cherry cherry (cherry!)

(photo cheat: this is from three years ago, but I assure you it looks pretty much the same right now.) The cherries are getting ready to bloom. In several weeks! They're getting ready to get ready. If spring is a party that doesn't start till eleven, the cherries are just thinking about getting up from their disco nap. I saw my first blooming camellia the other day, but haven't downloaded the picture yet. But spring is coming, someday soon!

The sun has been visible for TWO days in a row here in Portland. Amazing! A february miracle! I think it actually happens every february, but it seems miraculous, even so. This morning was very misty, but burned off to be a lovely sunny day. (Mist is a whole different vibe from out and out rain -- it's barely moisture at all, it's so fine and diffuse -- but it's certainly enough to make your hair frizzy if you are lucky enough to have hair that thinks humidity related frizz is The Way Forward. I am VERY LUCKY.)

Today was so great, and not just because the sun was shining (although that helped), but because my favorite library called me up this morning to see if I could work -- hooray! The very best part was that I am actually feeling cured from the hideous cold AND they waited until after 10 to call me, so I got to sleep in -- the best of both worlds. Today reinforced for me that I really do prefer to work in busier branches because there's always something to do. Plus, the busier the branch, the more books that pass through my hands, the more passive book shopping I get to do. Woo hoo! I know it sounds silly, but I LOVE how busy this branch is on sundays. There were 30 people waiting to get in when we opened the doors, and there was a line that wrapped all the way around the desk pretty much all day long. There were patrons still waiting in line 5 minutes after we closed. AT THE LIBRARY. It's such a mix of people, too, which is just exactly how it should be.

(grammy eyelash interlude: every single woman on this show is wearing crazy fake eyelashes, except for Feist who is wearing subtle fake eyelashes, which I think is a bold, smart move on her part. If you're coming on after Beyonce and Tina Freaking Turner, there's no point in trying to out-flash (out-eyelash, out-wig, out-dance, out-glamazon) them.)



Here's cherry #2 -- Cherry Ames, roving nurse extraordinaire! If they were still writing these today, she could be Cherry Ames, Grammy Nurse, who dispenses life-saving eyelash glue technology to divas in need. Maybe when the cherries start blooming I'll bust out the Dude Ranch Nurse cover in celebration. (possibly my favorite Cherry Ames cover of all time, although Cruise Ship Nurse is pretty fabulous.)



and because I cannot resist, a groovy Cherry Cherry video from The Music Machine. There is a rock flute, bowl cuts, black turtlenecks and some must-be-seen-to-be-believed backup dancers. ha ha ha! (Neil Diamond himself, like the Dude Ranch Nurse, will be saved for actual Cherry Blossom season.)