My son Alex came into the living room where I was sitting on the couch holding a plastic bag with a half finished needlepoint project inside.

Alex’s eyebrows went up. “Are you starting to do your needlework again?”

I nodded my head as I pulled the canvas out of the bag. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now.” I placed the canvas next to me and pulled out the needle and thread. “It’s time I go back to doing some of the hobbies I’ve always enjoyed.” I looked over at him. “I honestly don’t know why I stopped everything.”

“I’m so proud of you!” Alex was smiling. “For over the past year all you’ve done is watch the news on your phone and yell at it.” He patted me on the top of the head. “I’m glad you’re moving on to something that’s more calming for you again.”

I took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Thanks. I’m trying.”
I adjusted the pillows behind me and settled myself into them. As I was threading a piece of blue thread through the needle I began to realize just how much I missed it. I got the thread through on the first try. “I wasn’t reading as many books as I used to. I stopped all my needlework. I was becoming obsessed with the news!”

Alex nodded as he sat down in the chair across from me. “I know! I tried to tell you. But I couldn’t get you to put your phone down.”

“I know.” I sighed. “It took me a while but I’m finally hearing what you were saying to me.” I smiled over at him as I held up the canvas and put my first stitch in, feeling the smooth flow of the needle as I began filling the canvas with thread.

“Now that the weather is getting nicer you’ll be able to sit on the back porch and do your needlepoint while you watch the birds at the feeders and throw peanuts to the chipmunks.” Alex reminded me. “Remember how much you liked doing that too.”

I sighed as I remembered. “I do love this time of year when it starts getting warmer out and all the little critters begin running around the yard.” I looked over at him and smiled. “Summer’s just around the corner too!”

“That’s right.”

We sat there quietly as I got in the rhythm of the needle. After a few minutes I put my needlepoint piece down and reached over to grab the television remote from the coffee table.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked looking concerned. “I thought you were going to work on your needlework?”

“I am.” I clicked the television on and went to my favorite news station before putting the remote back on the table and picking up my needlepoint again. “But I just realized that there’s no reason I can’t do both!”

Alex got up shaking his head as he looked over at the television. “Try not to yell too loud.”

Shaking my head I looked over at him and smiled. “I honestly can’t promise you that.” I settled back into the cushions and began stitching again.

I’d just come back from the grocery store and my son Alex met me at the door to take the bags from my hands.

“You’ll be happy to know I went by the horse farm and all three horses are standing up and looking fine.” I said as I followed Alex into the kitchen and watched as he put the bags on the counter.

“That’s good to know.” he said as he peeked in the bags to see what I’d gotten.

I stood next to him unloading the bags. “I know. Remember how worried we were yesterday when we saw one of the horses laying on its side while the other stood over him looking concerned?”
“Okay, well I’m not sure I’d say I could see concern on the horses face from the car, but I’ll go along with that.” Alex took the yogurts out of the bag and was putting them in the refrigerator.

“Well, I don’t know about you but I was up half the night worried about him.” I handed Alex the peppers and carrots to put in the fridge. “Did you know that if they lay on their side for too long they could die!”

“I didn’t know that.” he tossed the vegetable in the drawer. “But I actually forgot all about them until you just mentioned it.”

“Are you serious?” I shook my head.

Alex patted me on the shoulder. “You worry too much.”

“What are you talking about? The horse clearly looked like it was in distress!”

“Or he was taking a nap and his friend was keeping him company.” Alex opened the cabinet to put a loaf of bread away.

“Well, I know I feel better now that I’ve seen all of them up and wandering around the field again.”

“I’m glad. One less thing for you to worry about.”

“Exactly.” I looked out the window at our birdbath where a few birds were sitting on the edge. “Oh no! I haven’t put water in the bird bath.” I hadn’t finished unloading the groceries as I headed for the back door. “I better go out there now before they get upset.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re not upset.” Alex called to me as he continued unloading the groceries

Once I was back inside I looked around the now empty counter top. “Thanks for putting everything away for me.”

“You’re welcome.” Alex was leaned against the counter eating one of the yogurts. “Are they still mad at you?” Alex pointed his spoon over his shoulder at the birds in the back yard.

“Nope, I don’t think so. Not only did I fill the birdbath but I also topped off the feeders.” I looked at the kitchen window and could see a chipmunk scurrying around the back yard. “Oh my gosh! I forgot all about you.” I called to him. “I better get the peanuts out for him!” I went over to the cabinet where I had a brand new bag waiting for him. “I’m glad I thought to get this the other day.” I pulled the bag out of the cabinet and held it up for Alex to see.

“You know if they ever made worrying an Olympic sport…”

I smiled as I interrupted him. “I bet I’d bring home the gold!”

My son Alex and I were on a walk when Alex looked over at me. “Are you limping?”

I stopped for a moment. “You know, I am.” I began walking again trying not to limp. “My hip’s been bothering me.”

“What caused that?”

“I guess my bursitis is acting up.” I started to laugh. “I think I just uttered an ‘I’m so old’ sentence!”

“What are you talking about?” Alex slowed down our pace to help me out. “I’ve had bursitis before, in both my shoulders. Remember?”

“Oh, my gosh! I forgot.” I looked over at him. “That makes me feel so much better!”

Alex started to laugh. “Okay.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

We were going to cross the street and I actually had to stop a moment to think how I was going to step off the curb without causing any pain.

“I meant that I thought bursitis was something only old people get.” I could feel the pinch in the hip as I stepped down but it quickly let up.

“Have you been doing the stretches physical therapy gave you the last time you had it?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “Once they did a few cupping sessions on the outside of my thigh it went away. So I never gave it another thought.”

“Big mistake.” Alex said shaking his head.

I stopped a moment to rub my hip but also to admire a small bed of purple crocuses in one of our neighbors front yards. “I’m realizing that now.”

We were at the bottom of one of the hills in our neighborhood. I looked up at the steep incline. “Well, this should be interesting.”

Alex looked concerned. “Do you want to turn around and go back?”

“No.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I know you’re suppose to rest when you have a flair up but for some reason I feel better when I keep moving.”

“I’m telling you you need to start doing the stretches again.”

We began walking up the hill but halfway up I stopped. “Give me a second.”

I went over to a telephone pole and leaned against it while I swung my leg from side to side. After a few moments of doing that I reached behind me grabbing the toe of my foot and pulling up as far as I could pull it, holding it like that for a few moments before dropping it back to the ground. I added in a few squats, still holding on to the telephone pole for balance, before standing back up. I did a quick test by moving my hips side to side to see if the stretching had helped. “That feels so much better!” I looked over at Alex. “You’re right it is all about the stretching!”

Alex was looking around the neighborhood to see if anyone had been watching me. As we headed back up the hall Alex looked over at me. “Next time maybe you could do your stretches before we leave the house?”

I was standing in the middle of the dining room looking around when my son Alex came in. “What are you doing?” he asked.

I sighed. “Thinking about spring cleaning this weekend.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Alex couldn’t help but smile. “It’s the first day of spring this weekend.”

I sighed again. “Yeah.”

Alex looked confused. “You’ve been saying you can’t wait until spring comes ever since you took the Christmas tree down! What’s the matter?”

“Oh, I’ve been looking forward to spring. Just not the spring cleaning.” I could see a thin layer of dust on the side table.

“You clean all the time.” Alex said. “In fact, weren’t you the one who used to use disinfectant wipes on the groceries when you’d bring them in from the store?”

“Those sure were crazy times.” I shook my head. “But that was Covid cleaning. This is totally different. It’s spring cleaning.”

I opened one of the dining room windows and pointed to the windowsill. “See how dirty this is?” There was a chilly breeze coming in but it was a beautiful sunny day.

Alex came over and looked. “That’s pretty dirty.”

“That’s from months of winter storms.” I nodded my head. “Now multiply that with how many windows we have.”

I closed the window, sat down at the dining room table and began rubbing my forehead. “Then it’s closets and kitchen draws and cabinets! Not to mention all the baseboard and doors that need to be wiped down.” I leaned my head back. “All I’ve been doing this past year is clean. I just don’t want to clean anymore. Especially not spring cleaning!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, so don’t.”

I looked at him, I couldn’t hide my surprise. “Really?”

“Sure. Why not?”

I thought about it for a moment. “You know, you’re right! Why not?” I got up and took the kettle from the stove and began to fill it up at the sink. “I’m going to make a nice warm cup of tea, get a cozy sweater on and go sit outside in the sun! That’s how I’m going to celebrate spring!”

Alex came over and patted my on the shoulder. “See. Now don’t you feel better?”

“I really do!” I smiled as I put the kettle on the stove and turned it on.

My husband Steven came into the kitchen. “Isn’t it a beautiful day out?” he asked.

“It sure is!” I went to get a cup of of the cabinet.

He went over to the dining room window and began to open it up. “Why don’t we get some fresh air in here.”

“NO!” I cried. “DON’T!”

Steven stopped midway of opening it. “What? What’s wrong?”

“I’m trying to enjoy the first day of spring!” I said as put my cup down on the counter and went over to the window where I reached over and slowly closed it.

Steven looked over at Alex a confused look on his face.

“If you open the window Mom’s going to see the dirty windowsill and she’s not in the mood for spring cleaning right now.”

“Exactly.” I went over and got a tea bag out of the canister. “I don’t want to feel guilty about not doing any spring cleaning today and the only way that’s going to happen is if we keep the windows closed.”

I turned around and looked at Steven who was now holding his hands up in front of his chest. “Closed windows it is.”

I smiled as I dropped my tea bag in my mug. “Thank you!”

“Alex!” I called out to my son. “You have to see this!” I was kneeling on our couch my elbows leaned against the windowsill looking out our window.

Alex came into the living room. “What’s up?”

“You have to see all the robins in our holly tree!”

Dozens of robins were scattered on our front lawn. They’d fly into the holly tree where they’d pull off one of the berries than fly back to the lawn or a tree branch to eat their yummy snack. The holly tree was actually vibrating with action. “It’s like having a bird feeder that I don’t have to fill!”

Another dozen robins were stationed under the tree catching all the berries that were falling to the ground.

“Isn’t that crazy looking?” I look over at Alex. “It’s nature’s bird feeder.”

“They sure are hungry.” Alex agreed. “How come we never see them at the bird feeders?”

I turned around and sat down on the couch then shrugged my shoulders. “I guess they don’t like seeds.”

Alex went into the kitchen. “So besides holly berries what do they eat?”

I picked up my phone, followed him into the kitchen, and leaned against the counter to do a quick search. “Okay, it says here that they like fruit.” I looked over at our fruit bowl sitting on the counter.

Alex looked over and began to laugh. “You’re going to make them a little fruit salad?”

“I’d cut up an apple for them but…” I looked back at Alex. “It’s one of the first times I splurged and got organic.” I pointed to the apples. “They cost a fortune!”

“Hey, I ate one of them the other day.” Alex looked surprised. “I thought they tasted better than usual.”

“You can taste the difference but the robin’s aren’t going to.” I picked up an apple and gave it a quick wash before taking a bite. “They can wait until I go grocery shopping and get the cheaper ones for them.”

I held up the apple as I swallowed the first bite. “Oh my gosh, you can definitely taste the difference!”

“I told you.” Alex looked out the kitchen window. “By the way the bird feeders are empty again.”

“Ugh,” I placed my apple on the counter and headed for the back door. “Keeping these bird feeders filled feels like a full time job!”

Alex came to the back door as I went over to the canister we kept the bird seed in. “Well, now that you’re going to start putting fruit plates out for the robin’s I’m pretty sure you are making it a full time job.”

I sighed as I left the porch and headed for the feeder. “I know.”

“You know who else is going to like the fruit plate?”

I stopped and turned around to look at him. “Who?” I asked feeling a little confused.

“The squirrels.” Alex laughed as he pointed on one that was hanging upside down on one of my feeders trying to get to the last of the seeds.

“They’re the real reason I’m always refilling these things!” I cried as I waved my arms to scare it off the feeder. “Shoo…” I cried.

Nothing more annoying then the blank stare of an unafraid squirrel.

I’d been near someone who tested positive for Covid so I was now banished to working from home for the next two weeks.

I was sitting at the dining room table when my son Alex came into the room. I quickly pulled my paper mask up over my nose and mouth before going back to work. While I was typing I noticed the mask kept creeping up near my eyes and I would pull it down, only for it to pop back up again.

“Oh my God, this is so annoying!” I tugged the mask back into place.

Alex looked over at me. “When do your test results come back?” he poured some coffee into a mug and went to the refrigerator to get the milk.

“Not soon enough!” I said as I pulled the mask back into place. I looked over at Alex. “Do you think my head is shrinking?”

Alex started to laugh.

“No, I’m serious!” I got up to go to the front hall mirror. Looking at my reflection I moved the mask back into place and pinched the nose guard in place. I looked at the bottom of my mask that now covered my entire neck instead of being tucked under my chin. “When we started this whole mess a year ago I wasn’t having this problem with the masks!”

I sadly looked over at Alex pointing at my face. “But look at me now!”

Alex shook his head. “I’m pretty sure you’re head isn’t shrinking.”

“Well, what about this!” I flipped the hood of my sweatshirt up over my head. The top of the hood flopped over my forehead and almost covered my eyes. “Who’s sweatshirt hood fits like this?”

Alex started to laugh. “I don’t think any of my hoods do that.”

“See! I’m turning into a peanut head!” I turned my head from side to side. “I can’t see a thing!” I folded back part of the hood so I could see. “Who do you know that has to fold a cuff in their hood?”

I turned back to my reflection. “I look ridiculous!” I pushed the hood off my head and went to the linen closet.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked as he followed me to the closet.

“I’m going to see if these masks come in sizes.” I pulled the box of blue surgical masks from the shelf and scanned the box. “Nope. One size seems to fit all.” I tossed the box back on the shelf and looked at Alex.

“Maybe you could try a cloth mask. They might fit better.” he suggested.

“I can’t.” I went across the room and took off my mask. “When this first started I told myself I wasn’t going to make this something fun like matching my masks to my outfits. When this all goes away I don’t want to have a drawer of cute masks that I’d invested in and wouldn’t want to throw away.”

I sat down in the chair and tossed the paper mask onto the coffee table. “So I’m not doing it!” I crossed my arms and leaned back in the chair.

Alex shook his head. “It’s up to you Peanut Head.”

I grabbed my bags for work and walked out the front door. The smell hit me like a ton of bricks. “Skunk!” My eyes began to water as I looked around to see if he was still nearby.

I quickly went back inside dropping my bags to the floor.

My son Alex was standing near the front door. “What’s wrong? Did you forget something?”

I lifted the sleeve of my coat up to my nose and took a sniff. “A skunk got scared in our front yard.” I wiped the tear that was falling down my cheek. “I swear the smell is on me!” I took the end of my hair and brought it up to my nose. “I can’t tell if it’s on me or I just have that smell stuck in my nose!” I lifted my arm toward him. “Do you smell it on me?”

Alex backed away. “I’m not sure I want to smell you.”

Just then my husband Steven came into the hallway carrying his file box. Alex pointed to me.

“Mom wants you to smell her.”

Steven looked confused. “What?”

“A skunk sprayed in the front yard and I think I got hit!” I held my coat sleeve up to him.

He leaned over and smelled. “Nope. You’re good.”

I sighed. “That’s a relief. I wouldn’t have been able to go to work.” I picked up my bags again. Steven put his file box down. “Okay, but before you go I have some bad news.”

I dropped my bags again. “Oh, no.” I sighed again. “What?”

“The skunk didn’t just pass by the front yard.” He began walking into kitchen while I followed him. “I’m pretty sure he’s living under our deck.” He opened up the back door and the skunk smell was overpowering.

I stepped outside and looked over the railing. Sure enough I could see the little footprints in the snow of our stinky friend coming from under the deck and walking to the woods. I came back inside and closed the door. “Didn’t we have this problem last year?”

Steven nodded. “Yup.”

“So what did we do?”

Steven shrugged his shoulder. “Nothing. After a few days it just moved on.”

“So we have to put up with this for the next few days?” I headed back to the front door.

“We could.” Steven was following back to the front hall. “But I’m pretty sure I smelled him in the back yard last week, so I’m not thinking he’s planning on moving soon.”

I picked up my bags. “Well, he can’t live here. I don’t want to be known as the stinky house on the block. I’ll pick up some ammonia on my way home from work. I heard they don’t like the smell.”

Alex was still in the hallway. “They don’t like the smell of ammonia but they don’t mind how bad they smell?”

“Go figure.” I shrugged my shoulders as I took a deep breath and held it while I opened the front door. Sprinting to the car I quickly got in and exhaled. I could still smell the skunk as I started the car. I once again smelled the sleeve of my coat making sure the smell wasn’t on me before I backed out of the driveway and headed to work. Halfway down my street I opened my window and inhaled before coughing. “Nope. I can still smell him.” I said as I closed my window.

Looking out my kitchen window I could see the yard was still covered in a blanket of snow. I looked over at my son Alex. “I better get out there and fill those bird feeders.” I went over to the boot tray to get my rain boots. “Those poor guys must be starving.”

I grabbed my coat and went out on the porch to get the container that held the bird seed.

“Be careful!” Alex called from the back door. “There’s a lot of ice.”

I gingerly made my way down the unshoveled steps with my container of bird seed swinging by my side. I was barely braking through the icy crust of snow as I made my way to the feeders. Taking one of the feeders down I noticed it was encrusted in ice. I began tapping it with the bird seed scooper but it didn’t even crack the ice. I reached over to the other feeder and saw that it was the same. I looked back at Alex. “We have a problem!” I called.

“What?”

“Frozen solid!” I held up the feeder to make my point then hung it back on the Shepard hook and moved to the next feeder. “Nope, this one’s frozen, too!” I looked around at the birds, sitting on branches in the woods, watching me. “Sorry guys. I can’t fill the feeders but…” I scooped some bird seed out of the container and began tossing it on top of the snow. “This will have to do.” I said as I tossed several more scoops.

Turning around and heading back to the house I could hear the chirps and calls from the birds as they flocked to the seed covered snow. “You’re welcome!” I called over my shoulder.

I carefully made my way back up the steps and put the container down. Ducking under the eve of the porch I reached up and snapped an icicle off the gutter. “I don’t think I’ve seen this many icicles in years.” I held it out for Alex to see. “When I was a kid we’d break them off the house and lick them like Popsicle.” I looked closer at the icicle and could see small flicks of dirt in it and tossed it into the snow. “Seems kind of disgusting now.” I stamped the snow off my boots as I came inside.

Alex laughed. “It’s kind of like licking the inside of the gutter.”

“Yuck.” I kicked my boots off and hung my coat up in the closet.

Going back into the kitchen I looked over at Alex. “Are you in the mood for some hot chocolate?”

“Sure. That sounds good.”

I went into the cabinet to get the hot chocolate mix when I notice a suet package sitting on the shelf. “Oh, I forgot to put this out!” I unwrapped it and went to the back door.

“Aren’t you going to put a coat on?”

“Nah.” I stood by the door and Frisbee threw it into the back yard watching it slide on top of the ice until it stopped right in front of the bird bath. “Perfect!” I closed the door and saw Alex staring at me. “What?”

Alex pointed out the window. “The suet feeder doesn’t have any ice on it.”

I looked out the window and saw he was right. I shrugged my shoulders. “Oh well. I didn’t feel like getting all bundled up again.” I pointed out the window again at the birds that were now on top of the suet. “See. They found it.”

I was just coming in the front door when I heard my husband Steven call out, “The toaster you ordered came today.”

I placed my things down on the chair and went into the kitchen. “I didn’t order a toaster.”

Our son Alex was pulling out a nicely toasted piece of bread from a stainless steel Cuisinart four slice toaster. “Uh-oh!” he held the toast in midair for a second before dropping it on the paper towel. “Who’s toaster did we get?” he asked.

I looked over at Steven who was looking confused. “Three packages came today. I just assumed…”

I looked around the counter. “Where’s our toaster?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I threw it out when I saw the new one.”

“What?”

“I thought you bought a new one!” Steven went over to the toaster and began pointing to all the buttons. “Look! It not only toasts but it has a setting for a bagel. It also defrosts and reheats!”

“That’s great, but it’s not ours.”

Alex was spreading jelly on his toast. “I’ve already used it so I’m pretty sure we own it now.”

I looked back at Steven shaking my head. “Do you still have the box it came in?

He shrugged his shoulders. “I threw that out, too.” He went to the back door. “I’ll go pull it out of the garbage.”

When he came back in with the box he was pointing to the label. “Okay. It’s our neighbors.”

“Seriously?”

“Hey! It was an honest mistake. I told you three packages came today so I just grabbed them and opened them all.”

I held up my hand to stop him. “I get it. But now what do we do?” I sighed as I leaned against the counter. “I can’t walk next door while I’m shaking the crumbs out of it and saying what a silly mix up we had.”

“So let’s just order the exact same toaster and when it comes in we’ll give her that.”

“We needed a new toaster anyway.” Alex reminded me as he took another bite of his toast. “Our old toaster took forever to toast something.”

“I guess that’s true.” I looked over at our accidental new toaster. “I have to say she’s got better taste in toasters then I do.” I looked at the brushed stainless steel. “I was always fine with the cheap plastic toasters, that just toasted bread.”

“Now we have one that does so much more!” Steven flipped the box over until he could find the model number on the box.

I took my phone and opened up our Amazon account. Searched for toasters then typed in the make and model. “Okay, well the price isn’t too bad.” I double-checked the description to make sure it was the one she’d ordered. Then scanned for the delivery date. “Oh, good! It’s going to be delivered tomorrow!” I pressed ‘order’ then put my phone down. “Now I don’t feel so bad. At least she’ll get her toaster tomorrow.”

“Hey, I’m hoping she orders a bathroom scale next and they accidentally deliver that here, too.” Alex popped the last piece of toast in his mouth. “Ours hasn’t been right for the last month!”

Close to a foot of snow had fallen in our area over a two day period. Once it stopped and we dug ourselves out my son Alex and I decided to go for a walk in the neighborhood. The sun was bright, and there was absolutely no wind, so it was perfect walking weather for me.

We had already gone several blocks when I noticed something strange. I stopped and turned to Alex. “Do you hear that?”

Alex stopped and looked over at me. “What?”

I raised my finger to my ear. “Listen.”

Alex stood still for a moment then looked back at me. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly!” I looked around. “We should be seeing and hearing kids playing in the snow! They should be having snowball fights, building snowmen, making snow forts!” I pointed to dozens of front yards that we were walking past that were blanketed in snow, not a footprint to be found breaking through. “I know kids live in these houses. Why aren’t they outside having fun?”

Alex laughed. “Because they’re inside having fun playing video games.”

I shook my head. “That just makes me so sad.” I slipped my hands in my pockets. “When you were little I couldn’t have kept you inside. You’d have a bunch of friends over and all of you would be out in the snow for hours!”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, I remember.”

I pointed to another house we were passing. “I know there are at least two kids that live there!”

Once again their front yard was a pristine layer of snow.

“Maybe it’s not good packing snow.” Alex leaned down and scooped up a handful, quickly shaping it into a ball. “Nope, perfect packing snow.” He tossed the snowball up in the air and we watched as it landed in the middle of the street with a splat.

“There should be snowmen on the front lawn of at least a dozen of these houses!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe they made them in their backyard.”

I laughed as I looked over at Alex. “Everyone knows the rule that snowmen go in the front yard so everyone driving by can enjoy it.”

Alex just nodded his head trying not to laugh. “Oh, so there’s a rule.”

By now we were back to our house.

“I can’t believe we didn’t see one snowman!” I was hanging my coat in the closet when Alex call to me from the living room.

“You’ll be happy to see this!”

As I walked in he was pointing out our front window. “See?”

I looked out and could see our across the street neighbor with his three little ones building a tiny snowman. It was only about a foot and a half feet high but it made me feel so much better. “Ah, see? That’s what a snowfall is all about!”

“The must know the rule about building it in the front yard, too.” Alex laughed.

We watched as Dad put the finishing touches on the snowman then stepped back to let his little ones enjoy.

“That brings back so many good memories.” I sighed as I then watched one of the little ones go over and knock the snowman over.

Alex started to laugh. “Well, that didn’t last long.”

I had to laugh too. “Well, at least they’re playing in the snow. That’s what counts.”