorted through my clothes (how many black tops do I really need? That’s a rhetorical question, not a literal one!) and put away fall and winter stuff and got out spring and summer attire. I even culled out some goodies for the clothing bank and finally admitted to myself that I probably will NOT fit into a size 8 again while these things are still in style. Denial is more than a river in Egypt!
Last evening we had dinner at the home of friends who live north of town – it was a perfect evening to sit on their deck and drink a margarita while enjoying their pastoral view and inhaling the spring smells. Keith fixed a killer shrimp pasta, the wine was perfecto, dessert was a chocolate fountain with strawberries, pineapple and pound cake and we finished off the evening with more wine and a rousing game of Mexican Train.
Today after church we hopped on the GoldWing and headed for Grand Gulf State Park located about 7 miles south of Thayer, MO almost on the Arkansas line. With a stop in Ava for lunch it took a little over 3 hours to get there but the drive was leisurely and the scenery green and lush – reminded us of Ireland. The park is very small with just a few hiking trails but the canyon (billed as Missouri’s “Grand Canyon”) was very pretty – we hope to return after a good rain to see the waterfalls that have been reported in late spring and early summer. We were there for about an hour and I was careful to stay on the trails and far away from anything that even remotely resembled poison ivy or sumac.
Now for the book report – finished “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” by Bill Bryson on Friday. It was a hilarious account of growing up in Des Moines in the 50s and 60s and I have to admit I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it had it not been for the fact that I recognized some of the places he mentioned since Ralph lives there. Doubt that it has mass appeal beyond Des Moines but I could be wrong. The other book I read last week was “Three Weeks With My Brother” by Nicholas Sparks. He’s best known for writing what I call “chick lit” – rather sappy stuff without as much substance as I like in a good read but this one came highly recommended and I actually enjoyed it. It was co-written with his brother and centered around a 3-week trip they took around the world a few years ago but interspersed with tales of their unorthodox childhood (I’d call it dysfunctional but aren’t ALL families dysfunctional to some extent?). Makes me appreciate him more as an author but doubt it will encourage me to want to read more of his books.
