Spring

These wonderful tulips are up en masse -- sure look forward to seeing them bloom again.  This photo is from last year, or the year before.

Spring seems to be upon us -- at least for a few days. No freezing temps in the 10-day forecast, at any rate, which is wonderful.  But, there's a saying down here that the dogwoods always bloom in time for Easter, no matter how early or late Easter falls. In most cases, I think that's probably true, but I don't think it's going to happen this year. The trees I passed yesterday had fat buds -- but not fat enough to explode into blossom by tomorrow!

The weather has gotten me out into the garden more -- pulling weeds, mostly. And there are so many of them to be pulled! My new lettuce and kale seedlings are doing great -- last fall's leeks that spent the winter as wee spindles are starting to thicken up a bit. The chard is doing well. My biggest challenge for the moment is managing the heat inside the hoops. It's too soon to take the frost gard off, but I've loosened it a bit around the bottom so breezes can get through. Hopefully, it's not loose enough to let cats in -- and they have tried to get in. Little paw-sized holes here and there along the bottom. Brats.

My blueberries are filled with buds! I should be here to harvest most of them, if not all. I gave them a good dose of fish/vinegar fertilizer this morning to boost those big, blue berries as much as possible.

Yesterday I took more books to the library, and all five boxes of 'stuff' to  Goodwill. More 'stuff' is going into the trash. This morning, I walked to the nearby supermarket and snagged three more boxes to start filling for Goodwill.  I'll keep things that seem possible to sell easily, and have a yard sale before I leave. Lots of the stuff I'm donating would sell, but I don't want to bother with the small stuff.

It all feels so good! Who knew that letting go of mere stuff (most of which was in drawers and chests and not even in sight), would feel this way? I should have remembered -- but while I remembered feeling better, I didn't remember the extent, the power of how good it feels.

Two weeks from today I'll be traveling to Southern Dharma via Greenville, SC to a retreat with my good teacher and friend, Ayya Sobhana. It'll be good to see her again.