While the rest of the country may be experiencing a blustery winter, springtime has hit the Pacific Northwest early. I could wear shorts if I didn't mind blinding bystanders with my pasty white legs. I mean it's well above normal winter temperatures. Even nature is confused, as it's mid-February and the flowers and trees are beginning to bloom. The bulbs in the flowerbed in my front yard have sprouted forth a good six inches.

I find it humorous how the term "global warming" is taken so literally by people. How they argue that because 3/4's of the country is getting snow that there can't be global warming. Wasn't it just last year that the East Coast experienced one of it's warmest winters? I remember news stories around christmas where New Yorkers were in their shorts, sunning themselves. They forget about they global warming symptom of wide temperature swings in either direction.

Anyway, before I get sidetracked on global warming, I have two little stories. First, upon driving home from the gym today, I was noticing the cherry trees starting to blossom. I parked on the side street and a nice woman said "hello." She asked if I would like a bouquet of cherry blossoms. I figured why not.

We got to chatting, I found out she was from the Netherlands, then moved to Canada and finally to Seattle. She's lived in my neighborhood for about a year and is trying to build the community. Apparently the area I live in is called ZooZoo? I always just tell people I live at the top of Fremont, sort of the Phinney Ridge neighborhood, but I'm guessing we get that name because we're right next to the Woodland Park Zoo. She is trying to get our community to interact more, sharing tools, services or something to that effect.

Not until later, did I recall her saying something about the fact she is going to try and generate income off of this service. At the time I was passively listening, while thinking about something else. I remember ending the conversation short, taking the cherry blossoms, saying "nice to meet you" and not offering any money. Crap, was the service of trimming the cherry tree, making bouquet's and offering them to people passing by, a way to "generate income" or a nice gesture? I'm hoping it was a nice gesture on a beautiful day, otherwise I must have looked like an ass. But don't they look nice by my bedside table?

I'm going to use the excuse that a kid came to the door this morning to sell magazines, then I gave money to the lady pan handling outside of the grocery store. Maybe by the time I got home and was offered the cherry blossoms, I just didn't think it would be for money? Getting hit up for money all the time in this poor economy may have desensitized me. When she offered, I just thought how nice this woman was to being doing this.

So the other story. I used to live with this wonderful woman named Sarah. She had an orchid that bloomed when we were roommates. She moved out a little more than two years ago and the orchid hasn't bloomed since. But wait! For the first time since she left, it's finally blossomed. The orchid flower is amazing. Have you ever looked at one closely? It is what people call, "a gift from nature."

I'm glad all those times when I thought maybe it was dead, that I should toss it, that I didn't. I think I'll try to take better care of it.