Spring has come to Virginia

Today I am home. Monday is my usual day off from both jobs. I usually spend it doing laundry, grocery shopping, baking, cleaning my own house (which I must admit is sorely neglected) and other mundane household chores that must be done. But, so far today? I have gone for a 45 minute walk with my dog. Made hummingbird juice and dug up my hummingbird feeders from the shed to fill and hang up. Taken a bunch of pictures of the signs of spring around our property. Played on the computer. In other words, I am actually taking a day off. Doing some things I really like to do. Resting not only my body, but my mind and soul as well. And, you know what? It feels wonderful!

I may or may not have mentioned that I live out in the country. The closest towns are about 15 minutes in either direction as I leave my drive. And, those are towns, not cities. One, the town of Amelia, has one grocery store, Food Lion, and one fast food restaurant, McDonald's. And, only two traffic lights in the whole county and one of them is just a blinking light. Amelia is where my hubby grew up. The other town, Blackstone, is a bit bigger. Boasting 4, count them, 4! fast food joints (Wendy's, Hardee's, McDonald's and Pizza Hut!) and not only a Food Lion, but also a Walmart Super Center! Big time!!

The hubby and I have 11 acres of land, almost evenly split by field and woods. Back in 2002 we built our home here. It's a small ranch house which is perfect for the two of us, and our two pets, Patches and Snowball. Snowball is our cat, and she is black as coal. :) The hubby is a big Simpson fan and we named Snowball after Lisa's cat. I had always lived in a city until I married the hubby and moved "out to the boonies" as my son likes to call where I live. I wasn't sure how I would like living way out in the country, but it turns out I worried for nothing. I love where we live, love walking out to my deck in the morning with a cup of coffee and listening to the birds chirping. Love that I can see deer and turkey wandering in the field behind the house. Love the darkness at night, the way you can see millions of stars in the sky just by looking up.

Spring is beautiful here. The trees are beginning to bud out. Some of them are covered in blossoms, like the old wild cherry tree up at the end of our property. Everything is green and bright and wonderful. While on my walk today, I walked from our place, around the road to the back of my mother-in-laws place and down the drive to my sister-in-law's place. We all live within 1/2 to 1 mile of each other, having all bought land in the same area. While it sounds like we are on top of each other, we aren't. They can't see us when we are in our back yard, and we can't see them. Close, but not too close. :)

Today while I was out walking with Patches, I brought along my new camera and took a bunch of pictures. I had my 55 - 200mm lens on the camera and that let me get both far shots and close ups. Thought I would share just a few of them with you. Ahhh, spring in Virginia.