First rose of the year

Yesterday wasn't a very good day. I signed a zillion papers at the bank (most of which I didn't understand, which didn't cheer me up any), but I have to wait until Wednesday to get the check. In the process I learned that because the house appraised at less than the banker thought and because of the various fees and costs of refinancing, after I pay off the credit card, I'll have less than half the money for projects on the house than I'd anticipated, so I have to sit down with my list of projects and juggle between most pressing and most affordable. I knew better than to let myself get all excited about it, but I did anyway, so it's a big let down. I was so excited about getting things spruced up around here.

Then on my way out of the bank I saw a baby bird not really old enough to be out of the nest, hopping around in front of the sunbaked brick of the building, on the hot sidewalk, and trying to get back to its nest on top of the bank, and not a parent bird or a safe place in sight. If there'd been a little tree or something nearby, I'd have tried to catch it, but there was nowhere to take it. I was pretty bummed about that.

Then I came home and the laptop wouldn't turn on again, and I had to mess with the desktop. Once I got into my e-mail I discovered that my friend Monika, of the Smokin' Hot Needles blog, lost her beautiful white GSD boy, Sam.

And today I was mostly by myself at work, so I had lots of time to wallow, which I did. E-mailing with my sister helped a lot. So did this:



If you click to get the large size, you can see that the bush is just covered with buds. It smells good, too.

I still don't feel exactly cheerful, but I guess I'll feel better pretty soon.