Breakfast al fresco

Okay, I know it’s not really summer yet. I do know that. However, the weather here in my part of the world has been absolutely glorious for the past week, and summer does actually start in – um – twelve more sleeps, so I’m using a little poetic license here. It’s my blog, so I get to do that.

One of my regular little summer rituals is having my breakfast outside. My wee backyard and deck face south, so if it’s a nice day, it’s pretty much all sun, all the time there. On a hot and sunny summer day, it gets rather sweaty there past about eleven in the morning. So, if I want to enjoy my breakfast and the lovely outdoor warmth at the same time, it has to be before that time. Which is incentive to get up and get organized before that time. Which is not always that easy on a weekend or during summer vacation.

Since it’s so early in the season (yes, yes, you purists, I know that technically, it’s not “the season”, but poetic license!), I’m still in get-up-early-and-go-to-work mode. And so, this past Saturday morning, right around nine, I was happily outside with my yogourt and raspberries and my café au lait.

It already looks like it’s gonna be a great summer!

Happy something

I don’t know whether to write Happy Valentine’s Day or Happy Spring, but look what just popped up in one of my flower boxes:

It’s not a heart for Valentine’s Day, but despite today’s date, it IS daffodils in bloom, those happy little harbingers of Spring.

(Sorry, all you Easterners!)

Phone love

Last week, I did something that I don’t do very often, much to the chagrin of companies who would encourage everyone to do this as often as possible: I got a new phone. An iPhone 6. I do love me an iPhone!

The phone looks great, sleek and pretty. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures, if you don’t have one yourself. (I hear they’re quite popular.) It’s nice to hold, and I really like its bigger screen and sharp, clear graphics. I don’t yet have a bumper case for it, but the one I’ve ordered should arrive sometime this week.

Most importantly, though, is that I’ve changed cell phone service providers. I’ve dumped the company who used to get my business and I’ve gone with someone else.

And I now have cell phone service everywhere in my house! It’s amazing! For three years I lived with spotty reception, dropped calls, random periods of no phone service at all. I had to stand – not sit, even – at one of my kitchen windows, facing outside, in order to make or receive a phone call. Even then, if the stars and the planets weren’t properly aligned or something, sometimes the connection was just wonky. Parts of what I said would just disappear as I spoke, leaving the person on the other end of the phone call saying things like “Uh – I missed that last bit” or “I can’t hear you” or (in the case of my mother) “Pinklea, where the hell ARE you?!?”

It was embarrassing and a huge pain in the ass.

But I had a three-year contract, and there was no way I was going to pay extra to get out of it, I decided. I’d tough it out – and stand by my window or make my calls elsewhere. Fortunately, I don’t actually make or receive a lot of calls, so my stubborn strategy was workable. Not always fun, but workable.

I also was in frequent contact with the service provider, trying to get them to understand that the issue wasn’t my mobile, but their unreliable network. It just didn’t work well in my area, especially in my house, and that wasn’t my fault. It was theirs. They never seemed to comprehend that, so as soon as my contract was done, I was gone.

But now – oh my! It’s so wonderful! I have phone service all over my house, even in the basement and in the garage! I can talk on the phone from my walk-in closet! I can answer the phone in the upstairs bathrooms! I can take the stairs from the basement up to the second floor, talking on the phone all the way! What luxury!

And now if I stand at that kitchen window, gazing outside while chatting on the phone, it’s because I want to, not because I have to.