It snowed last night. A good April snow that sticks but melts away within a day. Snow has a tendency to make me be a bit pensive. I suppose it’s partly the fact that I am indoors, and probably drinking tea, or perhaps it’s the colors of white and grey like a blank slate that brings thoughts to the forefront. Regardless, I realized in my musings today that I missed writing and sharing my thoughts about just life in general. I created this section of the blog – the heart section – for just that purpose. For something not to make or create or learn a skill necessarily, but just a place to read and enjoy and reflect. I’ve been so focused on developing recipes and working on our house and the like that I have neglected this. It is so important however for me to have those moments. I find without time of stillness, time to just sit and drink a cup of tea, read some poetry, or talk of the joys of life with a friend, that my creativity and the enjoyment of my work tends to dwindle. All this rambling brings me to a bit of a point. I hope to make more of these posts that do not, per say, have much of a point. Ones that highlight the season, days, and joys I am passing through. Slow posts of reflection. And so, I welcome you to my thoughts and thank you for listening to my musings.

While it did just snow, spring is pushing back in full force. Already the ground is a brighter, deeper green. The grass is alive and vibrant and not the dull pale blades of when the winter snow first melts. The maples have blossomed and sent their tiny red flowers falling down around the yard. Maples, I feel, are one of the first trees to bud. I so enjoy getting to look out and see the tips of trees in red. It makes my pulse quicken with excitement for the upcoming weeks as spring burgeons forth.

This spring has been exciting for me in particular as it is the first spring in our new house. What a joy to see the spring bulbs that the previous owners have planted pop up. In particular the beds are filled with Scilla siberica or Siberian Squill – a tiny bluish-purple flower. It has lifted my heart to see them every day, crowding the pathway when I’m walking up to the house. With the budding plant growth all around, the anticipation of getting to plant is bubbling inside me. While there still is about a month until our last frost date, the preparations for our gardens are underway. Filling the raised beds, clearing branches, and of course starting seedlings indoors have all been happening these past few weeks in April.

This year my husband helped me plant the vegetable seeds. He is new to the world of gardening and his fresh wonder at the different shapes and sizes of the seeds was contagious. How incredible that a tiny lettuce seed can grow into a large head and what a funny bumpy shape swiss chard has. There is such variety in the world, and such a beauty in that variety. Sometimes, it is easy to miss that. We want to have all things in a particular way, to have everything match us and our desires. Instead of seeing the beauty of variety, we see something different from what we want or expect. While I think variety is easy to appreciate in vegetables or flowers or even seeds, we struggle to appreciate it in humans sometimes. Yet, it is just as important there. I think if we learned to see the beauty in variety, we might just be more patient with others and ourselves.

So, as we patiently await the last frost, and eagerly watch more and more plants push their way through the rich earth, as we see joy in the variety of life emerging after winter, lets also find joy in the variety of people around us.