aging.

rams.
y'know?
aries.
c'mon.
yeah.
those people.
mmhmm.
my buddy wayne turned forty yesterday.
and that's gross,
but only because i'm not there yet.
when i hit the four-decade mark,
it'll be 'just right' and 'not so bad',
or maybe 'well-seasoned' or something along the lines,
or is it wrinkles?, of that sort of sh!t.
huh?
oh, okay.
fine,
i'll admit my attitude towards aging isn't actually so harsh.
i mean,
you presumably get wiser if you're doing it right-
right?
yeah.
i'll also acknowledge that forty isn't THAT old.
a quarter-century's worth of hard work still stretches
out in front of you before the oldness lets you take a break.
i mean,
c'mon.
forty just means you should have something to show for all the work
you've done so far,
but there's usually way more ahead than behind.
no use being bummed about that sore back and those grey hairs-
there's still plenty of labor to be sweated through and endured.
so, yeah, he's forty.
and also,
i love berfdays.
so hard.
harder than his hard-headed astrological illogical ram stubbornness even.
i love berfdays so much, in fact,
that i deferred the snugs and hugs awaiting me,
and fired up the oven instead.
i'm serious.
because if you don't get treats on your berfday,
you're definitely an A*-hole,
but if i don't make treats for my peoples,
then I'M the A*-hole,
and i can't hang out with that action at all.
neighbors,
check the springtime-style special-request-type teleport:

strawberry vegan chee'cake.
it's the best one i've made yet.
i mean it.
i freaked it off with some secret extras,
and they made the activation complete.
mmmhmmmm.
expert.
wait.....what?
oh.
you caught me.
yes,
i totally sliced off a big wedge for myself first.
ugh.
you knew i had to.
i'm sayin',
i'm not gonna not take a picture,
just so he gets a big pink and red circle all to himself.
i like him a lot. don't get me wrong,
but i've got to make up for shrugging off snuggles
with at least one tasty piece for another one.
that's a thing.
and anyway,
without a picture to show off,
it might as well never have happened-
and it is ALL really happening, no matter what.
rules is rules, always.
***********
there's birds singing,
and fog rollin',
and sunshine hiding,
and work to do everywhere.
no fooling.
i'm on that grind, all over the woodsly goodness.
putting in work,
working with purpose,
and making moves to make the magic happen
in overwhelming amounts.
there's too much of everything, all at once,
and that's the only way i know how to participate.
it's unfolding in front of my eyes,
and i'm following along at the same breakneck pace.
the melting snow is flooding the river,
the flooding river is making a mess,
and the mess looks tidy compared to the daily doings over here.
that's the way it works,
and the work is never done.
more of it is what we're amassing,
and it never seems like it'll ever be enough;
never quiet, never soft.....