Picture of the Week - 2/25/2021

 Let's talk about the weather

First - believe me I *know* that we have it SO much better in the weather department than many, many people.  I know this!  It's not a contest.  I am grateful that we weren't in Texas this past week dealing with no electricity and below freezing temps for days.  I'm grateful that we have no need for a snow blower (or even a shovel) like our friends in Ohio.  

But it's been gross down here for weeks.  Grey and rainy and just BLAH.  One of the things I've always liked about winter in Georgia - and actually probably a big reason we never moved back north - isn't the temperatures, but the sun.  It's true, I hate being cold.  I hate it more and more the older I get, but I can handle cold and sunny.  The dark and dreary got really old.

This week though...  out the other side and POOF it's spring.  As I type this the door to our porch behind me is wide open.  We are in that sweet spot before the pollen count goes crazy and the temps start to get crazy nice.  I think it's like 73 or something today.  I love it.  The birds in the backyard love it.  The trees are starting to think about blooming too.  Here's a picture of some version of a magnolia native to the area.  Bob and I bought this teeny tiny bush like 15 years ago that has somehow grown to be like 20 feet tall.  It's a weird plant.  It is always the first thing to bloom in the yard - often when it's too cold to really enjoy.  It blooms even before the forsythia.  It's just getting going this year and brought me a lot of joy to notice it today.  

This weekend Zane and Beck are off to a wrestling tournament.  There are 2 main wrestling organizations here - this is the State version for one of them.  "State" for the other is next weekend.  That'll wrap up folkstyle season down here.  They decided not to play lacrosse this year, so we will be continuing on with the wrestling practices - they will move into freestyle and greco - and some tourneys through the spring and summer, but it'll be a pretty relaxed spring!  Plenty of time to enjoy the flowers.