No camera batteries...

...so no photos today! Too bad, because it's turned into such a pretty day. I have a small list of things I want to photograph, so there will be photos tomorrow. I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats. Well... blah. I'm tired. I've spent the day raking brush in the orchard, pruning black knot out of plum branches (here's a Google-fied link to that lovely species: http://hortparadise.unl.edu/HortNews/images/BlackKnot4.jpg and http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/pp419/PP419Gallery/Turechek/pages/plum%20black%20knot.htm ), and pruning root suckers out of apple trees. It was great to be outside - it's just that I started the day out tired, and now I'm even more so. Wah, I know. Tiny violins, etcetera. The last thing I want to do is to go to nursing lab tonight. I have to, there really isn't a choice in the matter, but OH how I do not feel like going. Whine, moan, complain. Moving on. I feel that I have to announce that I finally did well on an exam. It's about time. The first two tests were just so badly written. Instructors changed midstream in the semester, so the latest exam was from the latest instructor. It was much clearer and so much better written - and I got a 97. Now that is more like it. I'm not resting on my laurels or celebrating just yet, but it feels good to be vindicated. It was very, very frustrating to be doing so badly when I know that I know my stuff, and I know that I am - if slow - at least capable and conscientious in lab and clinical. I'm hoping this instructor will write the final. The material was actually harder for this exam than for the previous two; the whole difference was in the way the test was written. Kudos to all you teachers and test-writers out there - test-writing is a hard thing to do. I'd never thought about it from that angle until now. Let's see... what else? Well, I'm sore from my triumphant return to the gym, which is good. It really has helped my mental and emotional health, and eventually it'll help my Buddha-like figure out as well. I have a vaseful of daffodils on my desk that light up my moments here - so bright and lovely they are! One of my buddies here at work gave them to me. They're like stems of sunshine. I think daffodils are perhaps my favorite flowers. They're on the list, anyway. I was just recalling today my thrilling encounter with my favorite, most beloved wildflower species - http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/gentianopsiscrin.html (fringed gentian), so I shouldn't be hasty in my designation of favorite flowers. I spotted it along the Appalachian Trail here in NY. None of the photos I've seen of it really do it justice - it's just a lovely flower. Spring is a good thing. The renewal of life - lacey new green in the woods, vivid brightening of the grasses, the rampant bird song - and frog song!, soft, sweet breezes, flowers... it's very heartening. I might not feel like much, but when I'm out there experiencing these things? I adore life. That's a rare enough thing that maybe should be celebrated! So. That's all for now, this meandering, commonplace entry. More on the morrow. Ta.