LIFE'S BETTER IN THE MOUNTAINS

Friday, March 29, 2013

Fridays Are Golden



Spring is still waiting in the wings around here.  Our temperatures remain about 30 degrees below our normal for the season.  We should be having balmy 60s and many days we don't get above the 30s.  I fear that everything is so ready that a few days of warmer sunshine will send everything forth at once.  And one of my favorite things about living in NC is the gradual unfolding of spring.  Farmers and gardeners have hands itching with the desire to plant.

The dogs are happy enough with the weather if it isn't raining or isn't too hot.  They really enjoy the brisk mornings and play like puppies.  They play inside as well, but only in the den.  Wrestling, toys and balls are not allowed in the great room.

As regular readers know, Ellie LOVES tennis balls.  And almost every day she will sneak one or two of them into the great room.  She knows better than to play with them or ask anyone to toss them.  She is content to hold one or two in her mouth until the drooling makes it unpleasant.  She is fully aware that the balls belong in the den so she pretends she doesn't have one.  She rarely looks directly at me when she has a forbidden tennis ball.


Her mouth is open because she has a tennis ball in it.




She looks the other way when I call her name.




Lucy doesn't care a whit about tennis balls unless someone is throwing them.
She nestles next to Ellie to enjoy the sun.



This has been a busy week for most.  The NCAA Tournament is winding down and I no longer have a dog in the fight.  My only interest now is in which team DOESN'T win.  (I'm not writing the name of the team out of respect for KB.)

On a more serious note, Passover began on Monday and Christians have attended Holy Week services in their churches.

And the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has been listening to important cases relating to equality for all citizens.  I wish someone would reference the grand pig Napoleon's rule he made in George Orwell's Animal Farm.  (Perhaps that is one reason I'm not a lawyer.)  As the pigs began to enjoy their authority, they changed one commandment to read, "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others."  [Note to SCOTUS:  This is America, not Animal Farm.  None are more equal than others.]

Spring is the season of hope, a renewal, a fresh start.  So today's quotes are about hope.

Martin Luther King:
"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.  And so today I still have a dream."

And from one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver:
"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for.  And the most you can do is live inside that hope.  Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof."


HAVE A MOST WONDERFUL WEEKEND, EVERYONE!!!



13 comments:

The Bug said...

Love that Kingsolver quote. and I love Ellie with the "hidden" ball - she's a mess :)

I FORGOT that games were played yesterday. And my brackets are at home (yes I have two - I did one on the Yahoo site & one on ESPN) & I have no idea who I had winning the games, so now I have to wait to see how far into depths I've plunged. Heh.

Carolina Linthead said...

I adore Ellie!

I, too, kept wishing for that Animal Farm reference. Thank you! I also keep wishing for normal temps. We had snow on Monday. Hard week at work...we lost one of our colleagues to cancer. She was just 54, and really in her prime as a teacher and mentor to our education majors. Grace and peace be with us all, always. I do believe that light triumphs over darkness. I would very much love to bask in the light for awhile.

Taradharma said...

Ellie really needs her tennis balls...like a pacifier!

It has been fascinating to listen to the oral arguments in front of the Supremes. I have hope, indeed I do. No matter the outcome. The national polls give me hope that people have come a long, long way in their feelings about GLBT folks.

Have a lovely weekend.

Ms. A said...

I'm one of those that is still trying to figure out what to hope for. I actually try not to hope to often, less disappointment that way.

Happy Easter!

Ms. A said...

Crap, make the "too" often.

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

How sneaky is your girl Ellie? Whatta cutie sneaking the ball--Every once in awhile you just have to let them get away with something, don't you? :-)

I've not watched any basketball this year--When UK was out, so was I!

♥•✿HAPPY EASTER!!✿•♥

Folkways Note Book said...

Great reference to Animal Farm. Sometimes some of our most judicial ideas come from writers rather than the law field. -- barbara

Busy Bee Suz said...

That Ellie cracks me UP! So cute and sneaky.

We were thrilled that OUR (FGCU) team made it so far. The Coach and I have been boosters since the inception of the college and watched the team blossom and grow.

Equal rights for all of us...seems like a dream, but I hope to see that dream fulfilled in my lifetime.
Enjoy your Easter.
XO

KGMom said...

Love it that Ellie tries to be sneaky with tennis balls. So typical of some dogs I have knowm--grabbing the forbidden in mouth and then putting on that marvelous "who me?" look.
Happy Easter to you and all.

troutbirder said...

It's amazing how much our canines know and understand. If they could only t alk....:)
Though there is one of the infamous five on SCOTUS who hardly ever talks either. I don't believe he and at least 4 of the other know and understand as much as the Golden Girls nor Baron either for that matter...:(

Anonymous said...

I love the quotes you picked for this post. I had forgotten the one from "Animal Farm." Happy Easter to you, and I hope spring really does arrive with its promise of renewal.

NCmountainwoman said...

Thanks for your comments, everyone.

KB said...

I've been behind... but I noticed, among the important things that you discuss here, that you took a jab at my favorite team! I can't let that pass. They did pretty well, but we missed all the games while we were in the desert :(