Last fall I had an extra moment or two, which allowed me to finally plant some spring flower bulbs for Irene.

We were rewarded with the first crocus on April 4th.

It’s been a slow and frigid trek to true springtime. Frost still threatens tonight.

On April 14 the forsythia blooms held the last measurable snow.

The blood root first appeared on April 9. They then stood still, waiting for sunshine.

I saw them open on April 28, when we had an odd day of 80° weather. Back to highs in the 50s ever since.

I saw the first pussytoes on April 19th, but they didn’t start carpeting the roadsides until early May.

The first anemones and wild strawberries appeared around May 1st as well.

The tulips, hyacinth, and daffodils I hid in the rhubarb patch appreciated the relatively mild winter we had.

May 4th brought us baby chicks. We are not incubating any of our own this year due to Michael’s broken foot.

These particular apple blossoms have us bursting with anticipation. This tree came from a sprouting Granny Smith apple seed Michael planted almost 9 years ago. Apples do not come true from seed, which means we have no idea of the character of this tree’s fruit.

Michael set back his healing process by ignoring his doctor’s admonition to put no weight on his foot. After seeing the increased breakage on an X-ray, he has been better about keeping the foot off the ground. This hasn’t kept him out of the garden! He knows I’m digging as fast as I can, which isn’t fast enough. I have yet to finish turning over the big garden.

The radishes and lettuce he planted are sprouting! The tomatoes died from frost, but the peppers and eggplant survived. We have more tomato starts to plant once the frost warnings cease.

The crab apple will burst forth any day. The cherries, plums and juneberries brighten the woods as well as our gardens. Lilacs have blossom heads standing at attention, just looking for that next injection of warmth. We work. We wait. We wallow in spring green.

We celebrate life—in this instance, Irene’s birth 89 years ago.