Rant for Spring

I love living in the Pacific Northwest and I can’t imagine living anywhere else…except, of course, anywhere in England.  Everything I need to make me happy is within one hour from Seattle: ocean, mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, museums, concerts, major retailers, festivals, fresh seafood, farmers markets, gorgeous gardens…an endless list really.  And if I get the occasional yearning for plains or wheatland, it’s still only an hour away.  I love lichen and moss and I don’t need to tan.

Way up at the top of the list of things I love about the Pacific Northwest is Spring.  Coming from a childhood in Montana, I knew the joy of endless sunshiny summers and amazing white winters.  I had no idea what Spring could be.

I know that in most parts of the US March is not considered a Spring month, it starts properly in April (between the April Showers) and continues in May (with the May flowers).  In Seattle, we have early camellias and rhodys blooming at the end of February with the early spring bulbs at their feet.  We have forsythia – pure sunshine.  By March the plums have begun to blossom – clouds of pink and white since they bloom before the leaves come out. And from there it is a continuous riot of blossoms through to May.

The apple tree in my Mother's backyard...in bloom...in the sunshine.

And through all this amazing bloom, there is sunshine, soft showers, fluffy white clouds and then more showers.  Sure, there is the occasional week of grey skies, but in between are the weeks when you look out your kitchen window and see the sun reflecting off the raindrops on the six foot tall rhody in full bloom.  And you just smile, a really big, warm, happy smile.

But not this year.  There hasn’t been a combined three hours of sunshine in the last month, and there is nothing on the forecast but more of the same.  I swear, I rarely complain about the weather, but this year – I have had it!  Everything is late because of the bitterly cold February and early March, fine, I can deal with that.  But all the trees are starting to bloom, the bulbs are up and blooming – none of this is any good without sunshine.  What good will it do to have sunshine in April?  It will be too late!

A Few More Envelopes

As much fun as it is sending my colorful envelopes to other people, the most fun is sending them to myself.  Whenever I have a really good match between an envelope and a stamp, I send it to myself.  I have quite a nice collection now and I thought I would share just a few more.

My favorite is one I made by scanning a photo of my daughter and two of her childhood friends taken at Volunteer Park in Seattle.  This is sort of cheating, since I made the 'paper' used for the envelope, but I couldn't resist this one.

And here are a few more of my best matches...

These were made from magazine pages, old calendars, gift wrap and book illustrations - don't worry, no usable books were harmed in this exercise.  The downside of all this is that I can hardly bear to part with a magazine until I have pulled out the good pages.  I have about three feet of single magazine and calendar pages sitting under the table in my studio just waiting for the perfect stamp issue.  Oh yeah, and I have a whole bin of made up envelopes waiting also.

The King and his Throne

I thought of my Dad’s hands today. Something on TV triggered it and I could see them as clear as day. He had smooth, flat nails and wore a signet ring. He’s been gone for over 40 years.

It’s one of the joys of being on the other side of 50 (yes, I am on the other side of 60 now, but this started a long time ago) that you have such a great stash of memories that come back at you in a random fashion. Most of us are lucky enough to have had relatively happy lives and so these unexpected memories usually either fill us with warmth or make us laugh out loud.

Recently, I remembered being shown through the posh suite in one of Seattle’s best hotels. It was at a company do and I was in my twenties. As we passed through the large, lush bathroom and noticed the phone on the wall above the toilet paper – keep in mind this was in the pre-cellphone 1960’s – we were told that Elvis Presley had stayed in this suite while making “It Happened at the World’s Fair”. To this day, when you mention Elvis I have the mental picture of The King sitting on the throne with a phone in his hand.