the light yesterday was so very lovely. it was warm and bounced through the trees, picking up the glowy new green of the just opening leaves. i had laundry on the line all day...5 loads dried before 4 in the afternoon. it was just that sort of sunny breezy perfect day. i often judge summer days by their laundry drying potential. i spent an hour in the front garden pulling up dead growth from last year. surrounded by the lime balm that always seems to grow quite out of control, making the air and my hands and the compost bag smell better than a bakery. crabby watched me from her spot curled up in the clay chiminea we used for our wedding and is now at home in the front garden. and the eave of the front porch has once again been claimed by a nesting robin. at one point after i'd been barefoot in the grass with my camera for an hour following stella and edgar and floyd around the garden, talking to passing neighbors and breathing in the perfection of it all, i came in to tell tom this was my favorite day of the year so far. i think i'll head out now with edgar and my camera to get started on this new day. it looks like another beauty.

for the first time this year, the feeling of summer is layered beautifully into the evening. we spent much of the day in the yard. we raked and cut grass and swept the porch and bagged up all the leaves and the trash that winter had blown into the yard. tom trimmed the trees and the lilac bushes. laundry dried on the line. a long and wonderful list of summer chores. after a lovely dinner out with tom's parents, we arrived home in time to put out the garbage and walk edgar and vaccuum. all with the sun. so when i started feeling the weariness of the end of the day, ready to watch sunday evening hbo shows with tom and edgar and the sky was still gray with a weak sun, i realized this was our first full summer-like day of the year. being at the end of the day and the sky is still light is one of those little summer joys.

my mind is fleeting and rapid lately. i have glimpses of little ideas and moments of brilliance that i plan to share here, but they disappear. but the visuals that flood me constantly are stable. solid. always there. the trees. when the branches are bare with black tendrils against gray or blue skies, the beauty of it fills me. i dread the silhouettes changing to soft leafiness. so these last few weeks of branches means i'm taking endless photos. and yet, when the neon green stubble starts appearing, i'll love that as hard as the bare branches. and when we have the heavy cool shiver of leaves shading our windows and guarding our yard, i'll despair at losing that as well. i love every phase.

do you feel the newness in the air? around our house things are feeling brighter and springier. and easier. chores are simpler. throwing together a fast dinner when we've been working all day happens faster and it's all thanks to the warmer air and sunshine. i still have the mountains of laundry that have been haunting me the past couple weeks. but i'm hoping to get them washed and on the line today. or tomorrow. my parents are coming tonight to have dinner and a visit before they head off on their 2 month 'avoid the pollens' tour of the american southeast, visiting relatives and finding little places to fall in love with. i'll be missing my dad's birthday so we'll try to make it a little celebration for that as well. tom just brought me coffee while i'm writing. and as soon as i'm finished my coffee and my blog, edgar and i are going out to tour around the harbor. enjoy the spring. and the extra energy it gives for all the extra aspirations that spiral through the air.

i'm home and i'm happy. it's a little blustery outside....i'm still hoping for a warm bright spring to appear and stay for more than an afternoon. i worked at the bookstore tonight. and i came home brimming with all the energy it provides. i love the people who i work with. and the customers who are almost always funny & interesting & generous of spirit. tom works early in the morning. so although he waited for me to get home, he's gone off to bed, leaving me to watch tennis i dvr-ed from the weekend. edgar is on the couch with me. stella is curled up next to him. there is a little fire in the fireplace. the windows are dark. and i just had a snack of cherry tomatoes and tzatziki. there are dishes in the sink, but i'll put them in the dishwasher in the morning. right now i'm basking in a happy moment. it's important to recognize these moments and love them without distraction.

my sweet edgar. we are having a difficult evening. the rain is melting the snow, yes. however, it has turned our yard into an icy, wet, slippery trap for both edgar and me. i've had a few close calls navigating between the house and the studio today. but this evening, after his dinner, edgar slipped on a thick patch of ice as he was stepping onto the porch. his back legs buckled and he was terrified. we've been walking around the block on the street (thankfully no ice there) to stretch him out. and rubbing his neck. and we gave him a syringe full of pain meds. that wonderful warm musky wet dog smell is filling the room now. he's finally asleep. but i think i'll sleep down here on the couch beside him in case he needs me in the night.

walking with a camera & a dog

our walks are my favorite part of the day when the day is fine. there are days when i dread our walk, but once we start i don't want to stop. and there are the days when we just go up the street for a sniff around the park and come right back to the warm house. the last 6 weeks have been full of the last category. but yesterday both edgar and i were anxious to get out into the sun and the warm air. the lake was singing under the ice, the hollow wave music just before the lake breaks through the ice. i love that sound. it is the spring song in our little world. the sun was strong and we wandered among the old limestone mansions and asylums (yes, they sit together on the edge of lake ontario, just steps from our house). there are decrepit old greenhouses that have been inoperable for years. i love all the angles and reflections that i can trap with the camera. it was a perfect way to welcome spring.

wonderful friends

the last couple of weeks have been busy and stressed around our house. lots of headache-y busy crap that has taken over our lives lately. and in the thick of it all, my sweet beautiful friend sarah, showed up at the door with her gorgeous little girl, carrying a pot of tulips. and as the days passed, the tulips opened and grew more and more stunning. i would sigh a little at their beauty as i rushed through the room, and saw them sitting on the dining room table, even though we had no time to sit down to a proper dinner. these flowers made everything easier.

simply doing what comes into your heart without knowing why, is a huge component to friendship. and we find it with so few.

for the past several summers i've been saving all the chipped and jagged little eggs we find cushioned in the grass. it's always such a dreamy little thrill to find one, that i began taking them home, cradled in my hand and collecting them in a lovely little robin's egg blue tea cup and saucer. they are so delicate and always seem warm to touch and steeped with the scents of summer. in january it makes summer seem real again to look into a cup of baby bird eggs.