Sunday Afternoon Tea - Ramblings on Cats, Cold, and Springing Forward

Spring sunlight coming into the Study...

My wireless issues have at least temporarily been fixed.  Word is that I need a new modem but that nice man on the telephone led me through a process that was the technological equivalent of a good kick and restart to the wireless.

It is not a perfect fix but good enough.  Sometimes good enough is... good enough.

A week has passed since most of us in the "States" sprung forward by setting our clocks an hour ahead and losing that hour of sleep.  But I find this changing of the clocks to be much easier on my overall health and well being than when we "Fall Back".  

It takes only days instead of weeks to reset the internal time clock.  Not to mention that lovely extra hour of sunlight we receive each evening.  That alone would make me happy. 

It has been rainy and somewhat chilly where I live but after a month or more of subzero temperatures at night, rain was a welcome sight.  Even a cold rain.  For the first time since Christmas, there is absolutely no ice on the gravel lane and one does not slip and slide from my house to the rural mailboxes.

I even made a trip to the library last week, where I found... in its' Friends of the Library Used Book Room... two books I've long wanted.  The first was the little 1970s Hallmark gift book of excerpts from Gladys Taber called Reveries at Stillmeadow (for $1.00) and M. F. K. Fisher's The Art of Eating (for $2.00).  

Finding those two books and enjoying a cup of coffee on the way home made for a very good day after a very cold winter.  To be honest, just getting out of the house without being concerned about slick roads alone made it a happy trip.

Although I couldn't imagine living anywhere without four very different seasons.  I embraced the Winter in December as much as I now embrace Spring in March.  Albeit March where I live is one of those months that one cannot ever depend on for stable temperatures.  Tomorrow is to be gorgeous, a possibility of snow is in the forecast within a week.

But March is Spring because we need March to be Spring.  Even if we can't safely plant until Mother's Day in May.  March is Spring.  Even if it snows.

March does bring with it sunlight, which my weatherman said is twice as warm as the December sun.  That makes my Study a much nicer place to create.  It is difficult to be creative when one's teeth are chattering.  I know.  I tried.

Ours is a ranch style house with the furnace located on the other side of the house.  I have been told there is a way to fix the "freezing in Winter" and "baking in Summer" of that room but it would involve more construction time and money than I'm willing to put into comfort. 

And if you wonder why I don't have a little heater or a big fan, I have one word.  Victoria.  My lovely Maine Coon who has an innate sense of adventure and curiosity... and not much in the way of wisdom.  Both my husband and I have warned her about the adage, "curiosity kills the cat".  Like most Royals, she believes getting into trouble for her sins is far beneath her dignity.

But I have worked it out, really.  When it is cold and dark in the Winter, I move my home headquarters into the Living Room along with my favorite books, a pot of tea (or mug of coffee first thing in the morning), and the availability of PBS's Masterpiece programs on the smaller TV hooked up to the antennae.

There are very few weeks a year when the heat bothers the Study.  Especially since Victoria loves it when I open the window over the cabinet by the table where I work.  She loves to watch the outside world with the breeze blowing through her fur.

And if you think this house is set up for the well being of our pet... you are correct.  And if that confuses you, I highly suspect you have never owned a dog or been owned by a cat.  But I could not imagine what life would have been like through the years without my childhood dog who loved me through my father's death, our two sister kitties who lived far into their elderly years, and our regal Maine Coon who brings laughter every day. 

She thinks we are laughing with her, not at her.  No one has to tell her the truth.

So now I leave you as one thing does not change with the seasons.  Dinner... and the need to prepare it.  And since I have no Downstairs staff just waiting to do my bidding, I must be off.