Today it is supposed to be 40 degrees out. The big melt is about to start and it has me giddy with excitement. I am hoping we see even more sun than we have been blessed with. I am ready for spring and seeing plants grow. I have been looking at gardening websites and watching gardening shows hoping to learn something to help my tiny little space improve. Gardening is always a work in progress and you never really are finished because plants grow , plants die and things change over time. Much like people and much like life. I didn’t understand that when I first started gardening. I thought it was one and done, that you pulled a few weeds from time to time and you got the same results from plants year after year. I have learned since what a garden is. This year we are in the rebuilding stage and it is both exciting and a bit scary because there is a lot of work to do. But I will approach it like I do any quilt or craft project, one step at a time. One 15 minute increment at a time. It will take all summer to keep making the improvements.

I am really wishing I would see more wildlife in the garden. I hardly see birds anymore. I can hear some that live in the few trees left. I wish they would come to the feeders. I don’t even see squirrels on the occasional warm day. I have seen my resident rabbit a time or two over winter and I see it’s footprints in the snow. I hope I can make the garden more bird , bee and butterfly friendly so I can see them over the upcoming summer. I cannot wait to see the fairy garden come to life.

But all of that is many weeks off. I am going to keep dreaming, planning and learning about gardens. I have to get with the February time of year now. I am going to do a little bit of spring cleaning. I am going to declutter more. I have houseplants to tend to and repot. I think the soil in the garage will be warm enough to use. I have plenty of quilting and crafting to do. What’s great about the creative front is that I have only one commissioned project left to do. I have plans to not take on any commissions for a few months and get my quilt tops done.

I also learned what my house decorating style is and it is called Clutter Core or Maximalism. I used to think this was a really bad thing and that I had to force myself to having minimalist décor. I really use minimalist concepts to not keep buying more stuff and to get rid of the things that aren’t needed anymore. But I am a collector who has several quirky collections on display. It makes me happy and makes my home feel lived in. I am going to get some of my spring displays out this weekend.

Pandemic life is changing a bit. The resturants are open to be able to seat 25% of their dine in space. I had a lovely dinner last night and we ate out the week before, too for the first time in so long. What was fun is last night had live music while we ate. I missed that so much. We saw people at their best vs their worst. People were laughing, dancing, singing songs and eating their meals. They were enjoying the company of other people. There were still plenty of pick up orders being filled. There are still many places closed in town. But, I see glimmers of prepandemic life returning and maybe by this time next year we will be able to have some gathering. I don’t mind a quieter life with less but I really miss the option to go out and enjoy some public life things like last night.

Vicki