Yesterday was a glorious day for a walk. Warm but not too much so, and sunny with a little breeze. Perfect spring weather. The daffodils in front of the UU church were happy. Tiny leaves are popping out, and I even saw some trees in flower.

Down at the park, things are greening by the river, and some kayakers paddled by as I stood on the bank.



Violets lined the parking lot, and dotted the grass along the path.



I recently discovered a new cheese & gourmet shop downtown, and it's a delightful place. It's just a little hole-in-the-wall, but the proprietor is very nice (and she really knows her cheese!) and the selection is large. I tried a German triple-creme with mushrooms, and it was delicious. I'll definitely be back. I'm so glad to see all the new businesses downtown; a lot of places have opened in the four years I've lived here. We have a brewery, a martini & tapas bar, an ice cream place with a speakeasy in the back (really!), a flatbread pizza joint, and a new dress shop to name a few. Just the opposite of Westfield, where I used to live. It was sad to see all the empty storefronts there, and it's a much bigger town. I'm also glad to see that the new shopping plaza just outside of town hasn't hindered downtown at all. Maybe it even helps; who knows? It would be nice if folks who came to the plaza to shop decide to check out downtown as well. I like supporting local businesses.

My mom is home from the rehab place, and doing much better. That's a relief. She's going to have a visiting nurse for a while, and one of her neighbors has a daughter who does housecleaning, so mom is hiring her to help out. She's doing her exercises and her breathing exercises, and is determined to get and stay well. This makes me happy.

I brought the grill back up to the deck, and maybe I'll be motivated to light it up tonight. That sounds like the perfect end to a lovely weekend.

The sun never really came out today, and it was a bit chilly, but since when has that ever stopped me? Of course I went out for a walk, back to the woods, where the forest floor grows ever greener and the river babbles ever onward.

( today's treasures )

The batteries ran out about 3/4 of the way around the path, so for the rest of it I just enjoyed the scenery and listened to the birds. Serves me right for not remembering to bring spares!

The river was quite vocal today, and the winds had knocked a few leaves onto the water, so I watched several of them on their journey downstream. I imagined tiny travellers on a quest, like the Fellowship on their way to Mordor from Lothlorien.

If you live nearby, and are not busy next Sunday, we're doing a photowalk in Stanley Park at 1:00. We're meeting in the parking lot near the rose garden & carillon tower. Let me know if you need directions! If you're curious about what there is to photograph, look here. If people are amenable, we'll head into the woods, too.

Oh, and I tried the limberger. It's not quite as stinky as I'd anticipated, but it is pretty odoriferous. Pretty tasty, too, but it has a bit of an aftertaste that made me want to brush my teeth. It's quite good on crusty bread, though. *g*

OK, I think I have to give up on The Sarah Connor Chronicles; I just can't follow it! I can't keep track of who's who, and when's when. Too bad, really, because it could be really good. It makes my brain hurt! I have enough to do keeping track of Lost...

It wasn't too bad getting back into the swing of things at work this morning. I skipped the sales meeting to get caught up on emails, phone messages, and ad insertions. I love having an excuse not to go to the sales meeting! I finally got all caught up by 11:00, including all the stuff I normally do on a Tuesday morning, like last run reports and sending out tear sheets. Fun, fun.

One of the reporters at our paper is from Central NY, and she brought me back some cheese curds from her visit home over the weekend. Isn't that sweet? We were talking a few weeks ago about things you can't get here, and I mentioned them, and she remembered! I was floored.

One of the other reporters, coincidentally, went to the same school that I went to for elementary & middle school. Talk about a small world! So many NY refugees (as my old roomie, Lakshmi, calls us) here in MA.

Here's another pic from yesterday, of snow melting around spongy moss:



There was thick frost on the car this morning, and I had to pry the door open again. So much for the warm weather! One day, and it rained for most of it. Oh well, I did choose to live here, didn't I?

At least the traffic was light this morning; the kids have the week off school, so I didn't have the buses to deal with. I'm sure a lot of folks took the week off and went on vacation. Hopefully someplace warm. I remember going someplace warm in the winter, vaguely. *sigh*

Oh! Before I forget, happy birthday to mmerriam! And happy new job day to ami_1! I can't wait to hear all about it. :)