Grandpa blue

A belated birthday for Tessa She and her siblings all wear glasses now

We took a walk along the river in Dexter. The boardwalk goes over wetlands. You can see the peepers' airsacs inflate just below us. In the spring here, there is a constant drone of peepers in wet areas. Song sparrows were merrily singing. Finally spring

the town, now a city I see, has numerous sculptures around

another one

it's just water under the bridge

With the app that came with our new car, I can track down where it is.

A warm Sunday. We took this one to the park

my Easter wreathe

A few months back, I went out car shopping with Josh. He wanted last year's model, which would save him about $3K. He could only find two left;  a silver one and a blue one with their plusses  and minuses. When he was explaining to his wife the choices, she said Oh no, is it Grandpa Blue? Apparently this dusky bluish gray only appeals to people of a certain age. And indeed it does. Shortly after a good friend ( a grandma) bought the same color. And Steve upon seeing it said was the best color by far.

We were down to one car, a situation I found intolerable as we are out in the country. Steve thought we could hold out until the fall (when presumably prices fall and the model we wanted would be improved) I feel insecure relying on a 9 year old car. And although Steve doesn't have a heavy schedule, we managed to need the car at the same time last week. So he had to drop me off and later come pick me up. About twenty extra miles of driving. And I like to travel particularly in the summer but I really can't leave him stranded. In a 6 week period, Naomi managed to total 2 cars, not her fault. She had purchased Josh's not so old car, a considerable upgrade for her. And she could give him more than the dealer would so win-win. Until some lady ran a red light into her The insurance did pay her more than she had paid for the car but what could she buy? We sold her one of our cars, a car that we had sort of promised to sell to  her ex husband in the fall leaving us down to one car.

I really didn't want to wait so last week, we went car shopping. Not difficult as we get a considerable discount at my son's company so there is no negotiation.. As no one wants sedans anymore (do they think gas is always going to be cheap?), they are discounted still. We were left to decide between a hybrid and a traditional engine and colors. We could get a silver traditional engine (not desirable by us at a deeper discount0 or get a hybrid in any color we wanted. So Grandpa Blue it is . The hybrid will take 4-5 years of driving to make up the cost difference but at least we are polluting a bit less. And if gas goes sky high, we'll make up the difference even quicker.

I continue to learn Dutch, which is becoming more difficult. Crazy, crazy grammar. In 6 weeks I will be biking in the Netherlands. And it is it is warm outside. So bicycling is easy (except for a day I went out in 30 mph gusts, not fun) and more running. Some of my flowers are out. We can sit outside in the evening with wine. Hope winter is gone for good.