It's been a long week

Now that that's taken care of...

Weather is now more like a normal March. That is, overcast much of the time, chilly breezes, and occasional splatters of cold rain. Now that April is only two days away and things should be improving, of course.

Lilacs are already opening. That's four to five weeks ahead of the normal schedule. Flowering crabs are opening too. Buds are visible on the trilliums, which is at least three weeks early, probably four. I wonder whether there will be any warblers to count by the time of the spring bird count (May 5) or if they will have all passed through and disappeared.

Four more work days and then a 16 day vacation. Longest single break I've taken in several years I think.
I should do that again before the end of the year, too. My tenth anniversary (longest I've ever worked in one place) is in August, and that means I start getting an additional week of paid vacation every year as of January, 2013.

Gary surprised me this evening by walking in wearing a sweatshirt on which I painted a design (teddy bear cartoon) probably 20 years ago as a gift for him. He used to wear it a lot, but I haven't seen it in so long that I figured it must have ripped or worn through. He says he was looking for something else and found it in a drawer. (Yes, we've been together a lot longer than 20 years. In fact we're coming up on 30 years in June.)