{"id":716,"date":"2019-04-26T17:14:34","date_gmt":"2019-04-27T00:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/?p=716"},"modified":"2019-04-26T17:14:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T00:14:42","slug":"that-first-day-of-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/that-first-day-of-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"That First Day of Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One morning while leaving for work, I heard it\u2014that unmistakable call of spring, the American Robin singing for all he was worth on top of my neighbour\u2019s house. That morning made it official: spring had finally come. Today was the first day of spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I don’t have a picture of a robin, so here’s a bunny from my parent’s asparagus patch!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’m not talking about the almanacial First Day of Spring (I think I just made up a word there.) ‘Round these parts, spring is more of what you hear and smell than what the calendar says. Certain smells in the air (or I guess lack-thereof) and two key species of birds are the harbingers of spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I also managed to snap this grainy pic of a downy woodpecker at the feeder!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes, folks. You can smell and hear spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure you know what I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0 First off, it’s the smell you get when you throw open the back door, take a sniff of the air, and smell “it”. That distinct nose-full of non-frost-laden air that brings a tiny hint of earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add to that the insistent calls of the chickadees and the desperate repetition of the robins, and you have it. That, my friends, is the first day of spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A Prairie Crocus in the nature reserve behind my house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, spring comes really late. We are jealous of the west coasters with their cherry blossoms and spring buds while we’re still under a foot of snow. Our April showers are more like snow drifts. But we make the most of it. We’ll be the first ones out and invading the national parks as soon as the mercury retreats above freezing, because anything above -10C is a heat wave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A Richardson’s ground squirrel waiting for me to toss it a snack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m hoping spring will bring something more than warmer\ntemps and tulip buds. I\u2019m hoping for a slow-down at work. Not only is my\nanxiety spinning out of control, as mentioned in a previous post, I\u2019m also\nmonths and months behind the release of my 4th<\/sup> book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book #4 in the Rose Cross Academy series is about 90% written. There\u2019s some cleanup to do here-and-there, and I need to do one last self-edit before sending the manuscript off to my editor for the final hack-and-slash. Cover art is (mostly) done. I just need to do a few tweeks. The only thing holding me up is time. And sleep. Oh, and the need to eat. If I can expunge these needs to work evenings and weekends just to keep my team\u2019s head above the water, then I\u2019ll have time to focus on my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Boo is also waiting to start writing again . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Infact, I think I\u2019m going through writing withdrawl so much\nso that I\u2019m dreaming about stealing time here and there (and even stealing\npaper and pen) to write stories in my dreams. Then I wake up in the mornings\nall excited to actually write these stories out only to realize they make no\nbloody sense!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take for instance, the tale of Lanyu. This is my most\nmemorable dream about writing stories. As a coworker recounted me the tale of\nLanyu and I dreamt about writing it down, I found myself playing through the\nstory. The premise involved a wooden building where the ruler locked up his\nfamily. His family was totally fine with being locked up because the ruler sent\nthem everything they ever wanted-food, riches, pets\u2014through a garbage chute-like\nthing. (Now stop for a moment and imagine delivering a litter of puppies or\nthree dozen ice cream cones through a garbage chute and you start to see how\nthese dreams just don\u2019t make sense as actual stories.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now as the family grew, they naturally had children. The\nchildren did not like being cooped up, so the eldest child, our \u2018hero\u2019 Lanyu,\nstaged a coup. In that uprising they burned down the house in order to escape  . . . so far so good . . . but Lanyu burned in\nthe fire but did not die. Instead, the skin burned off of him right down to\nbones. But he was all fine with that. As half-skeleton-Lanyu, he stole a\nGreyhound bus, loaded the kids on, and drove them to safety and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as I\u2019m going through this ordeal with the hero, deep\ndown I\u2019m thinking this is an awesome story, and I should write it out\nimmediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon waking, I recall the events of the dream and wonder just what the heck I was smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Although zero sense was made, I still wrote the dream in my Dream Journal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I think it was this point I realized I\u2019m going through creative\nwithdrawal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But anyway, back to spring! Like I said, I\u2019m hoping spring\nbrings a slow down so I have a chance to exercise my creative side once again.\nCreativity is very much like a muscle in that you must constantly use it or it\ngets thin and flabby, and hurts the first time you try to use it vigorously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until then, I hope to enjoy the tiny signs of spring and\nhope for the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take care!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Rissa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One morning while leaving for work, I heard it\u2014that unmistakable call of spring, the American Robin singing for all he was worth on top of my neighbour\u2019s house. That morning made it official: spring had finally come. Today was the first day of spring. I’m not talking about the almanacial First Day of Spring (I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rocky-mountains","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6odz9-by","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":537,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":0},"title":"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"February 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I love this time of the year. It's wonderful, it's magical. Nope, it's not Christmas (although it still looks like it outside). And it's not back to school either. It's not even Halloween (my favourite holiday). If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know what time of the year it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Winter"","block_context":{"text":"Winter","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/winter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/MostWonderfulTime.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":526,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/no-more-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":1},"title":"No More Snow!","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"February 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"That's it! I'm protesting! I'm sick of all this snow! One of the annoying things about living on the leeward side of the Rocky Mountains is while friends and family on the windward side are posting pictures of the first signs of spring and warmer temperatures, we get the deep\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Day to Day"","block_context":{"text":"Day to Day","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/day-to-day\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/NoMoreSnow.jpg?fit=500%2C501&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":742,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/snow-and-dslrs\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":2},"title":"Snow and DSLR’s","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"May 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it snowed. Again. This side of the Rocky Mountains, I guess we should be used to it by now. It could also be why us Canadians are such a hardy bunch. The Great White North. It's not just an SCTV sketch. Mother Nature has been on a regular schedule\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rocky Mountains"","block_context":{"text":"Rocky Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/rocky-mountains\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Deer2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Deer2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Deer2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Deer2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":727,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/caught-talkin-smack\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":3},"title":"Caught Talkin’ Smack","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"April 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, call it Murphy\u2019s Law or Mother Nature just being unreasonable. No more than 24 hours after I issued my glowing report on the first signs of spring, the weather gods decided we needed a blizzard to round things out. Snapped this pic of the blizzard warning on TV, courtesy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rocky Mountains"","block_context":{"text":"Rocky Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/rocky-mountains\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Matcha1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Matcha1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Matcha1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Matcha1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":761,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/its-not-a-cotton-easter\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":4},"title":"It’s Not a Cotton Easter","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"May 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A little back story: This past weekend, Mother's Day weekend, I gave an associate at the local home & garden centre something to chuckle about. You see, in the front I have these nice shrubs planted between my columnar aspens, and wanted to plant the same in the back yard.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gardening"","block_context":{"text":"Gardening","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/gardening\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/FieldSparrow1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/FieldSparrow1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/FieldSparrow1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/FieldSparrow1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":879,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/head-in-the-clouds\/","url_meta":{"origin":716,"position":5},"title":"Head in the Clouds","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"March 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Not much, just clouds. Because apparently I take a lot of pictures of clouds. And I haven't posted in forever, so . . . Cirrus clouds, little whispy guys that just hang out when it's warm. The haze of altocumulus clouds over the neighbourhood playground. Mammatus clouds, the acne of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Spring"","block_context":{"text":"Spring","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/spring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Sundog1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Sundog1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Sundog1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Sundog1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":725,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}