spring, sinkholes and sewerlines

spring is springing up all over the place! daffodils are blooming, croci (crocuses?) have been up for a couple of weeks now, and i may have a leak in my sewer line!

but it's beautiful outside, so i kinda don't care too much.

a couple of days ago, i noticed a little depression in my front yard, so of course i had to poke at it. i don't watch many horror flicks - i should know that poking at a strange dip/depression where there were none before is probably asking for a slithery tentacle to grab me and pull me to the nether-world... so my poking resulted in a larger hole where there were none before, and an uneasy feeling about the integrity of the rest of the yard crept over me like kudzu. i leapt back to the porch and its supposed safety.

maybe i should watch more horror flicks to get this stuff out of my system.

so after a couple of calls to city officials in the water and sewer divisions, i was reassured that there were probably no monsters down there (that was a joke. i did not mention my journey into scary-land). they are coming to inspect it on Monday, at which time i will ask about their plan of attack, because i've done a retaining wall and lots of planting on that side of the house. were they to need frontal access, i'd have to remove/move/transplant so they could backhoe at will.

i was wondering what my Big Project was going to be this season.

small moves

i received a beautiful card from the woman, b, for whom i am walking in the breast cancer 3-day walk. she made the card herself, a beautiful flower collage. she said that she had been rather passive, just going along with the treatment, but without putting her heart into it. and she told me that, because of me and my walk and my efforts for it, she has decided to fight her cancer, take a more active role in her treatment, and has even started a new med. i gave it to her daughter to read, and she'd had no idea that her mom hadn't been fighting. we're both blubberheads, too, by the way - we were rather soppy after.

i had no idea that my tiny leap of faith could have any effect on anyone, other than those benefiting from the money i'm raising from my wonderful friends, and from mb's family. i had no idea that my participation could encourage or inspire or help someone. but it has, and i'm amazed.

we all do little things that directly or indirectly help or hinder other people. sometimes we get to decide what those things are, and i, at least, hope that the ripples from my little pebbles help more than hurt.

the thing is, we very rarely get to know what happens in the rest of the pond, to extend the metaphor further than it should probably go, and how heart-breakingly cool it is for me to know that i've helped someone. there is no better thing in this whole world.

on a completely different note, but heartwarming all the same, spring has sprung, at least for the last day or two, and my neighbor kids are playing leapfrog in their back yard! can you believe it??

old school, represent.