Then:



Now there's a good looking lobsterman! That's just what I thought back in the early 1960's when the photo above was taken. That's when I fell head-over-heels in love with him. He was so completely different from all the other boys I'd known from school. He did things. He had a life on the ocean that seemed so wild and wonderful.

and now:




Next month we'll celebrate 24 years of wedded bliss. If there IS such a thing. Looking back, it has been blissful, being married to the love of my life, but that's not to say we've traveled a smooth road. Oh no. Bumps galore. Sometimes potholes. But always returning at the end of day to each other.

After spending the weekend working, I have today "off." It's my weekend now, just for today anyway. And what have I chosen to occupy my time? Doing my state income tax return. I've been putting it off for weeks now, and it was time to get it done and out of the way. It took me all morning. I'm just not good at this kind of stuff. I like words much more than numbers. I could never be a bookkeeper or an accountant. Give me a good page of words any day over numbers.

Yesterday we had what felt like a hot summer day. At the beginning of April. It really shocked us into peeling off the warm clothes, socks, sweatshirts, etc., and acting like it's the good old summertime.

Paul has been raking up the back and now front gardens and it's actually starting to look civilized out there.



This is the house across the street (Hi Peggy!) looking across our front garden. I love her forsythia bush that always is the first brilliant colour to bloom in the neighborhood. Right when you are thinking winter is never going to end.

I plan to plant more flowers this year than I have done in the last few years. I need them for my sanity. Nice brightly coloured flowers looking up at us from the window boxes and deck planters. I figure the first of May will be a good time to get them planted.

Until then, I am muddling through my last month of full-time work. This has been a very long winter for me, counting down the days until my semi-retirement arrives. But it will come one day soon and I will start a whole new phase of life.

Cheers,

Bex