Laid back Thursday

Beautiful flowering tree

You know it's spring when you see the trees bursting out with gorgeous flowers like this one. I see it every day on my walk home from Cornwall Park. They don't stay as amazing as this for very long, so I stopped to take a quick picture. We only have a few more days left in March, and then all the rain and longer days will bring us more and more scenes like this.

When I got my Covid booster on Tuesday afternoon, I didn't expect to spend the entire day feeling like I did yesterday: weak and achey. I hadn't had as strong a reaction to a Covid shot before. I went to bed early last night, and that's saying something for me, who normally gets to bed when most people are sitting down for dinner. When I woke this morning, I felt much, much better, but I wasn't sure it was a good idea to go out and test myself on another uphill jaunt. I'm happy to stay home and maybe get some laundry done instead. There will always be next week. Plus, I have to remember that I don't bounce back from setbacks as quickly these days.

First signs of lilac buds

Walking up my driveway, I spied these little guys, who will soon burst forth into fragrant flower. At first, I didn't want to think winter is already done with us, but now I'm getting the feeling that spring is undeniably here! Tomorrow is Good Friday, reminding me that when I was spending Holy Week at the Convent of St. Walburga, this was the day when the nuns would ceremoniously wash the feet of the retreatants, This was to remind us of Jesus humbly washing the feet of his disciples as one of his last acts before being crucified. The Abbey has since moved away from Boulder, where I got to know about it.

The Abbey of St. Walburga is a community of Benedictine contemplative nuns of the Roman Catholic Church. They are located in a valley in northern Colorado, where the high plains meet the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Yes, there was a time when I toyed with the idea of becoming a nun, but I was young and impressionable in my youth. There are so many alternate paths I could have followed, but my life would have been completely different. I guess this is true of most of us. I am happy in my marriage, which I never thought would happen; however, we will soon celebrate our thirtieth anniversary, which is quite something when you meet and marry in your fifties. Life is filled with surprises, isn't it?

:-)