Home Sweet Home is where I hang my hat

Back from the city tonight. It is always good to get back home, isn't it? Even though I love my little apartment with Gay and Stu, it was good to turn into my driveway, open my door to the warm and cozy cabin where I spent so many happy years with Barry - and with Kodi and with Rocky, my canine family members.

As I get used to my second home, will I feel the same way each time I leave it and return? Having been gone so long, I was concerned about the heat, the water and the entire house. But no need to worry. My gas heat had kept the house warm enough to protect the water pipes. If the power went off during the big snowstorm while I was gone, I haven't seen any signs so far.

I will miss hearing Gay's voice, "Glenda! Are you up yet?" as she came downstairs in the mornings. She is a morning person unlike me. She wakes up ready to go. I don't want to talk to anyone until I have had my breakfast. My brother, Ray, was the same way. He just would not talk to anyone first thing in the morning. We all learned not to try to engage him until he had finished breakfast and indicated he was ready to talk.

At some time in utero, my time clock got mixed up. Even as a child I could not go to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. That was why I hated going to school. I had to get up after a few hours of sleep and Mother insisted I eat although I was not hungry at 6:30 in the morning. I was tired and sleepy when the bus arrived at seven o'clock. Over the years I have suffered insomnia which made it difficult for me to get up and get to a job on time. In college, by two or three in the afternoon, I had to go to sleep. Others did not understand why I "slept so much." But I was just not getting enough sleep at night. 

I begin to feel energized around 5:00 PM. That is why I can sit up until three a.m. working on my writing or anything that I am interested in while the rest of the world sleeps. Don't expect me to be lively before noon. In recent years, my sleep time has become 3:00 AM until around noon or even later. I don't choose that schedule. It has chosen me. However, one of the good things about being a "senior adult" or "mature adult", I make my own schedule. 

Sometimes I have to agree to a morning appointment with a doctor, but I insist it not be before 11:00 o'clock. I just tell the person who is scheduling appointments that I don't do mornings. "I am not a morning person," I tell them and they make the effort to accommodate me. 

This doesn't mean I have never seen a sunrise. I have seen many beautiful ones because I never went to sleep before dawn. I vividly remember going outside and sitting on the front porch steps when I was a young girl. Remember, I lived on a farm and there were no cars going by, no people anywhere near our house. It was so still that every sound was from nature; birds singing, frogs croaking out their good mornings, maybe a horse or cow munching on the grass they had bitten off. Crickets sang their songs also.

The sky to the east would begin to lighten. Rays would streak the darkness like the spires of a church. Soon the pastel colors appeared as though painted by a giant hand -- pink, yellow, pale blue, lavender, all blended on a huge canvas that mesmerized me, a skinny kid in her nightgown sitting on a cold concrete step watching the world wake up. 

I have seen a few sunrises here in the mountains, but I see more sunsets and they are also beautiful. 

Barry made many photographs of the mountain sunsets. We shared those joys together as we sat on our upper deck among the treetops. In the early days here, we had a gorgeous view of Lake Chatuge and beyond. Past our view of the lake are the Georgia Appalachian mountains. Brasstown Bald, the highest peak in the state of Georgia, sits directly south of us and on the other side of Lake Chatuge. 

In the city, I don't have that view, although I do have a small lake down the hill. Wild animals frequent the lake and the wooded property that belongs to my brother-in-law and my sister. Deer pass by often, herons and mallards spend much time there. A giant owl visited one afternoon and sat on the lower deck for a long time. 

In the spring I plan to put out bird feeders, especially hummingbird feeders. 

I also want to plant flowers that attract butterflies. I get excited just thinking about it.

Yes, even though it is quite cold here now, spring is just around the corner waiting to declare its glory. Gardeners will swarm all over the nurseries and bring home their favorites. I will look first for my red geraniums which grow so well on my deck here in the mountains. I have no place to winter my flowers so I treat my geraniums as annuals.

I will also plant the New Guinea impatiens which seem to like my shady yard.

As you can tell, I am looking forward to spring and planting my deck gardens, one in the mountains and one in the city. 

I am optimistic about spring 2022, and I hope it will be healthy for all of us.  Let me hear from you.

What do you like about spring and what are your plans?