Waiting for Spring

In the two weeks since my last post, there have been three snowstorms (or seventeen…I can’t remember, I’ve lost count) and I was blessed with a serious case of bronchitis (which pretty much brought me to my knees). Towards the end of my five-day hiatus from civilization (no one wanted to be around a coughing, wheezing, breathless woman), I cleaned the house from top to bottom.

Another Snow Day AFTER I posted about Spring coming 

Albeit slowly, I put a few clean cups away, then sat and rested. Then a few dirty soup bowls would go in the washer, then I sat and sipped tea. Move a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer. Then, naptime.  You get the picture.

If I sat, he laid on me. Rusty was my constant nurse.

Thankfully towards the end of my five-day hiatus, there was one bright and sunny day, about 50-degrees. I placed my chair just inside the storm door. I did not want to sit in the breeze necessarily, albeit slight, but I did want to feel the warmth of the sun. Fearful I would have a coughing fit, I breathed slowly. The cool, fresh air was a nice reprieve from my recent closed-up, uncirculated, stale indoor air.

I needed a foot rest too. 

The temperature could have been 80-degrees outside, the sun felt strong. I actually perspired a little. I welcomed it, though, it was lovely to breathe “clean” air. In this moment of gratification, I open my eyes to see if Rusty was enjoying this moment too. Lo and behold, he was and then some!

He had climbed his way over my resting containers, chomping on the dried flowers and grasses that I failed to throw away at the end of last summer. The shame. Here, I am cleaning my house from floor to ceiling, trying to scrub the germs that caused my miserable state, and I have a pile of containers—12 to be exact—just sitting there. Rotting. Or, are they?  

After looking at them for a few minutes and thinking of all the work it is going to be (and, inevitably how tired I will be after cleaning it up), I realized a few things. First, I do not have to clean the planet in one day, let alone my house. I can take my time and do what I can. Second, this sight should not be shameful, but exciting. I realize that Spring is around the corner and soon I will have containers cleaned and filled with new soil and seed. Oh! The possibilities!

My patio faces west, so it gets sun. Lots of sun. And, if this summer is anything like last summer, whatever I plant will need be tolerant of dry, hot, sunny conditions and likely need water every day. I do not care, though, I am going to fill every last one with herbs, tomatoes, peppers, a flower or two, and if I can find one, a tall ornamental grass. If you have any recommendations, I’m all ears!

I will fill every container until my heart’s content. My lungs, on the other hand, will just have to catch-up.

TWELVE CONTAINERS! I'm so excited. Apparently, Rusty is too. Though he does like eating the foliage as is.