Apr. 23rd, 2009 @ 08:21 am I don't want to jinx this, but....
we seem to be having.... *looks right and left*.... Spring. :)

If you don't live in South-Central Texas, that might sound odd. But see, we don't always get spring. I mean, sometimes winter just stops and it goes smack into summer. Or we might get 2 weeks of coolish, moist weather -- not wet enough for rain, mind you; just humid enough to give all the roses powdery mildew -- and then, wham, the heat is on.

What we're having right now is kind of unusual. Warm days -- it got to 94 yesterday, but it's been staying pretty much in the 80s -- followed by cool nights. Like, in the 50s! O_O Yeah, that's unusual here. Plus, everything is blooming really late! Like 2 weeks to a whole month late. Usually by this time, my sweet peas are bloomed out and done for the year, but this time, they're not even blooming yet! But they're about to!

Which is what I was really writing about anyway, because OMG I have nasturtiums!!! (We almost never get nasturtiums to work because it goes from being too cold for them to too hot for them.) And a big patch of larkspur! (Not unusual, but I still love them.) And I have POPPIES!!!!!!! Back in Jan/Feb I found a pill bottle full of tiny seeds and tossed them out, and now I have frilly white poppies coming up, and pink/white ones, and rose-red ones with purple marks inside them and OMG I've never had poppies before and I LOVE them! Eeeee! (I know, I'm an idiot, but I can't help myself.)

Now, I just need the sweet peas to start blooming. C'mon, sweet peas!

Also, I actually got some tomatoes put in -- planted them straight into compost, then mulched the hell out of them -- and *for once* they actually look nice! *looks around for bad faeries* Fat, green and happy! Leaves going everywhere! Baby tomatos already even! Ssshhhhh!

So yeah, I'm a total gardening and flower dork. Keep fingers crossed please, as I would really like to have a year where I get some tomatoes and peaches.

In other news (since I like haven't posted in ages....) uhm.... oh yeah, school! Lessee.... Well, I won the undergrad creative writing scholarship for the 2nd year in a row. I entered fiction this time, and poetry last time, so that's kind of cool. Also, I got offered the creative writing internship for next year, which I'm really jazzed about because I adore all the instructors in the Creative Writing Dept AND I'll get to help my fiction prof with the national journal she and her hubby edit. I am SO looking forward to that, because I'll get a chance to see all the stories and poetry that comes in and find out what people are writing. So yeah, I'm happy about that. (It's not a paid position, of course, but I do get 3 hours of credit.) Oh, and I also got picked to present one research paper and one CW story at the school's Liberal Arts conference. I took 2nd place for the undergrad CW and 4th for the research and I won actual MONEY! (The story I entered was the same one I put in for the scholarship, so boy is THAT one paying off!) XDDDD

Sigh. Now I just have to finish 2 portfolios and 1 paper, study for a math final, find a job for summer and find out why I haven't heard about my financial aid stuff yet and go bother some more student lending institutions so I can finish my last year of college and try to keep the house from falling down around my ears and stuff, but who cares? I'm almost done with this semester and I have a yard full of flowers, which makes me stupidly happy.

And how is everyone else doing?
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From:[info]blpaintchart
Date: April 23rd, 2009 - 09:39 am
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Aww, look at you, so cheerful and excited about things gardeny!

And well done for being Supreme Mistress of the Writing again, and having so many great things to look forward to. You clever thing!

This deserves the kissy giraffe icon of approval. :)
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From:[info]ratherbrightred
Date: April 23rd, 2009 - 09:57 am
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congratulations on being amazing! & on spring! wonderful wonderful wonderful!
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From:[info]cat_lick_girl
Date: April 23rd, 2009 - 11:18 am
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Yard full of flowers, go you! Texas is sure a different place from Oregon!
I'm stupidly happy about the fact that I planted peas and sweet peas a week ago, and they're starting to come up. :)
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From:[info]kopernik
Date: April 24th, 2009 - 04:51 am
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We usually skip spring here, too, and are having a full-fledged one this year. My unexpected flowers are my crocuses, which I love, but they tend to flop after late frosts. Or they get eaten. I had given up on them, pretty much, and I've hardly even been in the backyard because I no longer have a doggy needing to go out several times a day, but before I left town last week, I just happened to look out and there were purple and white flowers! Now I wish I'd planted more of them, lots more. And I want new plants, period. Inside, outside, doesn't matter. More more more!
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