Yesterday I forgot to say “Happy Spring”, because I was too busy doing springy things outside.  Belated Happy Ostara, as it is also known.  Or “Ostara Tov, for all you pagan Jews!

Here is Misu ushering in the season, and then sleeping it off in her window bed.  The supermoon was bright last night, but you’ll have to take my word for it.

I started amending more areas in preparation for adding flowers: E’s memorial tree garden, and the sun perennial flower bed.  I’ll be going for the crammed cottage garden effect.

Just the weed flowers and spring bulb flowers alone are taking over the lawn.  Violets, my birth flower, in all shades, are everywhere.  Works for me; lawns are stupid.

It’s raining again, but that’s OK; it’s watering my germinating veg seeds, and it’s my favorite weather.

You may ask, what relevance does mundane garden trivia hold, while white supremacy terrorists seem to reign supreme, encouraged by a trump mentality?  I don’t really know; it’s just what I do to maintain some sanity and do my tiny part for the environment.  I don’t take my good fortune for granted, knowing how easily and suddenly human-caused brutality and suffering can affect each one of us.  We haven’t come very far from Nazi Germany, after all.  And now back to our regularly scheduled green news.

One certain thing is spring can’t be stopped, at least for now.  I hooked up the hoses and started watering the veg beds yesterday.  Flowers continue to pop, and seeds are germinating like crazy indoors.  Veg seedlings are hardening off on the porch; the only question is where I will fit all these plants!  I’m fortunate to have such benign challenges, and the room to expand.

Meanwhile, Misu’s main job is defending her territory against poor “Joey”, howling and yowling like a banshee from the comfort of her window seat.  She’s also a ferocious predator, bringing in voles and birds almost daily, leaving them like gifts at the back door.  I’ll spare you the gory details.

Yesterday we did some work at my son’s house, after eating at Hot Rods, the retro ’50s diner.  E installed Avdi’s new star lights, and I did some more pruning and yard cleanup.  I was too busy working to take photos, but it was a flower wonderland–cherry and peach blossoms, magnolia buds, quince blooms, and many more.

Avdi’s here, so it must be erev!  Always a pleasant occasion.

Once again it’s 60s-70s out, windy and sunny, while large swathes of the country are being slammed with scary weather events.  I started some more seeds germinating, and took some more flower photos.  Even the weeds are flowering in masses.

I’ve been too busy farming, indoors and out, to post much, so two sunrises later, here’s my progress report.

I’ve expanded my germination station, and started more seeds.  Misu’s window seat expanded along with it, so she approves.

I prepped and amended my new herb bed, including a dry stream bed for rain runoff.  Misu helped.

I upsized some broccoli seedlings into peat pots to harden off on the porch.  Misu lounged.

After preparing my veg garden and pea bed, I direct-sowed the snow peas and cool-weather brassicas (cabbage family), greens, and carrots.  Misu supervised from under the cart and up in a maple tree.

Of course on this 75° (!) day, flowers continued to open.  Meanwhile, the midwest and south are getting slammed by yet another horrific winter storm with snow, extreme winds and tornado alerts.  Maybe we’ll get away with just a minor monsoon.  It’s hard to tell, anymore.

My orchids have deigned to finally rebloom, and the orange-centered daffodils just opened.  The Muscari (grape hyacinth) are taking over the lawn.  They must think spring is afoot.

Likewise my veg, herb, and flower seedlings are raring to go on to their next stage of life, coming soon.

Misu knew something was up (trip to the vet for booster shots) and was not amused.  She did not enjoy her car ride there and back, so she’s recuperating.

Spring-not-spring has sprung forward, so they say, and appropriately it’s about 70°, and not raining!  I took advantage of the illusory reprieve to get out there and look busy in the garden, doing bed prep and yard cleanup.  Flowers were busy blooming, and Misu got busy following me around.

It sounds like boring busywork, but I’m grateful for these uneventful, gardeny days, considering all the pain and disintegration going on in lives around us.  I spent almost 10 years mostly garden-deprived, and almost twice that cat-deprived, so for me this is luxury.  You never know what’s around the next bend, as I’ve learned all too well, so grab whatever you’ve got and make the most of it.  Trite, but true.

Yesterday it was warm enough to work in the garden, adding in more topsoil to the veg beds, and other cleanup, before the inevitable rains started up again.

Meanwhile, Misu and “Joey” were having a howlfest, the former ferociously defending her turf from the latter, who just flopped down like a docile black puddle in the driveway.

We’ve been in TN for one year now.  A lot has happened, for the most part good.

I looked back at my photos from a year ago, and saw our first glimpse of spring flowers blooming, and snow mixed with white petals all over the ground.  The house has undergone many repairs and improvements since then, of course.  We’ve had to spend more than we anticipated in some cases, but we’re on track and catching up.  We’ve encountered some extreme ignorance and prejudice, but also met some good people who are working hard to make TN a more progressive place, in the face of all the odds.

Most importantly, I’ve had the privilege of hanging out with my son, my main reason for moving here in the first place.  The grandkids are too far away for us to visit, but I get to see them when they visit my son a few times a year.  I’m learning to seize opportunities and memories in the present moment, while they’re around to be had.  I feel very fortunate and thankful for each and every chance I get to spend with my son, however belated.

And I’ve had a year to start working on improving the garden.  Today I finally got the rest of my native wildflower seeds into cold or hot stratification, to pretreat them for germination.  It will be a long ongoing process, but I’m learning a lot about the life cycles of native plants and heirlooms.  Like everything else in life, you have to focus on each step in the present, not the vast uncertainty of the future.

Last but not least, we officially added Misu the Cat to our extended family.  She makes the house feel much more like a home.  And she definitely earns her keep, mousing and birding each day.  She lives to eat.  “Feed me, dammit!”

This is one bored kitty!  It’s cold and pouring out, so much so that even Misu wants no part of it.  But it’s so boring in here between meals, that she’s found every possible nook, cranny, bag, box, closet shelf, you name it, to hide in, climb up, anywhere to look appealing and expectant.  Who can resist this cute, deceptively innocent, calculating con artist?  Apparently not me.