Good Afternoon!

I write this on Saturday, April 24, 2021. Today the sun and the warmth returned. It is a wonderful day here in Massachusetts. Hyacinths are holding tight to their place in this time. Tulips are up and bright, so bright they shine; this is their time for center stage.

Daffodils-Jonquils are holding their own, although their time is fading fast. I look at them, and they more than any other spring flower bring to mind my own aging process. They continue in their colors and standing tall, but the hues of their colors fade and the “tall” stand has begun a suggestion of a hunch at the shoulders.

I smushed up the vegetable garden dirt today. I emended it with compost bin dirt and a little local cow manure. They both are rich and the dirt has colors in it like orange, auburn, deep, deep brown, and black. It is sweet, and it is ready. Tomorrow it is projected to rain. That is the idea!! Bring it on. We need rain badly. I celebrate its arrival. I am tempted especially as the weather warms, to run out and dance in the rain. Instead, I will follow its fall with placing cucumber seeds in the ground. And little brussels sprouts sets that I tried to establish in the basement. They may or may not succeed. I’ll give them a couple of weeks. If no luck, to the garden center I will go and hope to find plants still available. But with folks in the USA seeming to have discovered gardening as a diversion and a comfort these confusing days, I hold no assurance. Well, whatever else is available, I will try.

But there are other seeds to place in the days and weeks coming: Arugula, sage to add to that which overwintered successfully, rosemary to add to that which may or may not have overwintered successfully, carrots, cilantro, zucchini (maybe), beets. Any other suggestions? And I will experiment with a turnip that my husband kept too long, and it has begun to leaf. I am guessing I can just plant it! Worth a try. Then also I will later place some tomato plants and some basil.

And!! And, on the animal front, the cardinals have built and are carefully guarding a nest in the evergreen shrub in front of my house. Again! They were there a couple of years ago. I am being extra careful to not go and look so as not to direct the attention of blue jays and squirrels to this location. I so want them to succeed. You may remember that the last time the cardinals nested in my front shrub, I provided photographs, taken with great care, in a blog post. The eggs, the hatchlings, it was great. But then a predator entered and the fledglings were nowhere to be found. Thus, no pictures this time. No attention paid to them. I will let them be.

Sometimes backing off is the greatest gift one can give.

This is it for now. Probably I’ll be back to you all again soon. But for today, this is all I have to say. I hope you are well. I hope you are happy. I hope you have peace.