Friday | Spring Might Be Here

Well, well, well. Welcome to Friday; we have made it through this frightful week! As I type this, the sun hasn’t quite risen but the sky is full of light. It’s a coral-y color with a few purple clouds and the pastel tone of it all is making me quite happy even when the outside world is not. There’s joy to be found, friends, even amidst all of this outrage and despair. My coffee is hot and I’m ready to share a few things with you!

The week started off chilly and is ending with more spring-like temperatures. We shed our jackets during our afternoon playtime yesterday and I expect we’ll do the same today. The weekend forecast is slightly cooler but next week is back into the mid-60s and even into the 80s (!). I’ll take whatever I can get – including a mint julep for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. (Sometimes I wish I would have been a horse trainer, but that’s a digression so I’m putting it into parentheses and feel free to ignore it.)

In our garden, we now have asparagus! This is a pivotal moment in the year for me; it signals the start of vegetable season. Before now, I never think it’s quite possible for us to grow our own food. I assume the ground in New Hampshire is inhospitable to life until I see an asparagus spear make its way out of the earth and into the cold air. I cannot wait to toss a handful of these in oil, sprinkle with salt, and cook them on the grill. The little radishes that we planted last week are also up like little soldiers and starting to grow. We’ll soon have spicy little bites to add to our snack plates.

We’re keeping a close eye on all of our flowering bushes: azalea, peonies, roses, hydrangeas, butterfly bush, lilacs, phlox (maybe not considered a bush? but fun to watch spread), bergamot. The bergamot has nearly completely taken over the bed that runs along the front of the house and I am okay with that. It attracts the bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies beautifully and it can have as much space in our life as it wants. The phlox has a few flowers that have opened up and the azalea is in full bloom. Everything else is still just sticks with tiny leaves starting to bud out. But flowers are coming – they always do!

I started my annual reread of The Hobbit this week; I know it’s time to visit The Shire as soon as the grass turns green here and that moment has arrived. I’m still aching for my own hobbit hole!

We put up a Ukrainian flag a couple of weeks ago. We live about a half a mile from the state Veteran’s Cemetery and an American flag feels necessary; a second flag pole is just because we tend to be over the top. They’re beautiful together. Watching the news is probably enough of a reminder, but watching the Ukrainian flag flapping in the wind reinforces — every single day — what is happening half a world away from my own quiet little patch. It’s important to remember and to continue to donate to the relief organizations who are doing their best to help Ukrainians survive each day. I’m still donating to World Central Kitchen and savor their email updates. I hope you’ll consider making your own donation to their good and hard work.

---

Thank you for all of the kind comments on Wednesday’s post; it seems many of us are feeling out of sorts lately. Actually — it seems to be the theme since about 2016, doesn’t it? These last several years have been such a rollercoaster and it doesn’t seem like the ride is going to stop anytime soon. I’m so thankful to have this community of friends in which we support each other through our own personal ups and downs, as well as everything that’s triggered by the politics around us. My reading and knitting is already starting to creep back and I’m looking forward to it planting itself firmly into my life again. But until then it’s about accepting where I am right now and enjoying what’s right in front of me.

I’m planning to be back next Wednesday with a little update. I hope you all have just the weekend you need! Take good care.