I did say I would return in March although my intention had always been for early March. Missed that internal deadline, didn't I?
It is no matter, somehow things always play out the best way they can. Or at least that is the view I choose to take on the matter. It is lent after all, and it always seems to me that lent ends up being a period of upheaval and resolution. Sometimes metaphysical, sometimes physical, sometimes, surely, all in my head.
Lent is, in many ways much like spring. Spare and bare still, but with pops of color, pops of hope. Uncertainty abounds: cold nights, warm days, rain, sunshine, sudden frosts, and yet resurrection surrounds us.
And yet it is all a part of the plan, the normal cycle of things. It shouldn't surprise us, and yet it always does.
I was in Texas and Arizona. Lovely visits, both with family.
I returned to a series of unfortunate glitches: some kind of mild allergic reaction thingy on my face, a rheumatoid fare, an encounter with gluten that lead to a celiac flare, more struggles with atrial flutter. All basically minor. All annoying nonetheless.
Like the garden, we muddle through, marshal our resources, cliché-filled, marching ever onward. The camellia is sending out a few precious blooms. It wasn't the January snow that did it in, but the single digit temps so close to its normal bloom time did set it back. What blooms appear are late, a little war-torn, but valiant harbingers of hope.
The vegetable garden continues. A few hot days, have prompted the bok choy to bolt, but the flowers are also delicious. Cabbage, broccoli, bitter Italian greens continue onward. I will never keep up with them all. Broccoli is heading.
I planted fava beans and they were coming up nicely, little green leaves peaking above the soil. The same for peas. And like that, they were gone. Someone ate them all last night. The great legume massacre of 2024. Perhaps there is time to sow another crop. Perhaps best to let it be. Another sign. But there will just be room for other vegetables.
The first of my "late" daffodils are up. Actually a little early. But its the only one so far, although there are lots of buds. There is always someone who leaps out from the crowd.
Anyway, welcome spring. It is a good spring, a good start. Always too much too do. As always it doesn't all get done. And who says it should anyway?
