"Spring is in the air..."

"Spring is in the air..."

When I was a kid, I thought my father was incredibly talented, (as I grew-up, I realized how true that was). The specific talent to which I am referring here, is his ability to take nearly any word or phrase that you'd give him, and have him sing a song with that word or phrase therein. To be honest, he couldn't carry a tune in that proverbial bucket, however, what he lacked in ability, he more than made up for in enthusiasm and in practice. I seem to have inherited that talent to a small degree. In fact, if you've ever had a conversation with me, I may have mentioned, during the course of that conversation, "that reminds me of a song..." Now, depending on how much I trusted you, I may or may not have followed that up with said song. 

My reason for mentioning this is, if you look back over some of my earlier posts, you'll find that I have used snippets of lyrics or titles of songs as some of the titles of my posts. As I am typing this, there is an old song running through my brain with the title above, as a major theme. Unfortunately, try as I might, I cannot remember much of the song and have no idea who wrote or performed it. When I Googled the lyrics, Terry Jacks' "Season's in the Sun" was the most common result and that's not what I'm thinking of...oh well, it'll probably come to me as soon as I publish this. 

At any rate, this post is not about spring songs...its about spring. You know, so many things in my life were so very different when I was reporting to an office for work than they are now that I am working at being retired. When I was teaching or even as a campus administrator, we knew spring was in the air based on children's behaviors and by the much needed and eagerly anticipated "Spring Break." When I moved to the district level, the indicators for spring were much more a "need for a break." Now, the approaching spring is something I feel in my being. Yes, I know that sounds weird, but hear me out, (or should that be, continue reading????). It's almost like the "nesting" behaviors so many people acknowledge in pregnant women. I can feel the changing seasons. Maybe because I am no longer strictly bound by dates on a calendar, I am more aware of time. Perhaps its my ancestral agrarian roots which are making me more a-tuned to such things (or, maybe its just inhaling too much fertilizer,) either way, spring is definitely in the air! 

  My flower and veggie beds are all readied and some are planted. Two of the veggie beds (as noted on the photo above) have all had soil turned and amended but are not yet planted. The bed with the antique plow and the smaller one to its right have been planted with herbs, egg-plant, yellow bell peppers and onions. Tomatoes will go in one of the back beds and I'm thinking of adding a trellis of some type down the length and in the center of the other bed for some cucumbers and possibly some squash to climb.  I've added two fruit trees, a peach and a pear, to another part of my garden and transplanted two orange trees that were previously kept in large pots.

Speaking of my roots, I am basically a combination of German (with some Austrian-(according to my grandfather, his family migrated from Austria, unfortunately, especially to him, the part of the world where they actually originated, is now part of Czechoslovakia)) and Anglican (my father's family has been in the US for a much longer time and they are much harder to trace back to a specific country of origin. My father just put all of the (current and former) British-ruled countries together when he spoke of our ancestry, mostly because he had no idea). As a result, I generally tell folks that I'm German and Scotch-Irish, it tends to explain my fondness for a good party! In October, we celebrated my Germanic roots with an "Oktoberfest" and this weekend, we'll celebrate the Celtic side on St. Patty's Day. There will be Guinness and potatoes but more importantly, good friends, good stories and good memories will be made. All are welcomed so don't hesitate to dress yourself in you greenest finery and come join the fun!