Spring is a time to prepare

Easter is over but there aren’t any leftover eggs mainly because it has been years since I have colored eggs. We did have several egg hunts when we visited the grandchildren last month. We used plastic eggs and the children took turns hiding them.
When my daughter was little the neighborhood kids gathered at our house to color eggs the week after Easter. It was too much fun to relegate it to only one day. The resulting egg salad meant I didn’t have to figure out what to have for lunch.
Easter is over for this year and there are no local little ones invading our house demanding to color eggs. Instead, the plans are to begin preparing the garden for planting. I usually wait until after Mother’s Day to start the garden. The last couple of years the last frost has been weeks before my arbitrary planting date yet I can’t bring myself to begin early.
My daughter refers to me as a tree hugger because I am happiest when my hands are buried in dirt.  The resulting flowers and vegetables are merely a pleasant byproduct. Last week was too cold and rainy to do much outdoors. My husband managed to get the grass mowed during a brief break in the weather. He had to borrow a mower as ours wouldn’t start due to the flood a couple months ago.
I am itching to go across the street to the empty house and dig up the flowers blooming in the middle of the yard and move them to a place where they will have a chance to live out their lives. I know they will be mowed down whenever someone gets around to cutting the grass over there. As much as I covet those plants, I can’t bring myself to dig up other people’s property without permission.
This week is supposed to be warm enough to be outdoors. Sometimes I wish I were more a fan of chemical controls so there wouldn’t be quite so many weeds to pull. As it is, the only time I rely on chemical control is when I see thistles. They respond to pulling by multiplying instead of dying. My main objections to chemical controls is that they don’t work and they pollute the waterways.
The holiday yesterday was a celebration of life and rebirth. I honor that by planting whatever I can get my hands on. I will visit my family (this was written on Good Friday) and listen to my brother give a hilarious spin to his recent motor vehicle accident. Nobody was hurt but his truck suffered damages. He is the only person I know who can have me rolling on the floor laughing by describing a car wreck. At one point he had me laughing so hard that I couldn’t catch my breath and began coughing. I still have traces of bronchitis that I acquired on our visit to Texas last month. As soon as I would catch my breath he would start again and I would cough. That must be what is meant by the expression, “to die laughing.”
In a couple weeks we will have a new baby in the family. Shortly after that my niece is finally getting married after 10 years of dating the same great guy. My other niece, the one who recently completed her first Boston Marathon in 3:49.27, is contemplating an Ironman as her next accomplishment.
This is how we celebrate the ending of a rough winter and the onset of warmer weather. Easter is over. I think I’ll go plant something. What will you do today?[[In-content Ad]]