Feeling of spring fever brings burst of energy (10/09/06)

For some reason my body thinks it's spring time outside. A burst of energy last weekend had me out planting red and white "Zombie" tulips underneath store-bought chrysanthemums. The weeds … ahem … "wildflowers" that they replaced were regulated to the compost heap. I was reminded once again that I really do need to get a new wheel for the wheelbarrow as the one it has insists on staying flat.

The Zombies brought friends along in the form of other bulbs and corms - not mummies or monsters. I planted at least 30 impending flowers of different sizes. I have no idea what all I buried as I threw the tags away almost as soon as I got home. It doesn't do any good to keep the labels. I can never find them again anyway.

The spring-like energy continued the rest of the week. I finally hung up a window I put together several months ago and it looks great. Then I topped it off by recording two books for my granddaughter, Emma. Both books featured the prominent use of the word, "boing." I should promote this as a way to cure depression. It is absolutely impossible to be depressed while saying, "boing, boing, boing" a couple dozen times in the course of reading a children's book.

I simply can't resist recommending the book "Dooby, Dooby Moo," by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin. I have read two of their other books and enjoyed them so when I happened upon this one I couldn't resist. It is about a bunch of farm animals who enter a talent contest. The best part is getting to do all the voices for different animals. If you have never tried to sing, "Born to be Wild" while quacking let me tell you -it is an adventure. My husband was out of town during this exercise. If he had been home then the cat wouldn't have been the only one who thought I was nuts. Hmmmmm, maybe that's why I found a hairball the next morning. My quacking must have made her sick.

I have always had favorite authors. This explains my extensive collection of John Steinbeck paperbacks. He lasted about a year after high school then was replaced by a series of others. My current must-haves are by Lilian Jackson Braun who writes books that I refer to as mind candy; and anything by Amy Tan or Tony Hillerman. Tan and Hillerman always get read at least twice; once for the story and once for the culture.

My new favorites are children's book authors. The books I seem to like best allow me to make sound effects and animal sounds. Sometimes the sounds are challenging and sometimes they are ordinary. But they are always fun. The good thing about recording books for Emma is that they are read exactly the same each time. The bad thing is that I tend to editorialize and add things so that if someone else happens to read the book then they are told that they are reading it wrong.

While I was at my daughter's house one time I read a story about ducks to her niece. I asked if one of the ducks was named after her and did she think that one of them was named after her brother. We eventually gave all the ducks names of family members. Then when she had her mother read the same story the child was extremely upset that mommy wasn't reading it right. She finally gave up and "read" the book to herself with all the inflections of my voice. It was funny.

Children's books are the only ones I've read recently because I seem to be planting, weeding, cleaning and catching up on all the things that needed to be done long before now. I even quit procrastinating and ordered a Lifeline necklace for my mother. She has been a bit more adventurous lately and the necklace gives me an illusion of security. Now if something happens I know she can get the help she needs.

This weekend I have plans to plant whatever jumps into my basket at the plant store. Plus I want to buy yarn and craft supplies and ingredients for a new recipe and any number of other things. If this spring fever lasts long enough who knows what all I can accomplish before the cold-weather doldrums set in? Maybe I'll even plant some more Zombies.[[In-content Ad]]