Almost spring

The hills are green with thick clumps of bright yellow mustard shining in the sun. Daffodils are waving gently in the breeze. Trees have faint green buds and soft white petals. The days are getting longer, the nights warmer.

Ok, that's the theory. Reality has it that there are still big brown patches on the hills where the rain has washed out the hillsides and the latest storms knocked down most of the early blooming flowers. Everything has a gritty layer of yellow pollen on top of the mud or dirt.

I miss running. Claudia and I are swimming along, finding new muscles and trying to get in shape for training. We swam last night and will go again tonight and tomorrow night. I can tell it's a good workout and I'm mostly enjoying what we do. It's getting easier than the first couple of nights and hopefully working on my form will make me more efficient too. At least while it's still dark and cool in the early evenings (cold last night!) the pool is empty and we have no problems getting our own lanes. In fact, we have no problems getting our own half of the pool. I think that might change in a couple of weeks when Daylight Savings Times starts.

I knit a bit more last night on my Art Yarns beaded silk shawl. What a joy it is to have that wonderful yarn running through your fingers, sliding on the needles. I think it'll be gorgeous when it's done, I can't wait. I also can't wait to get into knitting some of the projects that I envision from the Stitches yarn. Everything seems better when you have good yarn!