Happy Spring!

Happy first day of Spring! Here in the Northeast, Spring isn't so much a change of season as it is an optimistic change in attitude. Case in point, today in Massachusetts the temperature will not get above the high 30's, yet I feel hopeful that we'll be experiencing warmth again soon. The warm weather has got to come eventually. Right? Right?! I've got that itch that needs to be scratched... I want, no I need, to get outside and work in my garden. So yesterday the Hubby and I packed Chicky Baby in the car and headed off for the King-of-All-Home-Improvement-Stores. While Hubby was off looking at security lights for the backyard, Chicky Baby and I went off in search of patio furniture and gardening stuff.




[Quick aside: I've got to stop watching "It Takes a Thief" on the Discovery Channel. We're not going to have anything of any value left to steal after we spend all our money on motion lights and steel bars for the windows.]


Instead of boring you with our adventures in home improvement, I'll instead let you know that I walked out of that store with nothing for my garden (its a bit early for that just yet) but, instead, with no less than $40 worth of ceramic pots for the malnourished plants that I keep on my kitchen windowsill. The plants that nearly perish from dehydration every few weeks because I'm far too busy to move them 4 inches down from their spot on the sill to the faucet just below to give them the water they need. (And I've been entrusted to care for a child and four animals. Ha!) But spring makes me idealistic. Not only will I transfer those plants into new, brightly colored pots, but I will also help them grow to fantastic heights never before seen. At least, never before seen in my home. I will fertilize them, talk to them in soothing tones, and play music for them. The Carpenters, I think. Maybe Captain and Tenille. Yeah, I think the Christmas Cactus would like a little "Muskrat Love". But first, I will water them.

This is what Spring does to me. It makes me want to help things grow and thrive. In another month I'll start hitting the local plant nurseries for new specimens for my garden. I will purchase them, bring them home, put them in the ground, water and fertilize them, and hope for the best. I have no idea what I'm doing but, and here comes that word again, I am optimistic. Spring is the season of beginnings, of new growth - buds on the trees, crocus and hyacinths pushing through the semi-frozen ground, bunnies and chicks at Easter, babies being born. People are throwing off their heavy, winter coats and begin to wear bright colors. Boots are replaced with cute spring shoes in the stores!! There is finally a good excuse to get a pedicure!!

Today, while I'm busy getting my hands dirty with potting soil I will happily be thinking about Spring - even though its colder than a witch's, um, toes outside. Maybe I'll turn up the heat just a bit, put on some capris and my flip-flops and pretend. Spring is here!