Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Daffodils, Cherries, and Outdoor Seating at Happy Hour

This morning I was thinking about entering a contest to win a virtual crate full of spring & summer reads over on Jen Lancaster’s blog.  All I had to do to enter was leave a brief response as to my favorite thing about spring.  Sounds easy.  But this is me so of course I sat there staring at the comment submission box for like ten minutes.

I grappled with what I really love about spring.  I analyzed exactly what makes spring so great.  What do I really and truly love about the return of plants and all that stuff?  I wanted it to sound genuine whether that turned out to be a witty reply or not.  I wanted to sound like I understood the assignment deep in my soul but without rambling on and on.

There would be plenty of room to do that over here.

Why I did all of that analyzing, I have no idea.  It isn’t as if saying ‘brandy in a bathing suit’ or ‘flowers sprouting’ or ‘having sex without a comforter’ or ‘lemonade’ would generate any different of a response.  Not from her or any of the other people leaving comments.  Not like she’s going to give a hoot what I say.  At the contest deadline she’ll go to random.org and throw in the final count, click ‘generate’ then report the winning entry.

We don’t have to make her laugh to win.  We don’t have to be awesome to win.  We just have to say something.  I could’ve said ‘everything’ and it would have been just as valid as saying ‘rainbows that shoot out of a Leprechaun’s ass after a warm desert rain’.

What the heck is my problem?  Could I be more of a dork?  Haven’t I already gone through this recoculousness once before with this woman?

Anyway, I entered by answering with the exact words of my title.  It’s still a little fun but also it is exactly what I genuinely like about spring’s return.

So then that got me thinking.  (Gee, shocker huh?  Yeah, I know.)  It got me thinking about all the other stuff that’s cool about this season.  The end of hockey season, the return of baseball, Matt’s birthday, beginning to plan trips (this year it’s the Lake, former years included the Martha’s Vineyard annual adventure), windows down in the car, returning temperatures and sunshine, etc.

This year also has me looking forward to new stuff like getting my first tattoo, receiving the title to my car because its paid off (the first ever woo hoo!), a first spring in a new state, buying and moving into our new home, and of course releasing my first book Ripple the Twine. (Pre-order your copy today and save, just click on the book title here or go to the Buy Now button on the left sidebar! <-- I should add ‘shameless self-promotion’ to my list of spring favorites but that pretty much takes place all year long so…)

In Phoenix we’re lucky enough to have temperatures that don’t go much below 60 degrees at any time of year so we’ve been hanging out with the windows open for well over a month now.  Last night in fact, for the first time this year, we actually had to kick on the air conditioner for about an hour.  It had gone up into the mid-90’s yesterday so an hour of regulation didn’t seem all that odd.  The fact that it’s early April had me struggling to wrap my head around the concept though, I’ll admit.

But I’m not in the northeast anymore so I guess I should just go with it.

Kind of like when I got the hell over myself and posted as commenter 1345 over on Lancaster’s blog. 

Fingers crossed, I could use some good reading this season.

8 comments:

Suldog said...

Have you considered having the title to your car being the tattoo? It will save room in the glove compartment.

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

And it could be a whole back tat, a long session but perhaps very worth the time & pain ;-)

jamiessmiles said...

People are smart enough not to ask me things like that:) Isoge youchn

Judi FitzPatrick said...

Outdoor seating - wow, I was doing that in March before spring, now it's much chillier - windows closed and sitting inside. Lucky you no longer in the northeast!
Love you, Mum

Anonymous said...

I think your answer was perfectly succinct... and I had to LOL at your process. I always over think things like that. It seems so easy, especially for a writer. But either the pressure or the specific nature of the prompt sucks all that creative energy right out the window and you're left with nothing but a blank screen. I hate when that happens...and it happens a lot.

Spring is definitely one of my two favorite seasons. I'm not big on the extreme heat of the summer (how the heck can you deal with the desert??!?!) or the extreme cold/snow of winter (though I'd miss it if it never snowed--like this year) which is why Spring and Fall appeal to me.

That, and the baseball/hockey thing. Playoffs for one sport, season opener for the other. :)

p.s. my captcha was 'viontat' so I guess that means you should get a tattoo of a Vion....whatever that is!

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Sorry Mum, hope those temps come back up soon!

you're left with nothing but a blank screen. I hate when that happens...and it happens a lot

Bingo!

Its a dry heat out here, which sounds like a cop out but its actually true. The northeast was thick with humidity so anything over 85 felt oppressive at times. Its been in the 90's and the outdoor temps feel perfectly pleasant! Of course I feel that Winter 'is the debil Bobby Boucher!'...

Googling Vion right now lol

Anonymous said...

I do understand your comment about the dry heat. So true!
Your response would make me smile.

Alice said...

Well, I'm sorry you didn't win, but I totally missed the whole contest. DAMNIT!

I would like to give you a prize for the "leprechaun" line, because it was very funny.