Long time no post..

It's been a long while.  I've been working nights and then when I'm off I'm trying to get back to 'normal'...although that's a stretch I know. 

I've had a birthday, one that seems to be working on my mind a little even though it isn't a milestone in the usual sense.

Trying to tell myself that I DID get out more this winter, although a little delusion doesn't hurt now and then.

Birds are singing in the mornings now; not just geese honking at each other.  (nothing against geese I love them when they begin to show up in the fall)  Spring is on the way and frankly I can't wait.  We'll have more snow but still the days are getting noticeably longer and it's not pitch-black when I go to or get off from work. 

The daffodils are budded and getting ready to bloom.  The tree buds are bigger and browner or redder or yellower.  Birds are singing in the early morning, getting tuned up for finding mates.  Orion is over in the west in the early morning, but reassuringly the north star is still north.  I'm ready to see butterflies and hummingbirds and bees. 

This time last year we were in New Zealand, just after the Christchurch earthquake and during the tsunami that hit Japan.  The trip to Italy is half paid, wish I could find an Italian tutor.  We think maybe China next year.   Must.get.bills.paid.off.so.we.can.travel.even.more.