Thursday or Thereabouts - April 8. 2021

It's been awhile since I last took up some space in this time slot but this week's Monday's meander got buried under a load of coloured eggs and sweet treats.

And now here we are at Thursday! Warm spring weather has blessed the land for some days now, bringing vibrant colours to life and raising hope for better days ahead. 

Such glorious days soothe the stresses of yet another shutdown, another state of emergency, another stay-at-home order due to raging CoVID-19 variants. There's plenty of yardwork just outside my door. Though it's too soon to give the lawns a thorough raking, I did haul five wheelbarrow-loads of winter debris from the wide ditch out front. Woot! Woot! So too was taking the winter tires off the car and firing up the BBQ for the first time this season. 

The man and I had dose #1 of the vaccine last week so I'm more confident about that light at the end of this very long pandemic tunnel. In the coming month I can putz around in the garden, or even just sit in sunshine watching and waiting for the reemergence of life in all its hues, reaching out to take hold of hopes, dreams, and happiness.

Stay safe. Stay sane. 

Stay at home. 

©2021 April Hoeller    

Thursday, or Thereabouts - May 3, 2018

image courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/sandraboynton/

The sudden arrival of warm, even hot temperatures (27°C; 81°F) has put a rush on all things outside my door. The birds are rushing to nest. The plants and trees are rushing to bud. The insects are rushing just to annoy me. There is no time to dance around the Maypole this year.

Trying - and very trying...

In years' past, the yard clean up was done by now and the lawnmower was tuned and ready to make the first cut of the season. Baskets of begonias ringed the deck and families of pansies dressed up the rock garden. This year it all looks somewhat neglected. A bedraggled landscape strewn with twigs, pinecones, and other assorted detritus, lies in mute testimony to a late Spring. There was snow on the ground just this past Sunday morning!

Winter's debris field

BUT...
...what a joy it is to be outside without coat, boots, mitts, and tuques! Rake in hand I set myself to work. It's pretty mindless stuff; pulling debris from the lawn into piles of beige-brown twigs, leaves, and grass. It's slow work - there is no such thing a quick rake, especially when one has as much lawn as I do. I love being outdoors. I truly do enjoy the mindless time, trolling through the grey matter of my brain, solving all the world's problems and even a few of my own, while the rake does something similar for the lawn.

The rhubarb is coming on gangbusters!

I found these persistent blooms in the forest Wednesday morning.

The snow tires on the cars are off, the snow shovel has been put away, the snow blower and lawn mower have traded priority spots in the shed. Tomorrow I'll head on over to the garden centre for the begonias and pansies.

Best of all, my chair is out!

It's bloomin' Spring -

a grand feast of colour, fragrance, and song is about to reveal herself.

©2018 April Hoeller