A Different Millers Tale

This week, I have a special treat.  Jan Miller, my funny friend from across the pond, has graciously consented to be my guest blogger.  Here's her Valentine's Day story:

A Different Millers Tale - All True, it could only happen here....

I woke up February 14^th a bit excited, we’ve been married 32 years this year but I would still describe my personality type as hopeful. Steve bought me tea in bed with my favourite biscuits, a card that’s got lovely sentiments (I’m wearing my "Wonderful Wife" badge now) and an inside joke inside! GSOH* -  very important.  

I eventually located my card for him - better than Christmas when my card for Steve just disappeared in a menopausal moment. (If you got the “Dear Husband” card in December instead of yours please let me know and I’ll stop looking.)  

Anyway, I’m not good in the morning and who would have thought the card I wrote and hid in my knickers drawer only last night would have fallen down the back of cabinet so I had to remove the drawers to find it, knocking over the tea in the process? 

We got everything sorted, read our cards .... and then there was a knock.  We wondered was it our front door?   Steve opened the window to check why Postie wasn’t using the bell, leant forward into the frame  and his glasses tumbled from his face... down the porch roof, bounced over the gutter and landed on the driveway, our good mood all broken down with a loudly -swearing semi-naked hubby dashing about putting on his trousers to go downstairs.

Wow, what a lovely surprise – the cutest Flowercard has arrived from our very good friends and the scratches have almost polished out of the glasses!  

*GSOH  Guy with sense of humour 

www.StillSwimmingUpstream.com

   

Love and Sunshine

My youngest daughter bathes in sunshine.  She basks in it.  A sunny day is to her as a glorious, crisp, fall day is to me.  Her mood is elevated.  Things just seem to go better on a bright, sunny day.

For the last nine years, Katie has lived in the second cloudiest city in the United States.  All through that time, she's dreamt of the day when she would move into the sunshine.  That day came last Thursday when she packed her car up with all her worldly possessions and headed south.  She arrived at her destination after dark.

During the night, it began to rain and Friday dawned, gray and drizzly.  Saturday crept in wearing gray tones and didn't change her clothes all day.  Sunday, rain.  Monday, torrents.  Isn't that just the way things go?  You're expecting one thing and get the opposite.  

Katie rummaged through her stuff and pulled out a sweatshirt to wear while wondering out loud if donating her fleece jacket had been such a good idea.  We both started carrying an umbrella with us when we stepped outside.  Today started out to be another gloomy day too, but then finally, mid-afternoon, out popped the sun and blue skies returned.  

Patience pays off and finally Kate was smiling.  Then we got the weather alert.  Severe thunderstorm and flash flood watch until 10:00 p.m. 

April showers bring May flowers everywhere but in South Carolina.  Here it's May showers bring, well, rain.

Welcome home, Katie.  

Beautiful April flowers

Winter in the South

The first picture came from Kate in Ohio.  It showed her parking lot full of snow and the caption was a frowny face.  No words were necessary.

Five minutes later Jessica texted me a picture from Michigan of the controls on her dashboard.  It said 29°.

It's official.  Up north, winter 2011 has begun.

Down south it's still tee-shirt weather.  Flowers are blooming and today I went for a walk without even wearing a sweater.  To see blue skies and sunshine in December is an added plus. 

In the summer, I called this place east of Hell.  In the winter, it's more like two degrees south of Wonderful.  No wonder people want to retire here.

A mystery flower

I'm not a coffee drinker but I just love the smell, so sometimes I brew a pot and just enjoy the aroma.  This goes against my frugal nature, so when the coffee is cold I toss it out onto a scraggly bush in my front yard.  The only reason this bush is alive today is that my inherent laziness has prohibited me from garnering the enthusiasm necessary to dig it up.


Imagine my surprise when the pitiful thing bloomed!  And, thrill upon thrill, the scent was heavenly.  Clueless as I am about native southern plants, I plucked a flower and asked a green thumbed friend to ID it.


"That's a gardenia," she said.  "I've been trying to grow one for about ten years now.  They're acid loving plants and very finicky."


Serendipity.  I love it.