The Mountain Thymes

 Life just threw in some more detours for me to navigate around.  Last Monday I brought the Kia to Ground to Graphics for the right front bumper repair appointment.  No problem because I have the truck. It has no backup camera because it's a 2002 and I'm spoiled by the backup camera in the Kia.  Whenever I do take the truck, I drive without a radio to listen to and go back to basics of using the rear view and side mirrors.  Good for the brain.  Wednesday morning the trusty truck began shaking and rattling at 50-55 mph so I just slowed down to 45 but my heart didn't.  Thursday I drove it into town slowly just to pick up what I needed and drove home.  When I called Mark he advised me to get it checked out because it could be serious.  This morning at 7:45 I was at the Kia dealer to see if it could be checked  just to see what the problem was but they were so booked  that I couldn't be squeezed in.  So I have an appointment early ...

 I love my new laptop.  When I feel like blogging, instantly it pops up to let me.  The past month I've been greeted by two auburn-colored llamas, with beautiful large round eyes, in the Tourmalet Pass, Hautes-Pyrenees, France, stately mountain ranges in the background, on my screen.   The temperature was in the fifties all night, a little too warm for sleeping as I have layers of blankets and thought the temp was going to drop and didn't remove any of the layers.  With another cold front moving in there was thunder and lightning early this morning.  Temperature is beginning to drop as I type, late morning, and winds picking up.  The next six to seven days the area returns to cold winter temperatures, low teens a few nights and twenty degree days. But this late in winter I know I'm on the way to feeling spring in the air and watching the earth unfold its early bulbs and weeds.   I rarely drink coffee anymore since I found out it is too a...

 Almost halfway through February and I'm not crazy.  Everything is measured by the January weather we experienced  here.  It wasn't as harsh as other places but severe by our standards. My daylight hours are longer which help my sanity.  I count the days until the second weekend in March when I don't draw the curtains and start yawning at six o'clock anymore.  I'm just not a wintery person.  I can feel a different energy already.  My Carolina wrens sing louder and earlier each morning.  February is back to normal weather.  It was fifty-five today with twenties to thirties at night.  The heat barely runs during the night and if the sun is out during the day I run no heat as the sun warms the house.  I'm in for two full days of rain and flood alerts in the valleys.   A week ago I thought I broke the Toyota.  It has been in four-wheel drive in the garage since the January weather.  I couldn't get it out of four...