I love this time of year -- not as pretty as early spring, but so much more inviting.  For one, it's warmer outside than in.  This for the first time in 8 months!  It's also planting season here.  The greenhouses and weathermen have finally given the general public the OK to plant without danger of frost.  To me, that translates to dirt and shovels and rakes and watering cans and hoses and string and steaks and corn seeds and potato seeds and onion seeds and dirt mounds and trenches and weed pulling and transplanting and ROTOTILLING (which has the added benefit of seriously getting me in shape for summer).  It is quite hot and sunny for that kind of work, but a good sun hat, a water bottle, cool grass and occasional breaks make it doable and, of course, very satisfying.  I stand and gaze at my handiwork and take in the joy of hard work and thoroughness.  Can't wait to reap!

Outside of the garden are all the effects of others' hard work and God's natural gifts.  Flower beds, shrubbery, lilacs, towering Elms, fields of grass, wildflowers and fruit trees fill my senses with the life of late spring.  It is more exciting than I can say to discover every week new and fantastic plants and flowers in our Afton house.  Our landlords have good taste!  They also had experience gardening.  I have every tool at my fingertips =)  But I will never tire of being at the Hobbs' Eau Claire farm.  The aroma itself carries a thousand thousand memories and impressions of the past.  It has been said that music and smells are windows into the memory, and this is no exception.  Walking through the tall cleared woods along the driveway and smelling the warm polleny air with the cool breeze blown in from the neighbor's pond, I am transported to times and activities and friends and ages long gone.  Every old car comes into view, every paint ball game, volleyball game, sword fight, swim.  Visions of gardening, feeding ducks and chickens and cats and dogs, the old barn long since torn down, the willow that never really did perk up, the huge novel gardens, the creek, the outdoor shower, and of course, where the tent was set up...

And wherever I am, there seems a familiar smell of the season that to me seems to match the shiny mature leaves in the sunlight and the expiring blossoms.  Perhaps it's a plant or several plants home to this region.  But to me it's simply my own history.  My past, my present, my future.  The people I know and knew.  Experience gained and gaining.  Growth.  Have a great day in the sun!