What a difference a week makes ...

The mercury was at 70F this afternoon! The front door open! The sun bright and beautiful! Much of the snow gone! Who'd a thunk it just over a week ago? Not me. Oh, didn't it feel wonderful having the front door open and warm fresh air pouring in to rinse away the months of closed doors. And the birds were out in song and the brook was rushing with melted winter; and the crocuses are in bloom!

Ah. Spring has sprung. It's always bound to happen sooner or later. I'm here 5 years in just a week and I've learned that April habitually lingers on making winter seem interminable. But it's just a tease and none of us take the shenanigans too seriously.

I took a walk around the property this afternoon with notebook in hand. The list of tasks to be done fills an entire page! I may have to hire some help. From removing rotten stumps to fixing a retaining wall, from clearing brambles to consolidating the burn pile. I will certainly need help moving the cold frame and small shed which are down in the woodland area up closer to the garden. The shed will become a house for tools and the cold frame--which I have never utilized--will help harden off my crop of seedlings. I planted several seeds a week ago and it's exciting to see much of it sprouting already.

The seed beds are in the downstairs tub--which I don't use, preferring the shower stall in the upstairs lavatory. I will pot them on in a few weeks and sometime in May will like to place them in the cold frame for hardening off. I'll be building a new raised bed this year due to one of the original beds being taken over by my strawberry plants. I can't complain about having too many strawberry plants, and what's one more bed?

I'm visualizing picket fences and garden gates lately. Wonder if I can make that work for my garden? I want an arbor for the climbing roses, one that has seats on both sides. Wouldn't that be romantic? Sitting amongst the roses reading Oscar Wilde, what could be grander?

The seeds I sowed last week are: Romaine lettuce, Buttercup squash, parsnip, carrot, celery, zucchini, petunia, sweet pea, hyacinth bean, and nasturtium. These germination pictures were taken 2 days ago and more has sprouted since:



The driveway is utter chaos at the moment. There is one section in particular that floods over and is slow to drain. I think a culvert needs to go in at the spot. I made arrangements today to obtain a quote for fixing it up.

The scarf I was weaving for the small kitchen table is completed. I'm quite pleased with the result; it is what I imagined and what I desired for this table. The 'summer and winter' weave structure is reversible and I like this particular side the best:



I received some cotton in the mail today for some mug rugs which I will weave on the upstairs loom and I expect to hear from my neighbor any day now that she's received the cottolin for the towels which we will jointly weave.

Yesterday (Sunday) was sunny, if tepid, and I took the spinning wheel out on the deck to do some alfresco spinning. Although I had to don my coat, it was very soothing and deep soul refreshing to spin in the sunshine and fresh air.