Milestone

It is with great joy that I announce the reaching of a major milestone in my year. Not the disappearance of lake ice, not the sweeping of the curbs by the city, not even the first real hint of green in the trees signals the arrival of Spring as definitively as this.

It is the day that I move the yard tools that shovel, chip and scrape to the back of the garage and bring forward the ones that prune, dig, rake and shovel. Halleluja.

Of course, it'll be a another couple of weeks before I have all the yard clean-up work done but the dent I made today is big enough to notice. The neighborhood is rejoicing too, for it has waited all winter to see me dirt covered in my oh-so-fetching gardening clothes.

My neighbor's two little, visiting nieces insisted on "helping" me once when I was weeding. Later that week we walked over to grill and chill on their patio. The littlest one asked me if I was the lady from next door. I suppose when I have all my hair tucked into a giant straw hat with no make-up and my face a couple of shades redder than normal, I look a bit different. Out of the mouths of babes...