You would think I’d know better, by now, than to indulge in some of the rituals of Spring. I have seen the dandelions came up 47 times. I have seen the grass change from brown to green once a year for almost a half a century. Out of those years, I have spent about half of them doing the same thing. I thought I’d learned my lesson several years ago, because it’s been a while since I’ve been so silly, but there you have it. I did it again.
I put on a pair of shorts and sat out in the sun. I have spent the last two days regretting that action. From mid-thigh to ankle, I am skin-tight and bright red. You’d think I’d know better than to sit outside on the first really nice day we’ve had, especially for several hours. You’d think I’d have felt *something* over the course of those two hours, something that would remind me that it wasn’t smart to sit out and bake.
But I got to gossiping with the neighbours and watching the kids play and forgot about the time. Watching the cats avoid the dogs and the kids try to catch the cats was more interesting than checking the condition of my legs. A picnic lunch on the porch was more fun than going inside.
I noticed the pain when I went upstairs to check on the kittens. Every time I moved my leg up, my shorts dug into what would eventually turn into a wonderful sunburn. I’d only been out for a few hours and that before noon! How could this have happened?
You’d think I’d have known by now, though. I haven’t worn shorts for quite a while, but every time I have worn them in the spring, I’ve burned myself. On the plus side, if such a thing can be envisioned, I’m making serious inroads into the aloe and lavender lotions I have and can soon justify buying more while it’s still on sale.
There was another “spring fever” result. Sari, our newest cat, has presented us with five grey kittens. We’ll have 5 kittens to give away at the beginning of June and 5 more the end of June. In the meantime, we have a lucky number of cats/kittens in the house – 13. That is, there’s 13 in the house when Joey decides to come in from being a “wild cat” in the jungles of the empty lot across the street. He likes to hide in the grass and the sun has bleached him to a wonderful shade of ‘dead grass’. What he’ll do once the new weeds start to grow, I don’t know. Probably go into the woods across the back alley from the empty lot or get smart and stay inside in the coolness of the basement.
