we didn't have much of a "PA" winter this year. in fact, it was very much reminiscent of the "winters" i spent in the mid-state of NC. warm enough to go for a bike ride in early january, only a total of about 10-12" of snow (ok...most years in NC we didn't get that much, but here we average closer to 30", with the last few years being above average.), and daffodils blooming in late february to early march, when normally we don't see them until mid to late march/early april.

there's been some concern about the fruit harvest in the area this year, because growers are worried that there is greater potential for the buds and blossoms, which are already out, to blow off the trees, or to freeze if we happen to have a cold snap. on the other hand, orchardists (i think i made that word up.) are cautiously anticipating a majorly bountiful, early crop because of the potentially longer & unusually warm growing season. YAY for the potential for fresh cherries before summer!

punxsutawney phil sure got it wrong this year! spring definitely came early...even the bugs and baby bunnies are out and about. and just the other day, i saw a red tailed hawk flying over a field with a black snake hanging from its talons.

i've really, REALLY been enjoying the early season. and since there wasn't really a "thaw", it hasn't been all gooey & mucky like it normally is in the transitional time between winter and full blown springyness. i like it. :)
some people who are not so cool with it-people who booked DC hotel rooms in order to enjoy the annual cherry blossom festival, which takes place each year in mid april. unfortunately, the blooms are out this week in DC, and will be gone by the time those folks come to town.

our lovely cherry tree in the back yard is about 3 1/2 weeks ahead of "schedule" also.
here is a picture i took last year on april 17th:

and here is one i took today. (please excuse the poor photo quality...i'm having issues with focus lately. :/ )

early spring makes me smile. :)

and this passage always comes to mind at this season...
"look now, the winter is past. the rain is over and gone. the flowers have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtledove has been heard in the land. the figs are ripening on the trees and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance..." Song of Solomon 2:11-13a

monday is just not my friend lately.
tuesday, wednesday, and thursday haven't been all that kind, either. heheh

i saw a commercial earlier, for a local candy company. it featured "cute" kids dressed up in their Easter finery, talking about their favorite sweets. one kid said, "my grammy likes, like, Jesus and stuff...so she got me a chocolate cross. and i ate it. is that okay?"

i guess i've been in a kind of funk lately, one that i'm just noticing more now that i am climbing out of it. isn't it weird how sometimes things can just attach themselves to you, like a nettle? and it seems like they're magnetic..before you know it, you've got a whole jumble of sticky little briers slowing you down. when i see a mess of those things  clinging to me, i usually just reach down and try to grab the whole group and rip them off.. i usually end up with tiny barbs in my fingers, and with brambles still attached.
for some reason it's almost always not until after i give myself splinters, that i look to the One who i know is really good at plucking out thorns.

i am smacking myself around with the goodness of the books 1st and 2nd Peter.. i am amazed that God is so patient, so loving and faithful...yet at the same time, i know that He is just and righteous, and i know what He expects from me.. it still blows my mind that He chose me.


a "poem"

i could gaze
at Your beautiful
ocean...forever.
resting
by the shore
i feel so close to You.
each wave-
with every rise
and every fall-
proclaims that
You are King.
the winds
whisper Your Name
and say that
You are Lord.
You made the sea.
only You are more amazing.


what makes me smile today:
thinking of the ocean & the One who created it.

from this day forward i am, and shall ever be, a ONE coffee per day girl.
(or less....i prefer tea, anyway. :P)

this is what makes me smile:
a yard full of robins that i did not get to take a picture of.

also, this:
Psalm 32:8-11
"the LORD says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control! Many sorrows come to the wicked, but UNFAILING LOVE surrounds those who trust the LORD. So rejoice in the LORD and be glad, all you who obey Him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!" ♥

someday...maybe someday..

this is what made me smile today:
a post card sent from my pap to my granny while he was in training for the us army air corps during ww2.

ten albums full of old (and some newer) family photographs...
another album that contains a collection of almost one hundred postcards dated 1905-the 1950s, which belonged to my great-grandmother...
countless newspaper clippings-pertinent to family and local history, as well as major national and world events...
bible records and other genealogical treasures, including drawings by some of my favorite great aunts and cousins who have passed on...
a pot of delicious jasmine tea...
a mix of my favorite tunes...
a glowing fireplace...
and a fluffy cat curled up in a big wicker bowl beside me.

all these things have made for an excellent afternoon. :)

i am especially intrigued by my great grandmother, Mary Jane. there are a number of parallels between our lives, and the more i learn about her, the more i wish i'd gotten a chance to know her. she has always been remembered with great fondness by my mom, my aunts, and cousins who were blessed to have spent time with her.
one of the funniest stories i remember hearing was of a time when she was walking from her home to the home of my mother's family. they lived in a small valley-the walk wasn't far, but it was mostly uphill and through a patch of woods. on the way, she met a skunk who decided she was in his (or her, i guess!) territory, and chased "Big Grandma" (as my mom & aunts referred to her) the whole way up the hill. my mom remembers hearing Big Grandma screaming well before she came crashing through the front door (rather than the back..where she normally entered), out of breath from the run up the hill. as soon as she got inside, she promptly fainted on the living room floor. :) hehe

i also hear she made spectacular potato chips. !! yum.

"..from everlasting to everlasting, the LORD's love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness will be with their children's children..." Psalm 103:17

this is what makes me smile:
my great-great grandmother, Bessie Talitha Bricker Sword, with her daughters Catherine and Mary Jane

i've been having some amazingly vivid dreams recently. one was very terrifying, involving monsters and all sorts of scary things happening to my loved ones. i woke up and restarted that dream at least three times that i remember. each time, as i was drifting back to sleep, i would think, "now amy...dream something better this time." it didn't work so well.
one night i dreamed that i kept hiding from people. there were several different people i hid from, and throughout the dream it seemed as though i was watching life from the other side of a window. the weird part about that dream was, all of the people i hid from were people who i desperately wanted to be involved with in some capacity. yet, i still hid. there was one person who realized i was hiding, found me, and involved me in a game of chess.
another night, i dreamed that i was outside with a group of people, and we were all star gazing...looking for meteors. i saw one, and then another, and soon there were "shooting stars" whizzing across the heavens in every direction...but i was the only one in the group who could see them.
lots of interesting things have been happening in my dreams lately...and in nearly every single one of them, i am absolutely convinced that i am awake, and those things are really happening. when i wake up, i am either relieved, or sort of sad..depending on the dream.
last night, i had an entirely different experience. instead of being asleep and convinced that i was awake...i had the opposite happen. i got a strange, unintelligible text from my company's owner which had me fully convinced that i'd been fired. i replied with an equally unintelligible question as to whether that is what she meant, or if i was very confused. thankfully, she gave me a call & assured me that i was not fired, and that she thought i'd better go back to sleep because she thought i'd taken too much cold medicine. it turns out she was probably right about that. haha..today, i am red-faced, but glad to still have my job. i am also glad that i have the ability to laugh at myself. heheh

a verse i read today:
"a man's heart plans his way, but it is the Lord who establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9

this is what makes me smile. raptors.

"her"

when the daffodils start to bloom, i always change my route home from work to include going down an awesomely pot-hole infested, one and a half lane dirt road that is sometimes between hills and sometimes on the side of a cliff. that road cuts through one of the most ruggedly beautiful valleys i've seen around here, and in truth i take this route once every other week or so throughout the year, just because it's so pretty.
in this valley, along a lane called "prospect hill," there is an old, crumbling farmhouse in the middle of what is now a sheep pasture. (i always feel bad for those little guys when they get sheared..they look so, well, weird. haha)
i like to imagine what the people who lived in that house were like..why would they choose such a place to build their home and farm? those hilly fields had to be hard to clear, till, and harvest.
there is a rusty old water pump in front of the house, and i imagine outbuildings filled with tools and animals. i can almost hear a brood of boisterous children running around..and chickens. i wonder about the "woman of the house." what was she like? did she enjoy living so far from town? did she wander along the brook that rambles through the valley? the brook that originates as a spring bubbling up from her front yard, eventually growing into a stream and merging with the codorus creek, which meanders all through our county until it finally meets up with the mighty  susquehanna  river, rushing over rocks and through forests to join with the chesapeake bay, which then flows to the atlantic ocean...? was she aware of the awesomeness of this?? did she care where that brook went? or just that it sometimes flooded during a heavy rain? where was she from? what was her name? did she love the hills and valleys? my questions are endless...
one thing i do know, is that she (or someone who came after her) liked daffodils. i know this because they still bloom every spring.
today, i saw a few blooming at a house on my way home from work & so i decided it was time to check out the prospect hill farm to see if "her" daffodil's were out yet. ...
almost. i'll just have to drive by again in a few days. :)