If we were having coffee: Gloomy weather edition

Melancholy blue

Melancholy is the happiness of being sad.

~ Victor Hugo

Bright spots on a cloudy day.

If we were having coffee, I would welcome you back with open arms.  Hugs if you’re amenable to them.  It’s great to see you again.  Come on in and make yourself at home!  We’ll grab some snacks to nosh on and our beverages (we have coffee, tea, water, wine, beer, and probably some lemonade to choose from), and go have a seat in the living room which is called a great room but “great room” feels so pretentious to me so we call it a living room.  “Living” room is a good name for it because we do a lot of living there, especially lately.  It’s a little chilly and damp today.  The living room, even with (or maybe in spite of) its large windows opening up the room, feels cozy to me.  I’m not sure why.  Perhaps it’s the cedars and loblolly pines that seem to enclose the backyard which is part of the scenery we look at through those large windows.

I will have tea.  It’s too early for the more potent potables, and coffee would make me natter on more than usual.  Coffee makes me rather loquacious with a penchant for chattering on and on about nothing much and everything in the world.  It would also give me the jitters at this point since I already had my morning half cup of java.  I nice cuppa chamomile would be just the thing.

A drop of rain.

How are you?  What have you been doing, seeing, hearing, feeling since our last chat?  Have you traveled anywhere or seen any new sights?  Have you sampled any good food or drink?  What are you reading these days?  Or watching?

Living together in harmony.

Since I last saw you I finished reading Stardust which is a wonderful, magical, delightful book.  I love books that can take me on adventures to and through enchanted places, and this is one of those books.  I am currently reading The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield, and it is a book that I could/would probably sit with until I finish if life presented the time for me to do so.  It has a Gothic feel to it, and the writing, story line, pace, and characters have drawn me way in so far.

Snuggled.

M and I watched The Martian last night.  It was entertaining, surprisingly funny in spots, and it made me want to read the book.  Have you read the book or seen the film?

Springing up in the sand along the driveway.

If we were having coffee or tea or something else to drink, I would tell you that a lot has happened since our last coffee chat, most of which I am unable to share with you right now because it’s not entirely my story to tell.  There is some glorious news in the mix, and I will share that soon. What I can tell you now is that we had a somewhat extended (and yet far too short because we anticipated it to be longer) visit with some of our family.  They stayed with us here at the ranch.  There were times when the house felt small.  Not in a bad way because of course it was wonderful to have them here and spend time with them, but in the sense that this is not a big house so sometimes it is difficult to stretch out.  It was never a problem or something I gave any thought to until yesterday when they left to drive back to their home.  I thought of it when the house somehow grew and expanded after their departure.  It feels big and empty, and maybe a little melancholy without their bright and shining selves and spirits lighting up the place.  The cloudy weather which has persisted for several days adds to the gloominess.  From the looks of things, the weather isn’t going to improve much tomorrow or anytime soon.  Looks like next weekend is our best chance for good, sunny weather.  But you never know.  The weather prognosticators have been known to be wrong (more often than not).

Reaching forward.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that it’s best we move on and talk about how spring has really sprung around here.  Flowers are blooming just about everywhere, even in the sand.  The laughing gulls continue to cackle and chortle in the farm fields, blackbirds of all kinds arrive in clouds to feast on something available to them on our front lawn, and I saw my first hummingbird of the season yesterday.  The hummingbird reminded me that I need to get my flowers into the ground.  I started the seeds in the greenhouse and have been nurturing them along, but it really is time they were united with Mother Earth and the garden.

Carpeting one of the paths in the meadows.

Speaking of gardens, ours are still a big mess.  M and I have been focused on other things and although we do have some vegetables in the ground, we really should get out there to weed and plant.  Hopefully we’ll get to all of that soon.  M did get the broccoli planted and the bunnies didn’t take long to discover it and feast on one of the baby plants.  Something tells me the rabbits are going to be a problem this year.  They are little tricksters, somehow finding their way through any fencing we put around the garden and even into the ground.

Spring magic.

If we were having coffee or tea or something else, I would tell you that it is a joy to walk around the ranch in the spring when so many flowers are blooming.  I would suggest that we take a little walk out to the meadows so I can show you the beautiful flowers that sprung up en masse on one of the paths.  I’m not sure what they are, but they look like fairies visited and sprinkled magic dust that turned into little purple flowers.  The rain has stopped for a bit, but we’d better don our rain gear anyhow.  There has been a lot of misting, drizzling, and mizzling in between rain showers.

A two-fer.

While we’re out, we should take the time to look closely at the lawn.  Yes, I know.  It’s badly in need of mowing, but who can mow in the rain?  The nice thing about letting the grass grow is that it gives us a chance to see the lawn flowers blooming.  That’s not their real name, of course, and there are different varieties and colors.

A tangle of beauty.

Did you hear the prairie warblers?  They have returned, and spend a lot of time calling to each other across the woods and meadows.  You can listen to one here so that the next time you hear one you will know what it is.  Their populations are declining, mostly due to loss of shrubby breeding habitat through development and the natural change of shrubby areas to forest.  It’s something we will keep in mind as we deal with the requirements of the conservation agreement.  Fortunately, that will leave shrubby areas.

Grass flows.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I once again received a summons for jury duty.  Ack!!  I know it is my civic duty, but really?  How random can this process possibly be if I’m so frequently summoned??!  This time it is for federal court.  If called, I don’t know how I’d possibly get to one of the federal courts in the state because I don’t drive and don’t have a car.  Perhaps they’ll send someone to pick me up.

In the greening.

If we were having coffee or tea or something else, I would turn the conversation over to you at this point.  I’ve babbled enough for now.  Tell me all about what’s happening with you.  Because it’s a rainy day, we can sit here as long as we like and chat about all kinds of things if you have the time.  I don’t think we’ll see the sunset today.  You never know.  If it looks as if it will clear up, let’s mosey down to the Point and see what Mother Nature has in store for us.  Sunset is at 7:54 PM.  Almost 8:00!  The days sure are growing longer, aren’t they?

Be good, be kind, be loving, be well.  Just Be.  🙂

Brightening up a rainy day in the meadow.

This post is in response to Part Time Monster’s #WeekendCoffeeShare.  Thank you to Diana for hosting it.  Also, a big congratulations for the #WeekendCoffeeShare being featured on WordPress’s Daily Post.  So glad to see it being shared among the rest of the community!  Put the kettle on, start the coffee maker, open a bottle of wine, or whatever your preference is, and join us.  I’d love to hear all about what you were up to this week.