February 22, 2010

pre-spring fever


This is the time of year that, as winter drags on, I get a bit desperate for spring. It's that same "gotta have it now" feeling you get before your first cup of coffee in the morning.

Can you relate? I have a feeling I'm in good company.

There are a few little mind games I play to get me through these last few months before spring arrives. All these photo's were taken on May 11th, so you can see that spring is quite a latecomer here.


This is the time of year that I start looking at Florida and Arizona real estate online. And the Meadowbrook Farmer always, every single year says, "you find the place and we'll check it out". That's when I realize that I am all talk. Actually, I already know I'm all talk, and so does he. I don't really want to move. I know that if I can just make it through the next few months, I'm home free.


This is the time of year that....I kid you not....I check the expiration date when I buy bacon. I don't check the date any other time of year. I check the date, smile, and as in last week's bacon buying excursion, I think to myself...."when this bacon expires, it will be May 12th." For some extremely bizarre reason, it makes me happy to know that when my bacon expires, spring will be here. It somehow makes it seem less distant. Seeing that date printed on the package lets me know that warm weather and flowers will be here in less time than it takes my pork products to go bad. Of course the bacon will be long gone. No bacon makes it to it's date around here. It's just the idea that makes me happy.

Strange?

Why yes, I believe it is.

There are a few signs, here and there, that winter won't last forever.
The skunks are making their presence known.
Cute little birds are showing up.
My neighbor has new calves almost every day. I actually watched one arrive just last week. Kind of cool, and kind of gross. Let's just say I'm glad my babies didn't have hooves.


This is the view from my front porch. This photo was taken on June 5th. This is what my front garden will look like less than a month after my bacon expires.


These photo's were processed with the Florabella actions and textures. I'd changed them out for the original versions because I'm really not very comfortable with my texture abilities, but then changed them back because I'm fickle. I'm still kind of having a love/like/not sure relationship with textures. I absolutely love them when done by others, but I think I spend so much time analyzing my own, I don't have a clue what to think after a while. Now I'm tempted to post both versions and let you pick, but I will refrain since Photoshop and my computer are having a hate/hate relationship these days, and I don't feel like getting in the middle of a techno spat right now.

So, do you have any spring fever coping tricks to share? Are there signs of spring at your house? Did I make you want to go buy bacon?

Do tell.

27 comments:

  1. Beautiful flowering trees, beautiful garden!!! I'm afraid I don't know anything about photoshop, but what you did with the texture looks great to me. How cool that you got to see a calf being born. Sometimes I think I should have been a farm wife.
    Thank you again for your help last week!

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  2. As a kid March 1rst (my birthday) was the first sign of spring to me..if it was coming early. I could tell because on that day I could go out and sit on the dry grass and could just smell spring! If it was not coming yet, I could tell by the wetness...at least thats what I thought!
    So, being anxious for it this year, I am having a ...GIVE A WAY...on my blog right now...maybe that will help it to be spring by March! :D

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  3. We had a break from the rain of winter with some unseasonally good weather and sun. The poor bulbs think its spring but we could still get major freezing. I try to plan my flower garden details for the spring when I get "the Fever".
    Annette

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  4. I like the texture! I'm always super critical of my photoshop work too, but be proud.
    I hate to rub it in, but it's pretty much spring in Seattle already! The cherry blossoms have been gorgeous all February and now the daffodils are starting to peek out!

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  5. You're so fummy!

    We have lot's of bacon, (my husbands on the Atkins diet), otherwise I'd want to go buy some after reading your post.

    Our daffodils are about 3" high here in Northern Nevada..woopie!

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  6. I read the milk carton dates, but not for spring. I do it for different birthdays. When I move to Lakeside Mt. I guess I will have to read bacon dates. I sure hope I can have a beautiful garden. Florida is so different then Montana.

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  7. My little bit of early Spring is to buy the sunny yellow daffodils from the supermarket this time of year. How quaint too that they come from England...I just love that :)
    Smiles, DianeM

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  8. I LUV your textures. It's so hard to believe that we'll soon be seeing all (in your case) / a tiny bit (in my case) of that beauty!

    Off to buy some bacon...

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  9. Today it is going to be 61 degrees, and it was this past weekend too. My daffodils are also starting to show up. But we'll be dipping back down into the 40's tomorrow. I can almost touch spring.

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  10. Oh now Benny, you've gone and cracked me up with the bacon reference. I'm going to a BaconFest in Chicago in April. :-D This morning I woke up to more snow. I'm filing divorce papers to Mr. Winter. Enough! I do smell something in the air though...and the birds are different....and I keep looking at my new hoe....and I am freaking that the actual date of spring is in less than a month, and I still have two months of winter projects to finish......I'm torn between two lovers, my friend.

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  11. You have given me a new reason to LOVE bacon even more! As I shoveled,yes shoveled..not snowblowed nor plowed.. 8 in. of heavy,wet snow yesterday.. I pretended it was beach sand for a prize winning castle at a warm Florida beach!! After an hour in the cold my mind was getting numb...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! LOVE your photos in any perspective. They look like oil paintings and that is neat. I know nil to nothing about photography..but I know what I like and that would certainly be your spring inspired floral photos! Hang in there and have a BLT for me!

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  12. I have spring fever in a bad way! My husband and I have been diligently planning our landscaping and garden projects to come very soon - I can't wait! I also can't wait to see more of your amazing gardens :)

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  13. I adore that lilac photo! I am really enjoying my florabella actions, but haven't used their textures yet. I do find that now, my "normal" photos look a little bland in comparison...
    Bacon - the only swine I eat. Oh, except for a little ham on occasion... :)
    xx

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  14. I usually make a spring quilt this time of year. The one I made last year has a label that reads, "Made during the endless winter of 2008-2009". This year's winter has been kinder to us so I hope spring will be here earlier than usual in NH.

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  15. Your garden is just beautiful and so inspiring. I love the bacon reference. When I was pregnant with both of my boys I would look at the expiration dates on the food in our frig. and think, "the baby will be here by then". I had forgotten that...thanks for the reminder. My coping technique is to buy a bouquet of fresh flowers every week at the grocery store. It makes me happy.

    Have a great day.
    Jackie

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  16. Isn't it AMAZING how fast spring blooms forth? Even now, the trees have their buds fully swollen, just waiting for the rain and the warmth of sunshine to burst open and show their lacy leaves! I love your photos....any way you alter them, they're all beautiful!
    XOXO
    Joni

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  17. Hello my sweet farm sister. You aren't gonna believe this but I do that same kind of thing and on top of that I do things like this... This might be the last bag of dog food I buy before we move to the village or this is the last mustard I will ever buy while we live here. Sad? Sure! Helpful? Absolutely!

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  18. I'm actually thoroughly enjoying my days right now because when spring does arrive my work is ceaseless...indoors and out! I'm trying to get some sewing done right now-

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  19. I live in Michigan, so I totally and completely understand how you feel about the coming of spring! The first warm sunny day is like a reward at the end of a looooong journey.

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  20. oh my. That photo of the lilacs is gorgeous - wish I could hang it on my wall! Just beautiful. -amy

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  21. I live in Cody, Wyoming...and Spring is a late arrival here, too. Usually the first week of June. You know what helps me? I go to the local plant nursery and smell all the damp soil, feel the moisture and see green, actual green, and not brown brown brown! I am enjoying your blog...I will go check my bacon expiration date and dream. Deb

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  22. I am excited to learn that bacon lasts that long. I found your blog a few days ago and love it. Your pictures are inspiring!

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  23. just heard my first birdie outside the window this past sunday!!!!!!! it's coming.

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  24. I came to you from Janean's site.

    Your garden is incredible. It really looks like a picture from a book.

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  25. i'm still thinking about bacon ...

    i like your spring coping mech. nothing but rain here although i may have noticed the tiniest bud the other day. we still have a while to go here in new england. until then, dreaming of bacon ... and waffles ... and syrup ...

    xo
    elyse

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  26. 3 more inches of snow this weekend here in ohio. Feeling a bit desperate myself! your pictures are beautiful. Thank you for sharing them.

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  27. My daughter read this post earlier and started laughing hysterically. "Mommy, she wants to move to Arizona and Florida too in February!" I have family in Arizona, and that makes it even more tempting. I vowed this year I would restrain myself from hours of searching on Realtor.com. I kid you not, this has been my ritual for the past 8 years! But we've made it! Still a little snow on the ground, but the tulips are peeking out, and that's all I needed to plan on staying "back home in Indiana."

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