First Day

In work gloves, wool sweater, and rubber boots

The first day in spring that has sunlight and warmth enough to sink right into your bones is the day that you keep finding things to do outside just so you can be immersed in it, dunked right into the birdsong, the laughter of the creek, the hope of it all. First day in the work gloves, wool sweater, and rubber boots. First pass at spring lawn and garden clean up, though they say not to disturb the leaf litter until overnight temperatures are consistently 50° so as not to prematurely awaken the pollinators curled up and sleeping under there.

So we focused on picking up sticks and left the leaves be. What with all the cottonwoods and willow trees, there are enough winter-flung sticks and branches scattered across the lawn to keep us busy for several sunny afternoons. You can imagine what fun Maggie Mae thought this was! Stick work! Mama Kitty joined us for a while, too, asking lots of questions, considering for a moment that she might want to give it a try.