Calm Before the Storm

I knew going into last week that it was going to be a crazy one.  It was the week of my big giving day at work, and the days before and after are always nuts, with one super long day in between.  Add that into normal life, especially in any sports season, and it can get overwhelming.  I was hoping that the fun of the previous weekend eased the crazy a little bit and that some slightly better weather might help as well.

After a busy and very productive day of work on Monday, I got home a little early and tried to get dinner ready on time for the boys to leave for baseball practice at 6pm.  I cut it a little closer than I wanted to, but just managed.  I wanted to spend some time that night working to get a head start on Tuesday's work, but I also wanted to take a walk and I knew I had to go to Wegmans that night, so once the boys left and I cleaned up from dinner, I got ready to go.  But it was such a nice night and I suddenly realized that the tulips were gorgeous and fresh at Highland Park and this might be my only chance to go, so why not do my walk there?  I had a solid 2-1/2 hours before the boys were home, so I made the last second decision to go.  I figured I'd do my usual loop around the lilacs, flowering trees, and tulips, and probably still have time to go to Wegmans and beat the boys home.  And with the week I had on tap (work alone--I had no idea what other things would pop up later), I figured a little moment of zen beforehand would serve me well.  It did.

I looked for parking spots near the tulips but ended up in my usual spot on Highland near the lilacs.  My first stop was the pansy bed, and it was lovely as usual.  It was getting closer to golden hour, as well, so the light was really pretty.  I just loved the soft colors of this part of the bed.

Most of the lilacs were still trying to bloom, but some were making good progress.  Despite the lack of blooming ones, I did manage to find just a couple blooms on my favorite variety.

The purple with the white outline is so cool.  It doesn't even look real sometimes.

I wandered through the Poet's Garden and saw this trillium.  I've learned how special and rare these flowers are from the Western New York hiking group on Facebook.  Their blooming is rarer than most flowers and picking them can damage the plant so they always say not to.  They're so delicate and pretty, though.

I fell in love with these chocolate lilies a couple years ago and desperately tried to get an underside picture (the flower faces down).  The light was shining so perfectly to capture the cool pattern in the petals, so I was even more determined this time.  I realized, however, that my forward-facing camera couldn't focus on something so close, so I had to go back to the normal camera, face my phone down, and take a completely blind picture (both with what the picture looked like and pressing the button).  Somehow I did this:
 

I almost looked like a crazy person as people passed by me crouched down with my camera, but they were struck by the flower too, and I'm not sure they fully caught what I was doing anyway.  Then I saw this sweet yellow one and couldn't resist it either.  My plant ID app says it's a short lily, but I'm not entirely sure it matches because their pictures had a fringe-like edge on a couple petals.  But this just looked so perfect.

The magnolias were all spent, so I wound my way up and around to the area outside the Lamberton Conservatory and headed toward the tulip garden.  It's funny how seasons work--usually when I go to see the tulips I catch all the magnolias and flowering trees.  But this year, because it was warm early and then got cold again, the magnolias jumped the gun the second we had a day or two of warm weather again.  Some of the other trees were nearly spent, too.  However, the trees on the road to the tulips were amazing.  This pale pink one was so fluffy and stunning.

The tulips were perfectly fresh and perky.  Aside from maybe one variety they were all mostly open but very early in their life cycle and still picture-perfect, so I really did time it perfectly.  

These colors were so beautiful.

These were so gorgeous.  I have this as my phone lock screen and marvel at it every time.

They were all really pretty as usual, but I was actually a tiny bit disappointed by the variety.  They didn't have any differently shaped ones or the ones that look like fringe on the edges.  I have to admit I got spoiled by the ones in Oklahoma City last year because they had so many different varieties in one spot.  This garden usually has a bit more variation, but not this year.  Still gorgeous, though.  I walked around to the conservatory, dodging photo shoots in the process.  This time of year Highland Park is crawling with pro and amateur photographers taking family pictures and engagement pictures and whatever else.  I must have seen a dozen while I was there, and also passed by what appeared to be a tiny picnic-style baby shower (on a Monday?!) with a ground-level table set with food and a photographer taking pictures of the mother-to-be with friends.  It makes me feel guilty we never did that stuff as a family, but would my boys have actually cooperated as we spent hundreds of bucks?  Probably not.  Anyway, I strategically avoided one group to get this gorgeous picture.

At least this one was a little different!

I headed up the road toward the reservoir, and I was interested to see how it looked.  About six weeks ago they found a dead body in it.  It necessitated a boil water notice in the city and closed down schools (including Jacob's due to the buses), and they've been emptying and cleaning it ever since, even though they insisted it was testing fine at the time.  It was pretty bizarre at first, and then obviously really sad since the body was identified as a man who went missing a month earlier.  It seems he got there on his own and climbed the fence, so who knows what happened after that.  It was weird to see it so low.  Compare it to the picture in this post.

There were still some daffodils hanging in there.  

I also managed to find a second two-color tree!  My pictures didn't turn out great so you'll have to trust me, but I always love seeing the one two-color tree (the post I linked to above has some pics), but I found a second one maybe 20 yards away!  While I was wandering, I saw a groundhog running around enjoying the massive buffet.

I saw these flowers that I'm not sure I've noticed before.  My phone says it's common pearlbrush.  Based on those buds I can see why, but the flowers were so sweet and dainty.

I went up along the azalea and rhododendron path and saw this wacky one.  It's called Japanese pieris.  Between the bright red leaves and the tiny flower clusters I was a little obsessed!

On my way back to the car I kept an eye out for pretty lilacs and thought these were such a nice purple.

I think having a lilac bush at our first house desensitized me a bit.  I like them (although obviously I can't smell them), but the bushes can be a major pain with a lot of shoots.  They can get really straggly and are tough to trim sometimes because you don't want to screw up next year's growth.  We have a couple miniature ones at this house, too.  They don't have quite as many shoots but they seem to be a bit fungus-ridden because the underneath branches break off really easily and one is pretty thin in spots.  They get crazy shoots on them in late spring and they are a monster to trim, but they are pretty.  I don't get overly excited about the lilacs (and the lilac festival is a madhouse so I rarely see them then), but I do enjoy them and love seeing the dark pink ones especially in passing.  I actually noticed a house around the corner from us today that has their own mini-garden of them, full of different varieties.  They had maybe eight different ones and even half open I could tell they were all different colors.  That was actually cool to see and something I will have to revisit later this week or next spring.

Before I got going, I decided to stop in a different part of the park I rarely go to, just to see if there were any pretty views there.  This section has the war memorials and is closer to some of the core festival areas, but I hadn't ever stopped there on one these annual walks.  There wasn't a lot to see, but the light was pretty.

This veterans walk is long but very moving if you have the time.  If I recall, each post has the name of a soldier who died in action in Vietnam, in the order they died.

The War on Terror memorial was pretty in the fading light.

After that I wrapped things up and headed out.  The walk only took me about an hour, but it was well worth the extra time to drive there and back.  I did a quick Wegmans run and headed home to work for a bit.  Shortly after I got home, the boys got home, too.  Practice is going well, but the jury's out on how Carter's team will compare to others!

I worked at home on Tuesday and had a productive day for a change.  I think the stress of prepping for the big day forced my brain fog/lack of focus I swear I've had since my bout of COVID to lay off for a bit.  I had no choice, so I guess my brain chemistry must have gone up a notch just to survive.  I really wanted to go for a walk that day, but the timing just didn't work out.  I can't even remember how I filled the evening but before I knew it, it was off to bed to face an exhausting Wednesday head-on.

Wednesday was a very long day.  I got to work around 7:45.  I had a quick breakfast (so I didn't overeat the donuts I knew were coming) and then headed up to my spot in the "war room".  Other than grabbing food across or down the hall, taking one short walk down to my office to see my intern, and taking a quick parking lot walk (it was such a gorgeous day) with my boss to calmly talk through some data issues, I didn't leave that room until nearly 10pm that night.  It was a very tiring day and my body was being a bit uncooperative for part of the week, to the point I thought I might have developed Celiac disease.  I ate a lot of carbs over a couple of days and I just felt bloated and like I was going to the bathroom after every meal, which concerned me.  I think it must have just been a mild stomach issue, thankfully, but it took a very low-key food day Thursday for it to settle.  But on the Day of Giving I need the carb fuel to keep moving and keep the day exciting, so it was tough.  Donuts in the morning, Dinosaur BBQ for lunch, Crumbl cookies for dessert, a fun iced mocha for an afternoon pick-me-up, and Detroit-style pizza for dinner.  It kept me going through a long day of putting gifts into templates, dealing with massive website issues, and doing some last-minute evening data (which I always try to avoid but seemingly always do).  We finally wrapped up around 10pm and noticed a bunch of leftover food in the hallway.  I grabbed a couple donuts, four chocolate chip cookies (out of a few platters of them), and a couple pieces of Crumbl cookies.  I also got to take home a full bag of rolls from the Dinosaur leftovers.  I packed up all of my stuff and couldn't wait to get home.  I still had to make my gift online from my bed and it took me a while to unwind, so despite being exhausted I didn't fall asleep as early as I'd have liked.

The next morning's alarm was painful.  We had to get both kids up and out early, and I woke up feeling drunk, or at least like I usually feel when I have to go to the airport early and only get a few hours of sleep (minus the "Yay, I'm going somewhere" adrenaline rush).  It basically felt like I had a glorified nap.  I could barely function enough to get the boys up and make lunches.  After drop-off, I sat down at my desk before 8am and groggily tried to figure out what to do first--review emails I didn't have time for the previous day, look at calling comments from two days, review 1200 gift notifications, or work on more data.  And that was only the beginning of what I was behind on.  

I hadn't been sitting there very long when I heard a ton of sirens nearby.  They just kept coming and sounded close so I looked up the 911 incident website for our county.  Much to my surprise, the address listed was right down our street, and it was for a structure fire.  I looked it up but was a little confused because the Google maps picture showed the lovely recently redone house at the end of the street, but that didn't seem to be the actual address because the angle was from further down the street looking back that way, like it was simply the closest address.  So, I got up from my desk and walked outside.  I hadn't put on shoes because I was just planning on peeking down the street, but as I walked out I could immediately see smoke on the next street over.  It seemed odd if it was coming from our street because our street seemed fine.  The end of the street where Google maps had showed was fine, too.  Without thinking I walked down the driveway and over a few houses to see if I could see the source.  My feet got wet but I just kept going.  I could see flashing lights and pretty quickly I realized it was a house on the next street, one that backed up to the houses across the street from us, about three houses down.  I could see smoke swirling off the roof on the one side, not as black as I expected, so I hoped maybe that meant it wasn't that bad.  But then I saw a firefighter pulling up roof shingles near the peak.  I couldn't see flames, but in retrospect I think that if I could have gotten a better view of the sliding doors in the back (they must have been blocked where I was standing), I might have.  It appears that the bulk of the fire was in the ground floor of the split level.  Per the news story, the owner couldn't get out so he had to jump off the small roof on the front of the garage from one of the bedrooms.  He did have to be admitted for smoke inhalation but was mostly okay.  Sadly, his dog did not survive.  It was pretty distressing to watch something like that happen, especially since house fires are one of my biggest fears.  I felt horrible for whoever lived there.  I felt weird gawking at that point so I went back to my desk, but I kept getting up to check for smoke for the next hour or so, now completely distracted from everything I needed to be doing.  It just added to that surreal, extra tired fog I was in that morning.

It was a gorgeous day outside again and I was really wanting to walk since I missed the previous two nice days and hadn't moved much the previous day.  I decided to just rip off the bandaid of my fire-related anxiety and take a lunch walk past the house to see how bad it was.  I knew if I didn't do it then it would eat away at me until I could.  It's just a weird thing for me to just know.  When I walked out of the house I could hear pounding, and I correctly assumed they were already boarding it up.  The damage on the front was pretty clear--pretty much a giant, black gaping hole where the front door used to be, where all you could make out was the light at the back of the house where I think the sliders were.  I haven't been back past it since but it now makes me rethink my walk routes because I use that street a lot and it just makes me sad.  Thankfully I pretty much have to be in one certain position to see even a small part of the house from our house, which is better for my mental health.  It's so sad, though.

Friday was another day back in the office, even though I was wiped and half of our team took off.  I had too much to catch up on, and Friday is also the day where my intern spends the most time in the office.  We had a battle with Jacob that morning because his leg has been bothering him again.  We thought it was the return of the shin splints when he started complaining about it hurting when he carries his heavy school bag around (he refuses to use a locker--he never really has and insists he doesn't have time to go there in this school).  However, it hurts in a different spot now, down where his plate is in his leg from his bone cyst when he was seven.  We're wondering if something is loose there.  He said he got kicked in the shin in one of his tournament games, so maybe it started dislodging something?  It doesn't hurt all the time like an infection might--just when he walks on it--so it could be possible something is moving in there that's rubbing weird.  He managed to convince us he had to stay home because the pain was too bad, and now he's scheduled to go in Monday to get it checked.  Just what he needed, another problem.

I had really hoped to work in the office through lunch on Friday and then come home and enjoy the nicer weather on my porch while I watched videos from some work sessions I had to miss this week in my role of helping with our new database setup.  Of course they scheduled six hours worth of training on two of my busiest days.  Unfortunately all of my catch-up work took until nearly the end of the day, so I just stayed to get as much done as I could.  Oh well.  It had been quite the work week, and I have definitely earned my bonus day off...now to just figure out when I can be comfortable enough to take it. 

I tried to make it a relaxing weekend, but I did three loads of laundry, grocery shopping, a Kohl's run, and Carter's baseball practice.  He also had his buddy Ben's birthday party so Friday night was spent shopping for a gift and confirming his best art project did not in fact make it into the district art show, even though he never got it back.  Boo.  I think his middle school arts electives will be spent doing viola and maybe chorus, so this might have been his last shot.  It was a bummer for sure.  It wasn't a bad weekend--there were some baseball bright spots, like the Pirates winning twice--once on a walk-off hit---which is a big thing around here these days with three teams on our family radar.  The Toronto Rock was pretty easily dispatched by the Buffalo Bandits in their next playoff round, so Buffalo is off to the finals.  Hard to believe considering how badly they dominated us.  The Amerks came back from three goals down to win their game in overtime and force a deciding game 5.  So, as another week begins, I'm bracing myself for Jacob's leg, looking forward to the start of Carter's baseball season, and hoping I can catch up on work.  Spring always goes so quickly and I know the end of the school year will be here before we know it, especially with baseball on our schedule three times a week for the next six weeks.  It never really does slow down, does it?