Spring

I like to follow the old Celtic calendar where spring starts on what we here call Groundhog's Day and in England is Candelmas. It is halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It makes a lot of sense to me for the seasons to begin between the solstices and the equinoxes because that way the longest day of the year is actually in the middle of summer and the shortest in the middle of winter: Mid summer and Midwinter. And it is about now that the light starts to noticeably change. The angle of the sun is higher, the days noticeably longer. The birds know this, as do the snowdrops and early aconites, violets, and anemones and the pussywillows. Very soon now we will start the first flats of lettuce in the greenhouse. Joel has been out spading up the beds for the earliest platings. Our soil is heavy and wet and trying to use any kind of machine early in the season creates nothing but mud. It is possible to spade up soil far to wet to rototill.

Inside I've been winding skeins of Chelsea Silk yarn into balls to knit into hats for the upcoming season. I love this yarn. It is 65% silk and 35 % yarn. It's been discontinued for years but I still pick up bits and pieces on places like ebay. One of these days the supply will dry up and I will either retire from hat making or find another favorite yarn.

I spent the first three days of the week subbing for one of the English teachers at the Friday Harbor High School. I had three really nice groups of kids so I really enjoyed the days.