ANOTHER SPRING and a NEW PATH

ACCORDING TO the Weather Channel, the spring season has gotten a head start here abouts. The local trees are two to three weeks ahead of the usual time for setting out buds and several varieties of trees (such as cherries and dogwoods) are already in flower. In retrospect, the Winter did not seem as cold as the previous two cold seasons I have experienced here. Apart from a late deep fall of snow while I was off skiing in Canada, the falls of snow were lighter and fewer. The link between weather and climate may be difficult to infer but it is hard to avoid feeling that there may be something to this global warming after all.

Last Autumn, the Canadian Red Cedars showed such an abundance of seeds (colloquially, 'wing-nuts') that the squirrels and chipmunks just could not keep up with taking them off and burying them. While what little snow we had was lying about, it was intriguing to watch them sniffing about, then diving into the snow to come up with yet another nut and that 'Tom Thumb' look on their little faces. Now that the snow is gone and the lawn is about ready to get going, our neighbor, Chris, and I got busy with the lawnmowers (in suck-up mode) to clear up the wing-nut debris (ours, of course, destined to become compost). Since the squirrels did not have to dig up seeds they had buried, we have a crop of red maples coming up all over!

The neighbors have also been busy with their mowers. The race to be first was, as usual, won by Peggy who lives just up the street, on the other side. She was out on her ride mower even as I was contemplating getting our mower out of the shed for post-winter maintenance! Now the sound of lawn mowers can be heard most days. I am not too sure just why, as the grass has barely begun to grow! I reckon it will be two weeks or more before I will turn again to it. Amazingly, it started first pull on the starter cord!

A NEW PATH: This blog started as a means of keeping you apace with my adventures. We have been off on a few...travel, reading, politics, global warming, and so on. I find it most interesting to review my various wanderings by looking back on past postings so it has worked well for me too.

Now I am about to start a new path. As most of you know, these last two years, I have been living here in Painted Post ; this has been a most happy time for me. Now my path is leading back to live once more in Australia. I have been living in the US since February 1995, first in Phoenix, Arizona, then in Oregon, and now in New York State. Most of that time I have lived in Portland, which must be one of the most beautiful and livable cities in the US. There I was fortunate to make wonderful friendships and to renew valued friendships with some who lived in Australia at one time or another but have returned to North America.

There are a few challenges to meet (ridding myself of a bunch of stuff, planning the future, and the like). Having worn out my knees over this last decade, the most pressing is the business of knee replacement. On Tuesday, I go to visit an orthopaedic surgeon to see what must be done. One way and another, I have tracked down a surgeon who happens to be an Australian so we probably will not need an interpreter. I will keep you in the picture on this front. I hope to have this done, along with the rehabilitation, by my birthday (May 29).

So I am planning my exit from the United States. This will be somewhat leisurely. Late July I will drive back to the Northwest, visiting several National Parks along the way, to spend some time visiting those of you who live between Vancouver and San Francisco. Finally, I will continue on to visit with my daughter, Bronwyn, and my eldest grandchild, Stephanie. Then, mid-September, it will be back to San Francisco and the United Airways flight to Sydney.

Besides keeping you up on all this, I will probably write on my American experience, my thoughts about my new future, and perhaps even the meaning of life.