I am having a terrible time getting myself going this morning. Woke up with a pounding headache so that didn't help any. But, the birds are singing and it is a gorgeous morning. Whatever the trees are that line the winding street into the condo complex are white with flowers. They look like huge white sticks of cotton candy from a distance. Absolutely gorgeous. Spring has most certainly arrived in Greenville. Makes me smile every time I drive in and out of here. How can you not love trees that bring in Spring with a riot of flowers and Autumn with a blaze of color?

The latest corporate apartment in Lexington is on the ground floor of the complex and has a sliding door out to a little grassy area. We sat there Sunday morning and watched several plump robins. Robins are one of, if not my favorite, birds. While growing up, there was a large lilac tree outside my bedroom window and I knew Spring was coming when the mother robin came back to her nest in that tree. The nest was just below my window so I could see the pale blue eggs and the tiny baby birds. I had saved pieces of shell that had fallen to the ground when the babies hatched, but who knows where that "treasure box" of childhood went. I cried when my dad removed the lilac years later. The roots were causing havoc with the septic system so it had to be removed, but the front yard of the house looks so barren without that lilac. My dad knew when the first lilacs bloomed, anywhere in our small rural area, and we pick some for my mom. My mom grew vegetables, but we brought her wild flowers. I can close my eyes and smell them. And, yes, even remember the taste of the blossoms. I have been told lilacs grow in Lexington!

I finished Cathy's Book by Stewart, Weisman, and Briggs. This book has been talked about a lot on listservs because of the blatant commercialism and from a practical stand point of a librarian, how to deal with the packet of "extras" that go along with it - the main character Cathy steals mementos from her older boyfriend Victor's desk. The reader gets to "sift" through them as Cathy does as she tries to find clues to who/what Victor is and why he stuck a needle in her arm. Did he drug her or was he drawing blood? After all, he works in a lab. Cathy is an artist so this journal style novel is adorned with drawings, which certainly give the book an "almost" graphic novel look. Honestly, for me the packet of mementos wasn't a big plus. I could have done fine without them and still enjoyed the book. I like to create my own "picture" of characters in my mind so the photograph of Victor was not a big plus for me. Impulsive, obsessive Cathy is a very likable character as is her nerdy best friend Emma. Emma is the level headed one until she think the family fortune is gone and she might not have a nest egg to start her own business with. So the two 17-year-olds are determined to find out what Victor is hiding. It is a fun mystery and I am sure teenage girls will love it. What fun! But, from a librarian's perspective it reminded me of The Jolly Postman series by Janet Ahlberg, with the various separate letters the kids kept "losing". The new formats are certainly keeping librarians on their toes!

All for today.