Welcome to May and More...

Flowers

I love spring in NC mainly because flowering plants love it here. Between the dogwood trees (of which we have one of each color, including a pale and a darker pink and a more traditional white), the azelias and rhododendrons, the violets and forget-me-nots and cowbells, the daffodils and crocuses, there is a great spectacle between February and May. Of all of these, though, my absolute favorites are our pale purple irises. 

These tall beauties were shared with us the first year we lived here, and I planted them not long thereafter. In the years since, they have grown full and have spread about, filling the flowery borders of the North Yard side of our property with beauty around the middle of April.

Their scent is my absolute favorite botanical odor, and their color is breathtaking. For Easter, Micki cut some and made a bouquet for our dining room table, which added considerably to our cheer. This year, I hope to beg for some bulbs from our cool elderly neighbors, who have two-tone dark and light purple irises in their front beds. I want to mix them in with our current ones, but also to spread them around the grounds a bit. They are starting to fade now, which always makes me sad, but I will say that, when they start in April, my love of this time of year comes alive.

What Month is it?

Which makes me think that, for spring, things are a bit farther along than I expect for this time of year. The trees are all darker-leafed, their catkins and pollen pods came early and it has been unseasonably warmer and drier for spring, but also more than usually humid already this year. 

After such a brutally cold and snowy winter, I figured spring would be slow and stiff and limp a little from its frosty snooze, but things have really bloomed and unfurled. That makes me worry that we might have a dreadfully hot summer. If so, I may be in for it, as in, inside for the duration, or really in for it, as my heat tolerance has gotten far less resilient of late.

Other People's Blogs

Look for an essay of mine at the blog at this link. There are plenty of other, better writers contributing, but this one will be my second for this site. While I have been pushing my fiction short stories, I worked on my essay for this other site, and for all the effort it took, I'm quite proud of it. Our niece, Alex, deserves some credit for getting me through the tough composition. When I shared the final copy with her, she said it was strong. For a high school English teacher, and for Alex, that is high praise indeed. I am indebted to her keen eye and her unwillingness to do anything but straight shooting in that process. 

And so back to DRO and starting year 3

This April, I finished two years of writing about 40 essays per annum for Dave Rambles On, which surprised me. Nine short stories at the Shadows Lengthen blog site on top of that (well, one I didn't publish because of the dreadful hurricane last year), that's pretty good progress. As usual, when I switch formats, I get a bit backed up with the other genre. I have a much less daunting feeling about writing one essay a week, now. It feels part of my routine, expected and required.

These next few months are always the busiest. Micki’s 4th book in her series releases (more on that soon), other big changes are in the works for her, as well, which I will say more about in June, Summer Reading is starting at the library in June, as usual and then of course, we're going to the beach as a family again this year in July, so there will be plenty to write about, I hope even just before autumn.

Some weeks I have felt (oh shoot, I have to work on my essay!) a little overwhelmed by the responsibility, but generally I enjoy it and I certainly hope that you enjoy it, too. 

Topics Coming Soon

Aliens, the papal procurement process, grass alternatives, gardening, hoses, stoicism, gym territoriality, and nutrinos are all things I’ve got on deck. As usual, the world will provide other topics, and my scattery mind will fixate on things that wouldn’t seem like a fun essay to write or read, but I’ll put them in anyway. As usual, whether you read them is up to you.

I write the following sentence every year, but so far, no one has submitted anything, which is fine, but if there is something that you want me to write about, please let me know. I’m also happy to answer questions, take challenges on my citations and sources, and opinions, and generally work to make the product better.

And so, we’re back at it. See you, as my friend Rich Powell often says, in the funny papers!