Transition Time
First off, some favorite Old Musica ♥ It’s transition time, Girlfriends ~ a big change of season is on the way for us! Nothing shows the conflict between the past and the future, and the exact spot where the line divides, more eloquently than this photograph . . . out in our backyard . . .
. . . it’s a fight to the finish, but I know who’s going to win. We are! We’ve had our winter fires, our hot soups 
and grilled cheese sandwiches, we’ve had our dark and cozy afternoons, we are up to here with hot chocolate and wearing four sweaters in the house ~ someday we will want all of these things again, we will pine for that first falling leaf and the smell of woodsmoke, just as right now we are pining to go OUTSIDE and PLAY! You California girls are already there, lots of you across the country are going outside without a sweater. But in this neck of the woods, we still have a ways to go. The weather report has us in the 4o’s for the next ten days. We are not complaining.
One of the ways we know the season is about to make a radical change is the way the sunrise streams through the kitchen windows; the way it plays over the cupboards and stove. The sun has changed positions, has come around to give us more morning light. Jack says Hi! Don’t you just want to grab him? He will let you. He will lay on his back in your arms like a baby and turn those green lights on you and then you have to kiss him a hundred times just as he planned, until he can escape.
Because to be truthful? Despite all that love? The turkeys in the driveway are more interesting than you. And by the way, probably the very best $10 a person can spend while waiting for spring to arrive ~ we went to Maurice the Florist (we say Mor-eest-the-Flor-eest) and got a bunch of daffodils. Aren’t they perky? What snow?
Jack reminds me . . . we have more food for soul: our charm collection has grown and now includes, from left to right, pink flowers for our “Girlfriends,” green hedgerows for “A Fine Romance,” the brand new tuxedo charm for “Kitty Love,” and swirls of sea foam for “Martha’s Vineyard.”
KITTY LOVE comes just like the rest of them, on its own gift card. Jack and Girl have ordered one. I think they’re giving it to me for mother’s day.
Girl Kitty prefers to use her tuxedo as camouflage.
We also got in a collection of wonderful birds cut from metal ~ four different shapes This one is made to hang from a window or a cupboard knob; the others stand alone and have stands that can be screwed to a shelf or a fence or a window sill. Look how delicate this is. They aren’t in the web store yet, I want to take pictures of them today ~ I just happened to set this one on my book about the wonderful Edith Holden (The Edwardian Lady) ~ it looked so cute I had to show you.
I’m working hard on the new book every day, we’re not going out much, just working since the weather is perfect for it. I love writing it, we are laughing ourselves silly reading some of the entries in my old diaries, remembering my first ferry ride when I thought everyone on the boat looked like a Kennedy, the first time I saw this little house in the woods and how sad it was, the first time I ever saw a cardinal land on my birdfeeder, I’m remembering so many details about coming to the island . . .
. . . and how I had to figure out how to live in a place that had seasons ~ it was quite an interesting challenge that first year . . . especially winter! It goes from happy childhood, to broken heart, to starting over, in scrapbook form, or so it seems right now, lots of pictures (before and afters of the rooms in that little house), recipes, and quotes. I’ve written 267 double-spaced pages so far. I write, Joe edits, I write some more. I’ll have to give you some excerpts one of these days. It’s making me very happy.
And, speaking of H A P P Y, what are you going to do for our next big holiday? Any plans?
No, I don’t mean Easter! This isn’t our Easter dinner. Our next holiday is April Fool’s Day! Just around the corner! Have you done your holiday shopping?
Gotta pick up some gummy worms and figure out where I can hide them this year! (He always forgets what day it is.) I’ll get them when I go grocery shopping this morning ~ do any of you have a favorite April Fool’s joke?
Tonight I get to go to TGIF at my girlfriend Jaime’s house, everyone is bringing an appetizer, so I’m off to cook and watch Great Expectations on TCM. I haven’t seen my girlfriends all together for way too long. I’m in the mood for girl talk! So off I go now . . . leaving a little reminder on how to “lighten up” for APRIL! Byeeeee, Girls! Love you ~ have a wonderful day! ♥
