February 19, 2004 Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! I'm so excited! First, apologies because this is a reuse of a set, one of about 3 in how long?  Lemme look... wow!  Over two years!  I started changing the journal with every post back in January of 2002.  That's a lot of websets! Anyway, this dancing little gorgeous imp is so perfect because it's exactly how I feel!  You'll understand when you see what has happened!  (Yay!) So most of you know about my calla lilies and how they tell me when the miracles are coming, right?  They've been dead on balls accurate for well over a year now and I have total faith in their reliability. I checked on the patch of calla lilies that's by my front door a couple of days ago to see how they were doing.  Nothing new was coming up and they were actually looking a little ragged from the rains we've gotten.  This morning, the rain had let up, the sun was shining and I decided to go see how much work would be involved with waking the front and back yards up for spring.  Each year, I put the yards to sleep for winter, then come out at spring and wake it up, welcoming it back.  I'll start the fountain going again, reset the bird houses that always fall out over winter, check the progress of the plants if I trimmed them back the previous year (every other year, last fall I trimmed), plan out new plantings that need to happen, etc.  I hadn't been in my back yard since Nov 3.  I know, sad, but hey, it's how it went.  I was... shocked. First of all, our yard used to be all dirt.  Eric planted grass last year and grabbed some of the trendels of ivy that were peeking out from the neighbor's back yard that is on the other side of the fence from ours and fastened them to our side of the fence.  We didn't expect the grass to survive the winter's cold since it was new and still kind of fragile.  I literally didn't know what to expect going out there.  (Click the pics to get the bigger version) This is the East fence where Eric set some plants that were dormant over winter.  (Nathan still in jammies)   In a serious WTF moment, I saw three odd plants that hadn't been on the East fence before.  Adoing!  They are evenly spaced amid the honeysuckle (that did NOT spread like wildfire last year as promised by the nursery) that we set out and closer examination revealed they are... calla lilies.  NOTHING has ever grown there before except one amazingly rampant and dominating and wild rosebush.  Calla lilies?  Three of them? The North Fence.  The ivy pieces that Eric tacked up have gone wild, especially in the shady area!   This is my ultra cool garden protector and it REALLY likes the ivy a lot!  As you can see from the picture of the North fence and the one with Nathan, the grass is not only there, but is downright hearty!  Encouraged (and curious) by all of this, I went back out to the front yard and the East yard that is not in the back fence and gave the garden in front a good look.  Adoing! This is the basic East wall of the house.  There were hedges here and a little green bush that you see in the next picture, as well as the dead thing in the upper picture that has been there since we moved in.  In the next picture, in the middle, there used to be (a couple of years ago) another hedgy bush like the ones on either side.  It was quite large and during a time when we got a lot of rain, the weight of it pulled it over and uprooted it.  Eric cleared it out and disposed of it and we've had empty space there since, with the exception of the little bush you see in the middle right, which is evidently it's grandbaby.  But wait!  What is that in the middle left of the used-to-be blank spot? Casting a little morning sun shadow against the wall is... a calla lily. That's right... another lily where none was before.  Then I moved further down the East wall and... another calla lily nestled into some little bushy things.  Further down the East Wall... another calla lily.  Further down the East Wall, --here-- just below the word "here" above... another little calla hiding Further down, what do I see? Yet another calla lily where one has never been before.  And look at this!    Red buds and blooms on a bush that has never once been anything but green in the 3+ years I've lived here!  OK, can we be greedy? One more calla lily on the East Wall for a total of what?  Six calla lily plants manifested where none ever were before!  Now, you see one of our two olive trees: We let the bottom grow up to buffer some of the noise from the main road that corners our residential street.  But wait!  What is that among the growth at the bottom... that green thing? An absolute BUSH of calla lilies and following around the tree: two three, (another clump, really) four (told you about the bird houses) and the one to the right makes five calla lilies under the olive tree where none grew before.  And lookie lookie!   Hedges in front of my house (South side).  Big hedges.  But under and to the left side: Calla lilies!      The above is the really amazing part!  I set out some iris bulbs in December of 2000.  They promptly popped up that spring and have NEVER bloomed.  Ever. WTF?  TWO are blooming like crazy!!  There is also a little crocus coming up and I have NEVER had crocus in my garden (when I moved here, I plowed under the whole thing and raked out all the dirt to it). In the usual calla lily bush, the only one I thought I had, there are three brand new BLOOMED lilies that were NOT there two days ago and they are coming out from really cock-eyed places.  One deep down in the lilies Another shooting out the side Another jutting out the back.  My old faithful calla coming up from the middle is finally withering after over a month of bloom through many a rainstorm. What do I make of all this? First, I'm agog at calla lilies everywhere!  If I counted right, there are seventeen new calla lily plants where none where before.  Then I have three new lilies coming up in odd places from the old plants, then I have the red bush and the iris that never, ever bloomed before and the crocus that shouldn't even be there at all. My interpretation is that holy shitdogs, some really, really, really cool, intense miracle stuff is coming right down the pike like a freight train!  Amazing things that have NEVER happened before are right around the corner, things are going to be coming from all kinds of odd places to help out and stuff that just absolutely should not be able to happen will manifest right before my eyes. I couldn't WAIT to share this with you!  I am absolutely breathless with excitement!  This is going to be such an amazing year and judging from my garden, it's coming up fast!!  No wonder I couldn't sleep last night! The last time I remember looking at the clock, it was almost 4am.  Kids had to get up for school at 6:30, so I'm pretty wired, but wow, the energy was running strong!  I mean, how can a person sleep through that kind of buzz!  Since I saw the yard this morning, I know why!  (that's a lot of exclamation points!) Whew! So, that being out of the way now, I have some funnies : Country Wisdom Don't name a pig you plan to eat. Country fences need to be horse high, pig tight, and bull strong. Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce. Keep skunks and lawyers at a distance. Life is simpler when you plow around the stumps. A bumble bee is faster than a John Deere tractor. Trouble with a milk cow is she won't stay milked. Don't skinny dip with snapping turtles. Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled. Meanness don't happen overnight. To know how country folks are doing, look at their barns, not their houses. Never lay an angry hand on a kid or an animal, it just ain't helpful. Teachers, Moms, and hoot owls sleep with one eye open. Forgive your enemies. It messes with their heads. Don't sell your mule to buy a plow. Two can live as cheap as one if one don't eat. Don't corner something meaner than you. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar, assuming you want to catch flies. Man is the only critter who feels the need to label things as flowers or weeds. It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge. Don't go huntin' with a fellow named Chug-A-Lug. You can't unsay a cruel thing. Every path has some puddles. Don't wrestle with pigs: You'll get all muddy and the pigs will love it. The best sermons are lived, not preached. Most of the stuff people worry about never happens. (and the best one) The Ten Commandments display was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court building. There was a good reason for the move. You can't post Thou Shalt Not Steal, Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery and Thou Shall Not Lie in a building full of lawyers and Politicians without creating a hostile work environment.   (I've actually heard most of those while living in the country) Next, we have: http://www.kersbergen.com/temp/worstalbumcovers.html Now, the hairy thing about that link is that I have two of the albums and my mom had another when she died! Then there's my new theme song: Middle Aged Blues Boogie (I need a young, young man) by Saffire:  The Uppity Blues Women Well I was lookin around and checkin out my very best friends. It seems that they've all taken up with young, young men. It seems that when you reach around middle age, You don't want to write a final chapter, You want to write another page... I need a young man, to drive away my middle aged blues.   Well it seems like men my age are all married, boring, or retired. You've got to find a young man if you want to feel desire. Some of my friends are worried about what people might say. I say age ain't nothin' but a number and the good Lord made it that way- I need a young man, to drive away my middle aged blues...   You know that he can get it up and he can get on down, He'll help you do the dishes and take you out upon the town. He'll let you navigate cause he ain't worried about seniority. You can tell him where to put it-keeping you happy's his priority. I need a young young man, to drive away my middle aged blues...   I'll forget about my arthritis, my backache, my lumbago - That young man makes me boogie at the horizontal disco. I'm cleaning out my closet, I'm no longer sentimental - Forget about experience, I'd rather have potential... A young man to drive away these middle aged blues...   I don't need no reefer I don't need no cocaine All I need is a young man to drive me insane. I'm throwing away my dustmop I gotta brand new vacuum cleaner I'm no longer taken for granted, my young man sucks it up sweeter- A young man to drive away my middle aged blues-   I said that old women don't yell - an old woman don't tell An old woman don't swell and she's grateful as hell... I need a young young man - to dive away my middle aged blues. Age ain't nothin but a number- Age ain't nothin but a number- Age ain't nothin but a number- And like a rare wine - you don't get older You just get better... Give me a young young man. I won't likely be journaling tomorrow because I've been chained to the wall of my garage until the place has some semblance of order once again.  It's a true disaster.  I'm betting its cleaning is one of those lily miracles.  The miracle would be if *I* didn't have to do it. You all have a wonderful weekend and pay attention!  Your miracles are out there everywhere!  You just have to know where to look! (I'm working on you, Mardi!  Package coming soon!) Have an unbelievably stellar weekend!! Love, K