The weather this week has either been unseasonably warm or so chilly that gloves are needed. Daffodils are blooming everywhere as are flowering trees, such as redbud and cherry. I think I saw a bright yellow goldfinch perched on the fence along the driveway and other birds of all kind are flying around busily. Also fighting. How can they fight and fly at the same time? That would take a LOT of coordination!
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I can't seem to completely get rid of the bronchitis and am still having a lot of trouble breathing. Maybe it's allergies as well? It feels silly to go back to the doctor,since it's not as bad as before, but the symptoms I do have are worrying. The changing temperatures are making my arthritis worse too & because of it all, yesterday was the first day I had gone anywhere in nearly 2 weeks. I went out between rain showers & picked up my insulin & other stuff at the nearby Target store. The wind was so strong it had blown shopping carts all over the parking lot.
The store was busier than expected. I think their new grocery section is bringing a lot of people in to see what they have. I'm still trying to find everything, since the moved many of the aisles around.
I was happy to find the new Josh Groban CD with extra song tracks. His last album, "Illuminations" was not as good as previous ones, but the new one, "All That Echoes", is a return to his earlier lush sound.He sang many of the songs from it on a televised concert "Live At Lincoln Center" last week. I've been listening to it while painting the shell on my box turtle picture that I'm nearly done with.
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Commercials for the new film version of "The Great Gatsby" have been running on TV. I like Baz Lehrman, the director of it, but I don't think they cast it well, the actors look too young. I prefer the version with Robert Redford, which was quite faithful to the book. The commercials show a lot of things that are not in the novel, so they've obviously added and changed the story. Since it's one of my favorite books, I plan on reviewing the novel on Vulpes Libris around the time the film comes out in May, just to remind people what the original book was like. I'll post a link here when it's finished, in case any of my few readers would like to see it.

The first week of April brought warmth and sunshine to Cleveland, which was quite welcome after the cold & snowy winter we had. I had the windows open and was pleased to see the grass growing greener and everything smelling new and fresh. The neighbor placed several pots of flowers by the doors of the apartment building and they served to brighten things in anticipation of spring bulbs sprouting. But then, this past week, spring retreated, taking the warm temperatures with it and leaving three days of cold rain instead. Some people refused to wear coats as they left the building, pretending the chill hadn't come back. The forecast for next week has spring returning, hopefully for good, but I won't put my parka away just yet.
Despite the changing weather, the birds are very busy. There's been an influx of new species and many of them are building nests in the arbor vitae trees lining the driveway. Though the robins are back, I've not yet seen any goldfinches yet, though I know they are in the southern part of the state from photos taken at a birding pal's feeder.
I also hadn't seen any turkey vultures until a week and a half ago, though they usually return to northeast Ohio in mid-March. They are large birds and look wonderful soaring on the thermals in the sky. I am always excited to see them return and was very pleased to see several of them at 2 different locations. One pair was flying directly above a McDonald's and I wondered if they were trying to figure out how to fly though the drive-thru window? Might be difficult with a five foot wing span.
I've also seen a lot of ducks and Canada geese, not just now, but throughout the winter. At least some of them migrate before the colder months, but evidently a good sized population stays here year round. Once again, I'll try to get to the nearby pond(where the photo was taken) to see the ducklings. In all the years I've lived here, I've never timed it right to see the yellow fluffy babies, but hope springs eternal each year. Perhaps I should go to the pond every week until I see them?

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love...

Those are lyrics to U2's song, "Pride in the Name of Love" which is mainly about the death of Martin Luther King Jr. on this date in 1968. Two months later Robert Kennedy, brother of slain President John F. Kennedy was killed as well. The song also has references to Judas, Oscar Wilde, Robinson Crusoe and slavery and is sung in an anthem style, with Bono's splendid, emotive voice in the lead.
I've written before about JFK's assassination as my earliest memory here , but I wonder what the accumulative effect of all of those killings were on my young psyche. Not to mention seeing footage of troops fighting in Vietnam on the news, especially when my sister & I came home for lunch during our years at elementary school. I was one of those nerdy kids who was reading the paper at a young age and not just the comics. I was very aware of current events, even if I didn't completely understand them or know much about the back stories to the events. Is that why I've always been so interested in history? Alternately, is that why I've always been so filled with anxiety? But thousands of other kids, including my slightly younger sister, was also exposed to the same events in varying degrees & they are different.
Of course, the late 20th Century was not the only one where revolutionaries and potential saviors of humankind were killed before their time, but due to modern technology, was some of the most documented ones. And still there remain so many questions, less of the whys, than who. For now I understand that anyone who shakes up the status quo, who shines a light on people doing wrong and points to a better way will be in danger. And it's depressing to think how much more evolved we would be as a species, had at least some of those people been allowed to fulfill their promise and make things better.

Unlike a lot of people, I don't have the Tv running constantly, only running it when I'm watching something. There are shows that I'm devoted to and I wish I could watch more movies, but one of the programs I watch regularly is "House Hunters International" on the HGTV channel. There's another version of the program featuring just homes in the U.S., but I'd rather see other places. The premise is of people moving from one place to somewhere far away, usually in another country. It's not always people from North America either, they are from around the globe and can be individuals, couples or families.Sometimes they go to places drastically different from their current location, one episode was of a lady in snowy Finland moving to a beach house in Australia.Three different potential homes are shown and at the end of the show they choose the one they wish to live in.The last minute or two is filmed at a later date, once the people have settled in, and features changes to the decor and how they are getting along in their new home. .
I like seeing how different residences are in various countries. Their size, layouts, furnishings and locations are often very different from how they are in America. Some of the buildings are hundred of years older than most houses in the U.S. and there are often flourishes in architecture and decor that look exotic. Over the years of watching this program, I've noticed that kitchens in tropical locales are sometimes separate from the rest of the house to keep things cooler, houses in Mexico often don't have windows and their backyards are totally walled in. Continental Europe favors high ceilings, Middle eastern homes are many times on winding, narrow streets filled with arches and alleys. The architecture in Asia, especially in traditional homes are splendid and very different from other nations, especially in their use of wood. I've learned a lot about foreign cities and culture and marveled at people being able to live near rain forests and wildlife that I've mainly seen in zoos.
But I do have one quibble and it's mainly to do with how the people react. It's usually Americans who, at the beginning prattle on about how they want to experience another culture and broaden their horizons, but as soon as they start looking at apartments or even homes, are aghast at how different everything is. The big complaint is how small all the rooms are and the lack of an elevator in a building that might be 200 years old. They lament that their king sized bed and all their furniture won't fit and where are all of the appliances in the kitchen? What it amounts to is wanting to transplant their suburban McMansion to another country, THAT'S how they really want to experience another culture.On a recent episode, an American family was moving to Bilbao, Spain and the wife at one point yelled "I want a bucket of paint and all new furniture!" Thankfully, most of them seem to be more open minded about the cuisines than the residential options or maybe they just aren't filmed going into outposts of American fast food restaurants.
So aside from occasional rolling my eyes at the comments of the re-locators, the show is an enjoyable part of my weekends. I may not have the health or money to travel, unfortunately, but at least I can see some of the world through television. Modernity has it's benefits.