Very slowly springing

Two more spring flowers have burst into their very tiny bloom in my yard. (Anyone know what they are called?)











It's definitely spring now. The tiny green buds are beginning to come out on some bushes, the birds are singing all morning their many different tunes, and the bulbs in the sunny yards are blooming. I haven't renewed my gym membership, and am determined to run in the real world until the next snowstorm (which will hopefully will not be until next fall). My dear friend came to visit a couple of weeks ago, and said driving the 4 hours north it was like turning back the clock to a time before the dafodils had come out and temeratures were still in the 50s. The craziest part is that I marvel how warm it is outside, and check my handy outdoor thermometer (Thanks Dad!) to find that it is 54. A year ago I would of thought of 54 as cold. Now I know better.

We are headed to Florida on Monday where even their lows are higher than our highs. My inner sense of season is not going to know what hit it.

Outing the Pastor

Recently at an agency-wide conference, a co-worker outed me as a minister during the “things you might not know about each other” brainstorm. Afterwards, over a beer, another co-worker profusely apologized for any time she might have cursed in front of me. There was some debate about whether the guy who hired me had adequately notified everyone that a pastor was working in their midst. (He felt he had given everyone plenty of warning, but that they just hadn't been paying attention.) Finally the shocking revelation that I was, at that moment, drinking a beer. People have some very particular ideas about what a minister is.

Woodpecker

This morning I heard a woodpecker for the first time ever. I was at the end of my morning run, just a few houses away from my own. Because there are still no leaves on the trees, it was easy to follow the sound to its maker. He was a beautiful guy with black and red and white feathers, fluffy as if he still had his winter coat on. Since he let me look at him, I rushed home to get my camera. Yet somehow as the shutter was closing, he hopped further and further out of range. Fortunately I can still hear him tapping somewhere in my neighborhood.