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Marilynne

I think that FedX is worse in my area than UPS. Maybe. What are they doing? Speeding in residential areas, parking behind or along side parked cars at a business, blocking driveways, blocking handicap spaces. Handicap spaces? Yes, the other day at the grocery a huge FedX truck was parked half way across a space designated for handicapped.

Who do they think they are? Why don’t they get tickets?

I live on a street where there is no outlet. You go out of my neighborhood the same way you came in. We have little children in our neighborhood, whose parents seem to think it’s all one big yard. Their children lay on their stomachs to play in the water that flows under the bridge. Sometimes it’s only their bicycles abandoned on the bridge while the kids look for frogs and craw daddies in the creek.

Vehicles don’t have a clear view of this situation unless they are going slow. Those of us who live on this street watch out for the kids. FedX and UPS do not. They come barreling down our street, bouncing over the speed bumps, make their delivery or pickup, then go back out for a second chance at the kids. I don’t agree with how their mother lets them roam, but I also don’t want their kids hurt.

Another time a FedX driver told me he almost hit the neighbor’s dog. When I went to tell the neighbor his dog was loose, I also found a small child who was following the dog around. A baby, more or less. He was in the street, on a trike, and with the dog. Nearly invisible to fast moving vehicles. This child is well cared for, but even the best of caretakers can quit watching for a minute and the kids slip out.

What can we do about it? I don’t know. I do know that they drive like they think the devil’s on their tail, and maybe he is.

Marilynne

This can’t really be true – can it?  Watch this video and let me know.

When Spring arrives in Southern California, I mostly forget that it’s arriving in huge splendor in the northern states.  I just forget that in Spring, they catch up with us.

When we lived in a northern state I planted crocus by the scores in a sunny, sheltered place by the driveway.  I was so happy to see them begin to peek up through the snow.

They are so hopeful, aren’t they?  I began planting tulips and daffodils, and all sorts of flowering shrubs.  We had a big yard and this Californian was really missing things green and flowery by the end of winter.

In my mind I hope those bulbs have multiplied and the shrubs have grown tall so that my old yard is a blaze of color every Spring.  I’ve never gone back, so I don’t really know.

Here Spring is heralded by the first white alyssum that grows in our grass.  It’s followed by California poppies with their bright yellow-orange flowers.  My husband just mows around them until they’re done growing.

So, I’m hoping that you all have your flowers around you too.  Spring is such a nice time of year.

Marilynne