Is it possible? Only four months ago, I was whining because my knees were aching and my back felt like I’d thrown it out…all because I had been planting bulbs. In December! Too late, I know, to hope they would flower in the spring, just a few months away.
   
Yet, a short awhile ago, as I was backing out my driveway, there they were—yellow daffodils, creamy jonquils, pink and purple tulip—incredibly cheerful, and impossibly…well, impossibly there…and blooming! 

There’s nothing like saving a life to make you feel great. There’s a profound sense of usefulness, and the joy of knowing you’ve performed a kind of miracle…at least for the one whose life has been saved. 

Here are some riddles. Which of America's national parks is surrounded by water, 70 miles from land, and holds a fort that is the world's second largest masonry structure?
 
I thought I knew quite a bit about our national parks, but if you can answer this one you know a lot more about our national parks than I did—that is, until yesterday, when I traveled for two hours from Key West, Florida to get to it by catamaran, touring the fort and swimming and snorkeling at the coral reefs.
 

It was torn and beat up with curling pages that weren’t white anymore, but I was thrilled when I pulled it out from behind the bookcase where it had fallen to the floor. As I cleaned it up, wiping the dust kittens off, the cover was so cheerful and colorful I couldn’t help but smile. Then I opened the book, and smiled even more.

If you’ve ever been to the seashore, you’ll never forget the gritty feel of the sand on your knees and your hands as you built a sand castle.

I’ve heard there’s a place in America where the ground is so expensive that some people measure its cost per square inch? Do you know where?

Maybe you guessed this one. It’s New York City.

I’m a small town girl, so recently, while visiting New York City to celebrate my birthday (yes…39 again), I had an aha! moment that brought the value of ground into a whole new perspective.

Yuk! That’s disgusting…or naughty…or…or…something!

Those were my first thoughts when I saw it, and recoiled. I was at a travel site in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, and hadn’t intended to go into the gift shop, but somehow there I was, staring at the box. 

Who would ever think of using that? Carefully, I picked up the small box. The fact that it was a pretty, pale green color was confusing. How did a box like that fit the contents? 

The historic building in which I once worked was over 200 years old. In the afternoon, the sunlight would come through the old, wavy glass windows and fall across the planks of the floor. I always noticed how sparkling the windows looked.

My neighbor nearly died last year. But no wonder. She was working with highly toxic chemicals. Is she a chemist? No. She’s a homemaker. But she might as well have been a chemist, because the cleaning supplies she was using to scrub a bathtub contain chemicals that are capable of killing humans. Too bad she didn’t read the fine print.

But then, how many of us read the small print? I admit.it…I usually don’t.

What grade should I get? Early January is a good time to check up on myself. Did I actually adopt any of the “green” ideas I wrote about this last year?