Friday

It struck me that I have not woken up to a sunny day in many, many weeks. Spain had its warm days, but the sun was not with us. And since my return, we have had the tougher side of April show her face. It's a tricky month here, in Wisconsin: sometimes you love it, sometimes you want to kick and scream at its return to winter weather. By my birthday (right there around Earth Day), things typically settle down to a nice comfortable range of temperatures, but early on, it can get dicey.

So when I wake up to brilliant sunshine today, I breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, we may be on our way to splendid weather!

 

 

 

Morning walk to barn. And back again. Note the Big Bed is totally in the shade. Of trees that should be cut down or at least cut back. Says me.

Breakfast.

It's not yet planting weather. My perennials wont arrive until the end of the month and even that, to many, is a bit early for my growing zone. Annuals wont fill the bins until, well, ideally early May, with an eye toward the temps each evening, because should they dip below freezing, my annuals will die unless I bring them in for the night. So, planting is still a ways off. But I do have stuff to do. Get the bins and pots ready. Pull out the creeping charlie and all the other creeping crap that always invades the beds. Dig out the expanding tiger lilies out front. Dig out sprouted saplings, dandelions, quack grass. And so on.

In the late morning, I get to it. It feels a tad cool still (46f, or 7.5c), but believe me, after a couple of hours of work, keeping warm is the least of my problems. As always, my body is not used to being in a down dog yoga position (my favorite gardening posture) for so long. My hands are not used to so much pulling and twisting.

And yet, I keep at it. Any gardener will tell you that work outside is better than any meditation app out there in terms of calming your mind and clearing your head of clutter that accumulates over days, weeks, years of life. 

I work most, if not all the flower fields. Aside from the butchered tulips, things are looking grand. The leafless trees are good for the sun-starved beds (they don't shade new growth). The rains have done wonders for our parched earth (no rain last summer, no snow this winter). The chickens do scratch the beds, but the Bresse hens are not as hard on them as others who have passed through this way. And they do leave a good fertilizer behind!

By early afternoon I'm done for the day.

Time to pick up the kids.

It's Friday and we're cycling through snacks, play, books and then their lessons.

And here's a pleasurable thing -- I'm seeing more of my daughters one on one this weekend than is usually possible, given schedules and distances. I start off with a meetup with my older girl in the evening, just to chat...

 

 

... and tomorrow I'll drive down to see the younger one and her brood.

In the end, April is always kind to me. What's there not to love?!