Spring Blahs

The first daffodil of Spring 2016, taken March 12th near the Cedar River Trail.

As I wrote in my last post, it's Spring here in the PNW. Temperatures are moderate -- around 8-12C during the daytime (45-52F), and it has sometimes been a little chilly at night, but we've only had one bit of frost and that was a week ago.


A week or so ago we had a bit of summer, the local temperature was 85F. And Monday last week it was also 80+F during the afternoon. This Monday it was over 75F.

A local area house with St. Patrick's Day lights!

So we have had some summer-like weather this Spring so far.

Overall life has been the same, but the in-between nature of the weather and other things in life have given me a case of the Spring blahs. Work has improved. I work in the legal field and have been doing a lot of legal research to help my boss who's in the middle of a complex court case.

Legal research takes a lot of reading time. It's not all tedious because some of the cases have these very interesting stories. All of them seem to -- sooner or later -- revolve around money. It seems that where there is any money involved, families split, friendships deteriorate, business partnerships dissolve, etc. You can see it in a lot of the legal decisions.

The Sky on Fire: an early March sunrise. Photo taken with my Nikon L32 snapshot camera.

I've still been working out with weights, and reached 215 lbs on the bench press (somewhere around 90 kg).  My goal, of course, is to go much higher, and improve the technique to get more from it. But I'm making progress, and that's fine with me. I've been eating a lot of eggs / egg whites, taking protein powder, etc. etc.

Diet is a very big thing if one wants to gain muscle. When I was younger I worked out nearly every day and got nowhere -- because I hadn't yet discovered protein powder and other diet factors.

A rainbow in South Renton, March 10th, 2016.

THE DUMPS, BLAHS, ETC. AND HARRY POTTER

Overall this past month or so I've been fighting a case of the dumps, as they sometime call it. I suppose once the weather improves and the sun shines more often it will help. I'm still working on an action novel, and then once I finish it, it will be time to re-edit it and smooth it out a bit. But for the time being, it's still a work in progress. I wrote a short story eBook based on rediscovering the bagpipes, which needs editing and a cover before I publish that on Amazon.

A lone snail crosses the Cedar River Trail on a rainy March morning, 2016.

I haven't been reading much lately -- although I did start the first Harry Potter book, to see what all the fuss was about. I got about 1/4 through, and set it aside... I'll finish it. It's a very charming book, much better than I thought it would be. I tend to read books in shifts.... I start reading one, and then take a break from it. It's pretty rare I read a book from start to finish in a few days or so... And lately I've been doing more writing than reading.

The photo near the top of this post is an example of cheeriness in otherwise grey weather: a local house -- the same house which had Valentine's Day lights a couple months ago -- had St. Patrick's Day lights up. It's hard to see in the photograph, but the owner of the house also put up a few small leprechauns in the front garden.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

St. Patrick's Day here is a fairly popular drinking holiday, and those of Irish descent -- especially those Irish Americans of any means -- often celebrate it with large dinners. The rest of them just wear something green and think about shamrocks and leprechauns and green beer.

I myself am about a third Irish, depending on how you look at it. My father's mother was from a full-on Irish American family. My father's father came from Scotland. My mom's side is mostly Canadian, with some Ulster Irish in there somewhere -- she's about a quarter Ulster Irish -- at least the ones we know about. Which makes me about a third Irish -- an eighth and a quarter is darned close to a third in my book. :-)

My genealogy includes a Confederate deserter, a Canadian preacher, an Wisconsin miner/cowboy, and a Scottish house painter.

Yet another fiery sunrise, February 21st, 2016. Here in an area famous for its damp Winter and Spring climate, we do enjoy some nice sunrises.

I once told a guy (at a Scottish gathering -- this was back when I played in a bagpipe band) that I was one third Irish, and he was alarmed. "You can't be a third anything," he said, being a stickler for the numbers. Everything in genealogy is in quarters, eighths, sixteenths, etc. The man explained this thoroughly. It was almost as if he were insulted by my proposition that I am a third Irish. I found it a bit amusing.

I myself am not so anal-retentive about genealogy. I mean, I love reading about the old country, and the history of it. And I suppose some of what your ancestors went through sticks with you. But I wasn't born in Scotland or Ireland: I was born in Renton.

So a third Irish it is.

Me playing the bagpipes at a neighbor's birthday party several years ago.

BAGPIPES

This St. Patrick's Day I stayed home, but the following Saturday night I played the bagpipes at a local pub. I hadn't pulled my bagpipes out of the case in years. I used to play in a band, but when I quit, I stopped playing them. It always was a hassle to get the main reed -- the one that plays the tune (the "chanter" reed) -- working without squealing or cutting off.

With a new synthetic reed the bagpipes worked fine.

But then the instrument dredged up the past... I started remembering a lot of old tunes and old friends... People who played in the band, that I've lost contact with; days when my father was still around, etc.. That's what got me to writing a story loosely based on rediscovering it through the music (with extra stuff thrown in, of course).

My cat sure doesn't like me playing the bagpipes, though. When I play them she runs up to me and starts clawing at my pants leg, like "Dad, turn off that noise!" The dog, of course, howls. I don't punish my neighbors with the instrument very often. Although my neighbor across the street loves to hear them.

And with that, dear readers, I shall close this entry, and hope all of you worldwide had a great St. Patrick's Day, and a great Easter also.
CC 3-29-2016 & 5-31-2016