Grey and Yellow

Grey rainy weather.









The temperature is a good 20 degrees colder than typical here for this time of year.

I find myself buying yellow flowers, and yearning to surround myself with the color yellow to dispell the grey gloom

Outside my study, a moving van arrives, cheerily brightening the view with yellow and the word "flower" (the "May" part of that name obscured by the moving van's door.

The house next door that has stood vacant for months now has new owners.
And I have new neighbors.
A husband and wife roughly my age, with an eleven year old daughter still at home, and two adult children my kid's age.
They're from California!
And they have a yellow lab.

Out in our back yard, the new squirrel proof bird feeder has been hung.
A Christmas gift from my folks.

The squirrels spent yesterday twirling their tails in frustration, looking like small gray helicopters attempting to fly.

Now the birds are discovering it.

A grey titmouse nervously lands, perches briefly, pecks a single seed and then jolts away quickly.


The cardinals are everywhere except the new feeder.

I like how this one is just visible in the middle of the picture, his red body repeating the color of the Aunt Lu begonia, which has miraculously survived the freeze without being covered at all.
Our sweet gum (also known as liquid amber) has shed all its colorful leaves, but still holds its prickly sphere "gum ball" seed pods.

This picture looks like it was taken in black and white.

It wasn't.

The sky and trees are simply devoid of color in the cold.

Inside it is nice and toasty.

Earlier I had gone to the store, driving through drippy rain and ponding water on the side roads.

It was cold enough that my eyes watered a bit as I loaded the groceries into the car.

When I returned home, I was so happy to see Bernie pulling into the driveway right next to me.

(I guess I don't check my rear view mirror as conscientiously as I thought I did, or I would have noticed him following me!)

After two days apart, hugs warmed me up better than anything!

I really didn't want to head into the study to do what needed to be done on our desktop computer.
I wanted to stay in the living room, by the fire, watching the birds.

I whined a bit.
(It was a fine whine, vintage 1954, aged in California...good legs, nice color, a bit sweet...)

I want a lap top.

He had been suggesting we get a lap top for me.
(I used to have one with a company I worked for, so I know how nice it is...)

The unmerited favor received in response to my kvetching?

In the above picture, grey cat Hart supervised Bernie as he helps me customize my order for a new laptop from Dell (shameless plug, they're a client...) using his Dell laptop as we sat together watching the birds in front of the fire.

For my sweet Honey, I'm soaking up a batch of 13 bean soup.



It'll taste great with yellow cornbread, butter and honey.

(Wish I had started it earlier...)

Bernie is starting another bonsai forest.

And of course you can always count on Tiggie to pose to perfection.

Yellow flowers, yellow lemons, yellowish cat.

The part I don't get is how he did the yellow eyes.

Usually, his eyes are a nice shade of green.

Now how did he do that???