IT WAS A YEAR AGO TODAY KELLY CAME HOME FROM A WEEK LONG STAY IN THE HOSPITAL

 ONE YEAR AGO TODAY HEADING INTO LONDON'S UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL TO PICK UP KELLY

From the greys of November to the whites of Winter we are now at the point where the greening of Spring is slowly beginning.  April is a vibrant and busy month for Mother Nature as she readies the landscape for her annual flurry of colorful changes.  The land slowly emerges and wakens from its long winter slumber as do we, the humans who live here.  A fresh start, renewed plans, hopes and expectations are alive once more.  A new beginning of sorts.  A feeling of confidence that things might get better now that the doldrums of winter have been left behind.  Or so it seems, and so we try for a while until the cold dark damp, and rainy days of November return once again and force us back into our dark emotional caves to once again wait with great anticipation for another glorious coming of Spring.........With a cold grey rainy day upon us, it was not a fit morning to be outside.  It was a cold rain falling when Pheebs and Kelly slipped out the door for their daily morning walk. Pheebs wouldn't even go off the porch.  Walk canceled!!  Minutes later when Pheebs and I reluctantly trudged out to the Jeep and headed off on our morning ride we were soon disappointingly home again in about twenty cold and wet dreary minutes.        

Al's Music Box:)) A Summer Song by Chad and Jeremy from the album 'Yesterday's Gone'.  1964 

 HEADING HOME AFTER A WEEK'S STAY

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Mrs. Jones was reading a letter at breakfast. Suddenly she looked up suspiciously at her husband.  "Henry," she said, "I've just received a letter from mother saying she isn't accepting our invitation to come and stay, as we do not appear to want her. What does she mean by that? I told you to write and say that she was to come at her own convenience. You did write, didn't you?"  "Yes, I did," said the husband. "But I, I couldn't spell 'convenience,' so I made it 'risk.'"

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A Sunday school teacher asked her second graders if anyone knew another name for God. She was picturing answers like 'Lord' or 'Almighty'.After a long moment of silence, a little boy raised his hand and said, "Howard." "Howard?" replied the confused teacher. "You know," continued the boy, "Howard be thy name."

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ALIVE AT SEVENTY FIVE -- KELLY'S BIRTHDAY TODAY:))))))

 OUR SPRING MOONBEAM MUSHROOMS ARE DOING WELL:))

Today is Kelly's birthday and this is what she posted on her Facebook page this morning.

This picture is of my brother Peter  & I celebrating a birthday many years ago.    Maybe it was my 5th birthday, because now that 70 years have been added I feel fortunate and sad at the same time.   It seems like I am on a threshold of a transition when we stand betwixt and between one state and another.  Maybe I should add "The Alzheimer's Prevention Program", and "Keep Your Brain Alive" to my reading list now.  I guess I feel ready to cross the threshold into the next liminal stage, ("Liminal stages are psychological thresholds, times of transition. the biggies are birth, marriage, death --( cultures develop splashy rituals around these transitions to ease the anxiety they provoke.")  So we will go to my daughter's house for a party. 🥳 𝐓𝐨 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞.

Not a cloud in the sky but we had a skiff of snow on the ground.  With the temps barely above freezing, we knew we had warmer days ahead so it was onwards and upwards.  After washing the Jeep at the Bayfield carwash, Pheebs and I headed off to the cemetery for a walk around the perimeter.  I made it three-quarters of the way before the pain in my right leg set in.  Popped in to see Richard and Gayle on the way home but they were out.  

 QUITE AN OUTSIDE COFFEE KLATCH AT BAYFIELDS MAIN STREET SHOPBIKE COFFEE ROASTERS THIS MORNING 

 FISHERMEN FINALLY HAVE ACCESS TO THE TIP OF BAYFIELD'S SOUTH PIER AGAIN

Despite today's cold icy wind, I was able to slip outside and do some puttering with my wheelbarrow, leaf rake, and pitchfork.  And, I'm seeing some mid-50F days coming up next week.  I said to Kelly this afternoon that it has been five long months since we were last able to go outside in short sleeves and feel any warmth in the air.  

THIS  GREEN PERIWINKLE ISN'T LETTING YESTERDAY'S SNOW KEEP IT DOWN

 SPRING IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER

 OUR WHITE MAGNOLIA BUDS ARE COMING OUT

 RETURNING FROM THE LIBRARY, KELLY BACKS THE SUBARU INTO OUR CARPORT

Al's Music Box:)) Harvest Moon by Neil Young from the album 'Harvest Moon'.  1993  This song holds a special place in our hearts for Kelly and I.  Harvest Moon was released in 1993 and that was the summer we met in a little coffee shop near Doon Ontario.  Early on we found out we both liked the same kinds of music and Neil Young's song quickly became 'our song'.  Within a month of meeting, Kelly had procured a couple tickets to a Neil Young concert at Toronto's CNE stadium.  When he sang that song, we had our arms entwined standing in the bleachers swaying side to side to Neil singing Harvest Moon:))  It was a special moment and one I will never forget.  Backing up Neil Young that night was Booker T and the MGs. (think Green Onions)  Over the next couple of years, Kelly secured tickets for 'The Rolling Stones', ZZ Top, Pink Floyd, and the Eagles.  Had I not met Kelly, I would not have seen any of these groups.........Here is a paragraph from a post I wrote in 2016 about the day Kelly and I met for the first time.  (We met in a little coffee shop near Doon Ontario south of Kitchener.  I have been carrying a pen and a little black notebook in my shirt pockets every day for 33 years and in September of 2009 I wrote a post about how that pen and notebook nearly sunk my chances that very first day I met Kelly.  (I carry notebooks to write everything down I need to do each day) Here is an excerpt from that post……..”As helpful as my little black (yes, it's actually black) book has been over the years it did very nearly cost me a second date with a very good-looking blonde I had just met in a coffee shop one afternoon in Doon, Ontario. (we had previously talked by phone after I put an ad in a few local papers via a dating service saying I was looking for a girlfriend....and Kelly still has that ad) It was my first time meeting Kelly & I had pulled out all the stops. Wore my very best-used Thrift Shop shirt and Sally Ann jeans, my newest pair of old running shoes and I even think I remembered to wash behind my ears and comb my hair that morning.  To put the icing on the cake I even bought her a coffee as I recall. My pen & notebook were securely in my pocket and I never gave them a second thought. Everything went well (I think it was that free coffee I bought her that made the big impression) & we agreed to meet again later in the week for a movie. It wasn't until a few years later that she told me when she came into the coffee shop that day & saw the pen & notebook in my pocket that she had me pegged for a nerdy type guy & she definitely was not looking for a nerdy type guy. (good thing I had taken my glasses off & stuck them in my back pocket) Well, somehow me, my pen, & my notebook all survived the close coffee shop encounter that day & we have all been a part of Kelly's life ever since. Who would have ever thunk it huh. Now, how's that for a happy ending to a story between a man, a woman, a pen, & a nerdy notebook)   

 MOONBEAM MUSHROOM??  NAW, THAT'S JUST THE GLOBE FROM OUR OLD STREETLIGHT

GROANER'S CORNER:(( "Did God make you, Grandpa?"  "Yes, God made me" the grandfather answered.  A few minutes later, the little girl asked him, "Did God make me, too?"  "Yes, He did," the older man replied.  For a few minutes, the little girl seemed to be studying her grandpa, as well as her own reflection in the mirror, while her grandfather wondered what was running through her little mind.  At last she spoke up. "You know, Grandpa," she said, "God is sure doing a lot better job lately, isn't he?"

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My bloody rude neighbor came over banging on the door at 2 a.m. last night....Luckily I was still up playing my drums!!

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Patient 1: 'Why did you run away from the operating table?'
Patient 2: 'The nurse was repeatedly saying 'don't get nervous', 'don't be afraid', 'be strong', 'this is a small operation only', things like that.'
Patient 1: 'So what was wrong with that? Why were you so afraid?'
Patient 2: 'She was talking to the surgeon!'

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A FAST MOVING SNOWSTORM RIPS THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD

 THERE IS QUITE A TUSSLE GOING ON AT THE MOMENT BETWEEN WINTER AND SPRING IN OUR FLOWERBEDS

Al's Music Box:))  Mandy by Barry Manilow from the album 'Barry Manilow II'.  1975

 A FAST-MOVING SNOWSTORM RIPPED THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD EARLY THIS AFTERNOON....AND THERE ARE TWO RED MALE CARDINALS IN THIS PHOTO

 THIS MALE ROBIN IS NOT PLEASED WITH THE CHANGE IN WEATHER

 THESE GRACKLES ARE NOT LIKING IT EITHER

 EVEN THE PHEEBS GOT SNOWED ON WHEN SHE WENT OUT

 I ALWAYS HIDE A SNACK FOR HER WHEN SHE COMES IN

 THIS MOURNING DOVE IS FLAPPING ITS WINGS TO SCARE OFF THE GRACKLES

 THIS GRACKLE IS NOT IMPRESSED WITH THE MOURNING DOVE'S ANTICS

 THIS ROBIN IS HAVING A FEW HARSH WORDS WITH OLD MAN WINTER!!!!

GRACKLES AND RED WING BLACKBIRDS

ALL AT THE SAME TIME THIS AFTERNOON WE HAD BLUE JAYS, CARDINALS, NUTHATCHES, BLACK CAP CHICKADEES, GRACKLES, MOURNING DOVES, DARK-EYED JUNCOS, ROBINS, GOLDFINCHES,  AND RED WING BLACKBIRDS IN THE YARD...AND I MIGHT HAVE SEEN A RARE GILLYGALOO BIRD TOO:))

 SKIES BEGAN TO CLEAR BY LATE AFTERNOON

SUNNY SHADOWS

 'YAAAAY' SUNNY BLUE SKIES

 SEEKING SUNLIGHT, AN AZALEA BUD PEEKS OUT FROM UNDER ITS CAP OF AFTERNOON SNOW

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Many years ago, in the south pacific, there was a small island kingdom that was ruled by a kind and benevolent King. Each year, on the King's birthday, the residents of the island gave the King a new throne as a token of their love and respect for him.  And each year, the King would put last year's gift up in the attic of his small grass house. After many years of ruling the island, the weight of the large number of birthday presents stored up in the attic became too heavy and caused the house to collapse down on the King.  The moral to the story is: He who lives in a grass house, shouldn't stow thrones.

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A THICK FOG HANGING IN THE PINE TREES

Parting our living room curtains this morning I saw a thick fog hanging in the pine trees.  Knowing that fog meant 'no wind', Pheebs and I headed out to our wide-open country road walking spot and had ourselves a stroll up the gravel road and back.  Home again I hauled out our shop vac.  The Jeep's interior hadn't been cleaned since last Fall sometime so I busied myself vacuuming out all the debris.  Needless to say, it was quite a mess in there.  I also forked half a dozen wheelbarrow loads of yard waste into our utility trailer.......  And here is an example of how great it always felt years ago when returning home from our winter's southwest travels..... March 28th, 2009.  Angola Michigan To Bayfield Ontario...'We're Home':))  

 A FOGGY START TO OUR DAY

SUNSHINE IS QUICKLY BURNING THE FOG OFF

 THE JEEPS INTERIOR WAS WAY OVERDUE FOR A CLEANING

Al's Music Box:)) The Sounds Of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel from the album 'Sounds Of Silence'.  1966

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Bubba and Earl were fishing down by the Ohio River on different sides of the riverbank at night. Bubba was catching a whole bunch of fish for his family, but Earl hadn't caught any and was frustrated and called out to Bubba, "How come you've been catching all them there fish and I ain't caught a single one?"  Bubba replied, " I don’t know.... why don’t ya come on over here?"  "I don’t know.... I don’t see a bridge, and there ain't no boat, and I don’t swim to well" Bubba picks up his flashlight, turns it on, and replies, " Why don’t you walk across this here beam of light?" Earl was outraged and replied "do you think am stupid? When I get halfway across you'll turn the flashlight off!!!"

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