Spring is here! It’s so beautiful with flowering trees and bushes. Splashes of white and yellow and pink among the browns and grays. I feel like I’m in the beginning stages of a beautiful landscape painting. What do you all feel about spring?

P.S. I apologize for not keeping this up to date. Since I was sick, I had to do a lot of catching up on things that needed to be done.

Stomach bug has come. I had it. Ugh. I’m not sure where I picked it up, since it’s been everywhere. Rob luckily was able to avoid it. Buffy and Diana, too. Now I’m feeling better and am going back to work today.

Spring is in the air. Finally. (Knock on wood.)

After lunch, I was walking with Buffy outside. It was muddy, soggy and yucky. When we walked, we sank down and got mud and water on paws and shoes. My shoes will need to be cleaned, and Buffy will probably get a bath tonight. On a positive note, buds on the trees are now coming out. A small waterfall, across the road, is splashing mountain water into the stream that goes to the creek. A robin is walking across the lawn. Grass is becoming greener. Now, the colors of nature are brown, black and gray, the colors of winter. Soon, it’ll be green. It’s the sign of what’s to come: Spring.

Let it come… let it be.

Since I’ve become a pastor’s wife, Sundays are no longer Sabbath for me and for Rob. On Sundays, we used to sleep in til 9:00 (that’s late for us) and get up to get ready for church. We went to worship. We chatted with people in church and catch up on the news. After church, I made lunch and then we relaxed. I probably made dinner in the crockpot or in the oven. I called my parents from time to time. We read the Sunday newspaper. That’s it. Granted, there were times that I did lesson plans and grading when I didn’t get them done on Friday evenings.

No more sleeping in, no more newspaper reading, no more drinking coffee leisurely, no more Sabbath on Sundays…  I get up early on Sunday mornings with Rob. He looks over his Sunday School lesson, the prayer list, the announcements, and his to-do list. I make breakfast and coffee. If I didn’t make the bulletins before, I make them. Then I make coffee at the church. He teaches the high school Sunday School class. I help out with the Sunday School class. We talk with people. I get water for Rob. We talk again. Then it’s worship. After worship, more socialization. Then we go home to have lunch. After lunch, Rob tries to take a nap unless he has things that he needs to do. I do the same. Then I make dinner. We usually try to catch time to watch the Simpsons, if it’s on. Rob usually tries to take Sabbath on Mondays; I try to take mine on Saturdays, provided that nothing comes up.

Snow has melted away. It rained and rained all day. It’s very soggy and muddy out there. Yuck! Buffy doesn’t like to go out unless she absolutely has to. Buffy brought most of her toys out to me or Rob. So there are toys everywhere. Diana stayed in, too. She slept on Rob’s fleece sweatshirt on her hammock. She loves that fleece.

When I went out to take pictures of the snow before it melts away, it was sprinkling. Ugh! At least, I got them in time. Enjoy!

Most of the schools in the area have been closed. It snowed all night here, and I think we had about 5 inches. It has melted since then. This morning, it was wet flurries, not sleet, when I let the pets out. They didn’t stay out very long. Too wet. I just shoveled and it’s pure wet snow and slush. A big, yucky mess.

Just up the road, the neighbors don’t have any power. Tree trucks are parked in front of the manse and church, and they’re fixing the electric pole or lines. We couldn’t tell from our place. I think we’ll be okay for the rest of the day. It is predicted that we’ll get rain for the weekend. Yuck! More mess!

Better take some snapshots before it melts.

It’s snowing again! It’s accumulating on the ground tonight. Ugh! Not yet on the roads though. Probably in the higher elevations. So far, schools haven’t called it off yet. I hope they don’t.

This winter has been bad. One person said it’s the worst winter in a long time. My mother reminded me that every time I moved to a new area or state, the first winter I was there was always the “worst” winter ever. I don’t know why. To my own eyes, it was a normal winter regardless of where I moved. I guess winters in Cleveland helped. I’ll agree with that person on one note: that terrible ice storm that paralyzed most of the state in January. Now that was bad.

Two school districts that I work for have had many snow days, most of them were due to that ice storm. Luckily here, we were spared of the ice storm; the ice storm moved north to the next county. We had rain and freezing rain. Then snow. And snow. Home school district were closed on and off due to snow and ice. One week, there were two days of school. Next week, one day. The following week, three days. On and off. It was crazy.

However, students and colleagues in the Farthest school district were not so lucky. They did not have any electricity from 3 days to a week. Lines and trees were down. They were closed for almost a month in January to early February. When I returned there, I saw the damaged trees and limbs in the fields and on the sides of the mountains. It was a mess.

Farthest school district will not be out until June 10th, while Home school district will get out on May 28th. So please no more snow days!!! Such is the life in rural area.

Update: I just saw the weather report. It doesn’t look promising. We shall see. Home school district just closed, and that’s where I’m supposed to be working tomorrow. Am waiting to see if the Farthest school district is open or not. May try to go out there if the roads are clear.

When I came home from work today, I opened the mailbox and found an envelope addressed to me. It was from two former students. In the envelope, each wrote a long letter expressing their new life in high school and sharing how much they appreciate my teaching during middle school. They were so proud that they were able to answer questions about Romeo and Juliet and grammar in high school — all because of their hard work in middle school. They also sent a bumper sticker with the name of the school. I will always cherish these letters. It was the boost that I needed especially after what happened yesterday.

Tonight, I was walking Buffy in the yard between the manse and the church on a nice and cool twilight. While she was busy sniffing around, I looked up at the sky and saw the big, white moon through the trees. I ran inside to get the camera and learned that it needed to be charged. Rats! So I grabbed my iPhone and took a couple of snapshots.

It looked like a full moon, but I wasn’t quite sure. On the Internet, I looked it up, and we are two days away from a full moon.  I wish y’all could see the moon through the trees; it was a beautiful view. Granted it’s not the best quality picture, but here it is.

Also I took some pictures of Buffy as we came back into the house. She’s so cute, especially after a bath. Here’s one of them.