Ah spring…gardening is getting closer…don’t panic, it’s still early

“In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” — Mark Twain

Oh so true. Here in the Pacific Northwest (PNW to my homies), February isn’t waiting for March to do some roaring. We just had an “atmospheric river” pass overhead. The Weather Channel, as always, was good for some entertainment. “They” said that this river passing by held the watery equivalent of 10 Mississippi Rivers, so I passed day after dark, dreary day of rain counting the rivers…10 Mississippi, 9 Mississippi, 8 Mississippi, then I lost count.

I was indeed a sissi (sic). Letting rain – at some times barely more than a mist, at other times a solid, steady rainfall – get me down.

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” — Roger Hornsby

Spring training has started! I get to listen to announcers gloat over the cloudless skies and temperatures in the 80s at baseball camp in Arizona. Thanks for punctuating our gloom back here at home.

“I glanced out the window at the signs of spring. The sky was almost blue, the trees were almost budding, the sun was almost bright.” — Millard Kaufman

Yeah…thanks again for sharing, Arizonians.

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” ― Ernest Hemingway

Good ol’ Hemingway, you can always count on him to bring you down if you’re getting too happy. But wait! This reminds me of why spring is such a welcome relief from winter! After the assault of people over the holidays, once again we can find solitude in our gardens!

Happy spring, whenever it arrives! Happy gardening, garden planning, end of winter!

what’s a gardener to do when…

she doesn’t have any indoor space to start plants in February? Plus it’s so cold outside that she’s still not gonna rake it? She can talk about what she wishes she could do re: gardening but that requires copious amounts of alcoholic beverages to overcome the melancholy of endless cold gray days…

Or she could have fun with gardening words and phrases alongside AI images she generates. I came across a webpage of gardening terms from bygone days and decided to play around. Spank me but…AI image generation is fun.

So true to my Twisted roots, give me some slack and don’t be afraid to smile…

My first phrase is privy garden, and the phrase once meant a private garden, usually one reserved for kings and queens. But not being of noble blood, and having lived for decades without indoor plumbing…my Twisted brain took me here:

My garden is not diminished by its flaws

Weeds…oregano gone wild…daffodils deciding they’d rather come up in the middle of the path this spring…that one big unknown plant taking over the herb bed…that rugosa rose that keeps getting whacked by the string trimmer…the hazelnuts that have never produced nuts…the apple trees that barely produce any tiny apples…

It is too cold to do anything about it, now…

So I glory in the beauty of the clear blue sky…I rejoice that I don’t live in northern Florida, under snow…I bask in the sunshine streaming in my window…I delight as the birds slowly return…I laugh at the squirrels…I wonder how many more rabbits will appear…and how many of the does in my yard are growing fawns inside…

I exercise to tone my body, gaining strength and flexibility slowly…I continue testing seeds (oh joy! my very old basil seeds sprouted exuberantly!)…I wait patiently…

Age has taught me, it’s never too late to do more than you did yesterday…more exercise reps…more house cleaning…more laundry…more writing in my journal…more sleeping…eating more vegetables…

And it’s never too late to do less…less worrying…less eating…smaller portions, fewer carb snacks…less judging…less focusing on imperfections…

As I gaze at my sleeping garden, I love it more, anticipating the return of the color spring green…

As I look within myself, I love myself more, anticipating a year of returning joy outdoors and expanding joy in my heart.

Neither my garden nor I are diminished by our flaws.

gold heart necklace