Thoughts of Spring

It's getting close. Right now, Mother Nature is teasing us with a few nice days before she allows Old Man Winter to make a final stand.

I don't mind the tease...I'll take advantage of it when I can. I don't need that clunky winter coat everyday and I can work a few afternoon walks into my schedule. The groundhogs around the country gave us mixed results last week so there's no way to know when spring will actually begin. I usually just go by the calender and the number of insects trying to bite me.

Here in the Atlanta are , we get about 5-6 weeks of nice spring weather and then the pine tree pollen starts to fall, coating everything yellow. You have to wipe it off you hands after opening your car door. Luckily I don't have any allergies but with all that crap flying around in the air my sinuses do get irritated.

Spring also means Passover and my drive up to NY for the family Seder. I missed it the last 2 years because of business related issues. Not this year. This April is extra special because my cousin Ella and her boyfriend Boris are visiting from Israel. They are stopping at my place for a few days before continuing on to see his family in Chicago. Ella and I have never met before. Until a little over a year and a half ago, neither of us knew the other existed. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the drive to NY. The wild flowers should be in full bloom.

Pandacam Addict

For the last few years now, I've been able to escape most of my daily stresses by watching the online Pandacams that are on the Zoo Atlanta, National Zoo (DC), and San Diego Zoo websites. It started with Tai Shan at the National Zoo in 2006. Next came Mei Lan in 2006 at Zoo Atlanta and, most recently, Xi Lan born this year at Zoo Atlanta. I got my friend Kim addicted to the Pandacam

It's relaxing to watch these panda cubs as they grow and learn about their world. There's something very innocent about it in the not-so-innocent world we live in. It's not just the cubs. We also get to see the silly side of their mothers as they play with their rambunctious cubs. I just noticed yesterday on the Zoo Atlanta site that, due to limited resources, they are shutting down their Pandacam at the end of the year. Xi Lan, who I call Fuzz, has a lot of growing up to do in the next 3 weeks. We will still be able to get updates and photos but it won't be the same.

Hopefully there will be a new cub at National Zoo in the summer of 2009 for us to watch. The San Diego Zoo had a new cub in 2007 but their video isn't as good as the other zoos...it's not a smooth streaming video and I find it difficult to watch. Better than nothing I guess so maybe I'll tune in there occasionally.

Simple Scents soaps

One of the great products I discovered when I owned my candle/gift shop were the natural soaps from Simple Scents. They were good sellers but I pulled the remaining inventory for myself before the final liquidation sales began.

The soaps, made in Australia, are 100% natural. They have just the right amount of moisture so my skin doesn't feel dry or greasy. Also, just the right amount of lather while still rinsing off cleanly. These soaps are triple milled with means the soap mixture has gone through the milling process 3 times. Each time through the milling process removes more air from the mixture with the result of a very dense soap. Each bar lasts a long time and you don't have to worry about it getting mushy in the shower.

The lemon and lemongrass fragrances were my best sellers but I liked the orange zest and there used to be a raspberry fragrance that doesn't appear to be available. For more information and to order, see www.simplescents.com. They also have great hand/body locations and body butter.