{"id":951,"date":"2008-03-13T16:38:44","date_gmt":"2008-03-13T21:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=951"},"modified":"2008-03-13T16:38:44","modified_gmt":"2008-03-13T21:38:44","slug":"tranquility-shared-laughter-and-spring-flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=951","title":{"rendered":"tranquility, shared laughter, and spring flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

My brain has been somewhat sieve-like the last couple months and seems to be particularly bad this week. I blame all that darkness. And the lack of sleep. And … well … getting old.<\/p>\n

What this means is that over the last week, several times I’ve thought to myself, “That would make a great note for TBT on Thursday.” It pains me that I can remember thinking that but can’t recall what prompted the thought in the first place. Is this what makes people compulsive list-makers?<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, I’m able to recall at least<\/em> three beautiful things from the past week, so I will offer to you those that my brain hasn’t misplaced (yet):<\/p>\n

1. The trial I serve on during jury duty leaves me frustrated. I calm my soul with a cup of hot chai and a salty oat cookie consumed while reading by the koi pond inside the downtown tea shop. By the time I am ready to head home the clouds — both in my mind and in the sky — have lifted.<\/p>\n

2. Friday night Rudi, Sweetpea<\/a>, Elspeth, and I went to the Birchmere to see Paul and Storm (formerly half of Da Vinci’s Notebook<\/a>) and Jonathan Coulton perform. They’re all “singer-songwriters” with a humorous bent, so we were hopeful that this would be a rocking show. Paul and Storm<\/a>, whom Rudi and I have heard before at Falcon Ridge are locals and definitely had the crowd behind them. In fact, I think they may have been a little too adored as they kept getting distracted during their songs, which merely added to the general levity of the evening. Even Jonathan Coulton<\/a> jokingly complained a little when he came out for his set because people kept shouting P&S catch lines at him. I think he recovered, though, as he was pelted throughout the show with stuffed animals relating to various songs of his own. After the show I’m left with memories of a terrifically funny show and the growling line, “All we want to do is eat your brains,” running through my head.<\/p>\n

3. Spring has arrived in D.C. Snowdrops popped out in early February and the crocuses (croci?) started emerging at the end of the month. Two weeks ago, I observed the first daffodils along the bank of Rose Park, last week I saw the first flowering trees, and this morning I noted a pink hyacinth about to flower. (Cherry blossoms should be out the last week of the month, so if you’re considering a trip to see them, that’s the ideal time.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My brain has been somewhat sieve-like the last couple months and seems to be particularly bad this week. I blame all that darkness. And the lack of sleep. And … well … getting old. What this means is that over the last week, several times I’ve thought to myself, “That would make a great note […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-three-beautiful-things"],"yoast_head":"\ntranquility, shared laughter, and spring flowers - sprite writes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=951\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"tranquility, shared laughter, and spring flowers - sprite writes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My brain has been somewhat sieve-like the last couple months and seems to be particularly bad this week. 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