spring

Truthful Tuesday — This or That

Fandango4 Comments

Frank, aka PCGuyIV, is back with another episode of Truthful Tuesday. The idea behind Truthful Tuesday is for us to respond to the question (or questions) Frank asks and to be 100% truthful in our responses. No glib answers, no funny business, no fibs. Just raw honesty.

For this week’s Truthful Tuesday, Frank is doing something different. He says:

We’re going to play a game of “This or That.” Even if something else is truly your favorite, the idea isn’t necessarily to get to the favorite, but to reveal which of the two options you would prefer. I will accept a vote of neither if there is truly no preference between the two listed, but don’t provide a third alternative.

Spring or Summer? Spring

Summer or Autumn? Autumn

Autumn or Winter? Autumn

Spring or Autumn? Autumn

Summer or Winter? Neither. Summer is too damn hot; winter is too damn wet.

Spring or Winter? Spring

Picnic in the park or backyard barbecue? Backyard barbecue

Dining outside or dining inside? This depends on the weather outside, but if it’s not too hot or too cold and the wind isn’t gusting and it’s not raining, then dining outside is my preference.

Cooking out (backyard grill) or eating out (restaurant)? Cooking out (backyard grill). Who can afford to eat out at a restaurant very often?

Fresh cut flowers or potted plants? Fresh cut flowers don’t last very long, so I’m going with potted plants.

Share Your World — 03/04/2024

Fandango7 Comments
Share Your World

Di, at Pensitivity101, is our host for Share Your World each week. Here are her questions for this week.

1. What to you is the first sign of spring?

This is a strange time of the year where we live. We can get two or three nice, dry, sunny, warm (~70°F) days followed by a week of cold, cloudy, rainy days. And it seems to be this way through most of the month of March. So the weather alone is not a good sign of spring.

But as I noted in this post last Sunday, one sign is when the irises start blooming. So far, we’ve only had one iris that has bloomed, but I’m hoping that over next few weeks, more will bloom.

2. Do you have a favorite flower at this time of year?

The only flowers I can name that are in bloom in my yard are the aforementioned irises, so, by default, the iris is my favorite flower at this time of year.

3. Does your country exercise the hour change?

Yes, even though when put before the voters, most are opposed to this semiannual practice. In the U.S., Daylight Saving Time starts this coming Sunday morning at 2 am.

4. Do you spring clean your home throughout, change furniture around, or keep to a normal routine?

We don’t change out any furniture or do any specific seasonal cleaning, so I guess we keep to our normal, year-round routine.

Cellpic Sunday — Life’s Simple Pleasures

Fandango14 Comments

John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device. He invites us to participate in this cellphone photo prompt by creating our own CellPic Sunday post and linking it back to his.

John is sharing with us some beautiful photos from exotic places. Like today’s photo of the Cast Iron Lighthouse at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. What a stunning photo.

Are you now ready to go from the sublime to the ridiculous?

Yesterday, where we live, spring was in the air. It got up to a delightful 71°F. Barely a cloud in the sky, and the air quality index was at 17, which is good. Today is a little cooler, and there are some whispy could up there, but it’s also a lovely day.

My cellpics for today (below) were taken in my backyard, which is a fantastic place to simply sit quietly, listening to the sound of water cascading over the rocks in our waterfall and enjoying the mild, 65° temperature and the bright sun.

What caught my eye (and my cellphone camera lens) was our first bearded iris plant of the season. We have a lot of irises of all different colors, from purple, like this one, to irises with red, orange, and yellow, in our backyard, so as the spring progresses, I’m looking forward to a beautiful palette of warm and vibrant colors in the coming months.

WDP — Favorite Season

Fandango10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
View all responses

Summers where I live can get too hot. Winters can be cold and wet. And then their is spring and fall.

When I lived back east, autumn was my favorite season. Spring didn’t last long enough. It would often transition from winter to summer within a week, almost passing through spring too quickly and completely. But Autumn lasted for a decent amount of time and watching the leaves turn from a lush green to reds, orange, and golds before turning brown and falling to the ground was spectacularly beautiful.

But here in California, in the areas I live in, there are far fewer deciduous trees, so the fall colors are not as widespread or as vibrant. Even so, up until this year, I would have said autumn was still my favorite season. However, this spring has been exceptional, and Goldilocks temperatures (not too cold, not too cold) have been with us since mid-March through mid-June. Making this spring almost perfect.

So, for the year 2023, my answer is spring. But overall, I’m sticking with autumn as my favorite.

My Last Photo — March ‘23

Fandango11 Comments

Brian, aka Bushboy, posted his monthly Last on the Card prompt, where he asks us to…

  • Post the last photo from your camera’s SD card or the last photo from your phone taken in the month of March.
  • No editing — who cares if it is out of focus, not framed as you would like, or the subject matter didn’t cooperate?
  • No explanations needed — just the photo will do.
  • Create a pingback to Brian’s post or link in the comments.
  • Tag “The Last Photo.”

I took this photo on my iPhone the day before yesterday in my backyard. After an extraordinarily wet and relatively cold January, February, and March, it looks like spring has finally sprung. Temperatures are warming up, there’s no rain in the forecast, and my backyard is starting to turn green and colorful again.