Spring Highlights

Let’s study our little cutie with her pet frog. This image has always stirred tenderness in my soul…a charming bespectacled child, scarf tied in unruly hair, light spring coat and adorable prideful smile. I wonder if she was allowed to take her reptilian friend indoors…

Spring is slow in its “sprunging” this year. The sun comes and goes but the wind and cold is nearly constant. Still, the blooms have taken hold and they have been extraordinarily lovely. Yesterday I stood under my daughter’s large cherry tree and looked up at the rose-colored blooms from underneath. I had never done that before and was amazed at how small the blossoms actually are. Yet, taken as a whole, they make a fuzzy pink haze which is delightful.

My daughter had a persistent case of pneumonia this spring and my grandchildren and my son-in-law have been ill in turns. This grandmother is tired. But I think we are back on track and so I thought I would tell you about some of the happier highlights including the cherry blossoms.

I reconnected with an old friend and we had a wonderful lunch together. I had forgotten how intelligent and outright funny she is. I made the first move and I’m so glad I did. There was no reason for our disbanding twenty years ago, except that we simply faded from each other’s lives. I look forward to seeing her a lot more very soon.

The depth of my grief over losing my brother, my mother and my fiance has abated a tiny bit. I noticed this one morning when I searched for the sting and it just wasn’t there. It’s still hard. Very hard but I feel more grounded in the present. One thing I have learned is that grief is a faithful friend but it ever-changes and for this new bend in the road, I am grateful.

Ah…perfume, my favorite topic. I visited a pharmacy in Connecticut not long ago and can only describe it as a real “French” pharmacy. The indie brands were immense and I was able to find a gentle yet effective facial scrub. The woman who helped me has worked there for a hundred years or more and knew everything about everything that was on her shelves. I told her I needed a new scent and her manicured figures immediately lighted on Roger & Gallet’s Neroli. What a warm spring fragrance that just envelopes my throat like a soft pashmina. I bought the smallest bottle to keep close by in my purse. It’s singing the praises of spring in so many ways. This kindly shoplady takes orders over the phone. It’s Greenwich Pharmacy in Greenwich, Connecticut and her name is Maria Sileo.

How blessed I feel to have spent so much time with my grandchildren, albeit in a nursing capacity. One afternoon, my grandson asked if he could lay on top of me while he looked at his tablet. And so he did and I was able to reach out and wrap a handknit blanket (made by moi) over us both. How cozy and sweet and I so loved the fact that it was my hands that created that warm cover for us both. I spent that afternoon kissing the top of his head.

So those are some of my spring “frogs”. I’m going tropical next week but when I come back, there will be more posts.