Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Spring has sprung!

It's true folks. Although here in Davis it feels more like summer has sprung. It's been almost 80 degrees out lately. The telltale signs of spring are almost past: the early blooming trees are starting to lose their flowers and leaf out; the daffodils are shrivelling and the cannas are coming up; and I finally put my down sleeping bag back in the closet (for me, that's a big step). The funniest indicator of the new season is the fact that every day as I bike home I get hit in the face with more and more bugs. I'm going to need a windshield soon, seriously.


(This picture was taken on my cross-country drive from NJ to CA to start grad school. I have about six pictures of my car covered in bugs, way too many for a normal person to have. I was amazed at the different colors of the bug guts, what can I say?)

I played with Marshall in the yard again today and thought I'd share some photos.


He stole a sock from Matt's room and we played with it for a bit.


We also played one of his favorite games, "Bite-Era's-hand-as-hard-as-you-can." I tire of that game rather quickly.


Finally, I tired him out. That is, until he started racing around the yard in huge circles five minutes later.


In other news, last week I got so stressed out that I scheduled a massage for myself, to take place one half-hour after my take-home exam was due. Just knowing it was coming up was worth the money, and I scheduled it through the health center on campus so I didn't really expect anything. I went to get it today and much to my surprise, I got one of the best massages I have ever had, and it was only $1/minute! Granted, I've only had two others in my life, but this one was just as good if not better than those, and it cost so much less! I am definitely going to take advantage of this while I'm here, there's no where else that I could get the same quality for that price.

Besides the obvious, the best part about a massage is that you learn so much about your own body. For instance, I learned that my flat shoes (read: no arch support, sorry Dad!) were causing little tense knots in the small of my back. And all the note-taking and reading I've been doing has caused the muscles by my clavicle to get tense. She could even tell that I was right handed by the differences in tension on either side of my body. What power, to be able to deduce things about a person simply by running your hands over their body. She also told me that I had great energy, which is flattering, but she didn't elaborate so I have no idea which muscle told her that.

Finally, I passed an amazing house with a gorgeous garden the other day and I just had to stop and take pictures. The other ones came out blurry for some reason, but here is one that made me laugh. She even beautified her fire hydrant!

3 comments:

Gentlewhoadie Apt One said...

puppy!

Carlene said...

80 degrees! It's only in the 60s here, but all the snow has melted, and it feels like heaven, to puppies too, I guess. I hung a bell on the door & taught my puppy to ring it when he needs to go out. Not when he *wants* to go out, when he *needs* to. He's been ringing that %^*&* bell all day.

MeesheMama said...

So glad the exam is over, and wee-hoo for an awesome massage. The puppy is awfully cute.