belated "sunshine"

I love love love flowers. Especially bulb flowers such as tulips, daffodils, and amaryllis. I had a little surprise waiting for me when I got home a couple weeks ago. It made my day and reminded me that I'm surrounded by a great community of people. What was awesome was another friend recently gifted me with the awesome stone that holds flowers! I hadn't got to use it yet, so I was so excited to try it out. (I had way more daffodils than fit in my little stone vase, so I split them up around the house.) I just had to share.

The little silver bird says "believe".

stranger

It was sunny. I went to the beach to eat lunch. I followed as the clouds danced across the sky. I watched the sand lift up in the wind and settle on my pants. I stared at the ocean and hated it for wrongs it didn't commit. I had tears in my eyes masked behind sunglasses.
I saw Red Beard when he was a long way off. For being such a big beach, he was walking straight towards me. I always go out of my way to avoid people, especially when they are sitting alone. Couldn't he walk anywhere else? I tried to make myself invisible.
It didn't work.
Red Beard came right up to me and said, "Hello, how are you today?" I replied, "Hello, I'm good. How are you?" I was what I considered to be far from good, and while I was cursing myself for failing at being invisible, I was thankful for my sunglasses that helped me hide the tears behind them.
Red Beard raised his hands up towards the sky and said, "Well?? It's sunny!" I smiled back assuming he meant all was well as most people in this land equate sun with good without factoring in that warmth is better than cold sun. I guess some sun is better than none.
As Red Beard read my deepest thoughts he said, "Ya know, things could be better. That's true. But things could also be a hell of a lot worse." I didn't feel like we were talking about the weather anymore.
With that he walked away and lit a cigarette.

It's always winter...

Making Spring happen indoors.

leaving....

This is Devin, the one who doesn't write as much as he should.

I'm not excited. I leave again soon, for two and a half months. This is ridiculous, I know I should be thankful that I've had a relatively long in-port, but I really get bummed that I have to leave my wife sitting here in Oregon while I'm out doing who knows what wherever I am.

Chianne is the smartest, funnest, prettiest, most wonderful person I know, and I've barely had time to get to know her again after joining the Coast Guard. I can't wait till I get to be an AET, and stay home more often then being away. I don't really regret how that I joined, I just wish that it would have worked out, that I could see her more.

Chynee, I love you, I will always love you. I don't know how I am so lucky to have you, and I'm sorry I've taken you for granted so much. I love the thought that we get to grow old together, and that you said yes when I asked you to be my bride. You truly will always be the light in my eyes. Even when I act like an ass, it's not to hurt you. You are so amazing, and I think that you don't realize it. I love you more than  I'll ever be able to put into words. XOXO

-Devin

tulips

This is the source of my joy today in this long dreary winter - see those 3 little sprouts? Well multiply that by 7 pots (and some have more bulbs than this pot!)...not to mention my flower bed as well. The point being, back in October I started a project.

 

I have always wanted to grow tulips. So I studied up. I bought all the right things. So finally, it was time to plant. This started in my living room. It was too cold and rainy to plant my potted tulips outdoors so I put a blanket down and went to it in the living room.

I had learned you can force the tulips to grow indoors during winter if you incubate them outdoors for the necessary amount of time. I wanted to make sure I could bring the pots indoors in rounds to constantly have flowers starting in February, so I went a little crazy and planted more pots than I have room for in my house. Then I watered them and put them outside to get cold.
The next morning it was surprisingly sunny, so I planted the rest of the bulbs in my flowerbed. Yes, 75 bulbs in all between the pots and the flowerbed. I also panicked the first morning because one of my pots had been dug in. I soon learned I had an enemy - Mr. Raccoon. Oh well, after that night I was smarter and kept my flowers safe for the remainder of the incubation period.
Today was a blessedly sunny morning. I went outside to check my flowerpots because it has been long enough to start trying to force the blooms indoors. I was overjoyed to see the sprouts. I brought two of the pots inside, so we will see what happens!!

A single bloom I found by surprise.

I'm obsessed with tulips...if you couldn't tell...

If you made it through my tulip ramblings, I commend you. I'm so eager for Spring.

love,

chianne

The thrill of tulips/two lips together <3