I spend a silent and solitary day at home: writing, reading, potting flowers, staking tomatoes, and watering plants. But it is that moment when I’m standing barefoot on the grass in the backyard watering the tea garden and breathing in the gentle scent of lilacs that is, perhaps, the sweetest. I drop the hose, walk
It’s here. The spring weather I’ve longed for has arrived like a somewhat-late symphony. It’s settling in, tuning instruments, and preparing to show us something magnificent. I spend an afternoon with my hands in the dirt—the heady aroma, intoxicating, as I top up pots and plant flowers, imagining how they’ll fill in with colour over
We enjoy a light lunch at home after church, and a game of chess. Two games actually. I protest that carrots have distracted me and kept me from concentrating adequately on the game: Maya asking for more, and Gerry chewing on them. I coerce him into a second game and lose that one too. Then
It rains. One of those April rains where the sky suddenly grow dark, and the clouds burst forth. Then, the sun peeks her tentative face through the clouds, a rainbow appears in the sky, and, before you know it, it the sky is blue and the rain and the rainbow are fleeting memories. I spot
I sequester myself in the woman cave and write every morning. I’m in the zone, words flow, it’s wonderful. One afternoon we run errands and it’s sunny and warm. We’re on the way to the green grocer and I say that it’s almost time for iced capps. Gerry abruptly turns left into the Tim Hortons
We enjoy vegetable soup for lunch after church, and I lose another game of chess while we eat. I’m determined to crack the code of this game and beat my undefeated-in-this-house husband. I told Makiya that I’ll phone her with the celebratory news when I manage it. ”I won’t believe it’s you on the phone,”
I shoot drooping tulips and wrestle with my manuscript—two sweet ways to spend a morning. When I emerge from the woman cave for lunch (tomato soup, that I canned last summer, topped with fresh basil from the Aerogarden), the sun is peeking out. We have a late afternoon appointment in town, so enjoy a leisurely lunch,