Summer is “here”. Today reached 80 degrees, Sandwich played in water from the hose, Barrett sat in her diaper on the grass, and Bryan brought the loungey lawn chairs out. The plants that were nothing but brown and looking barren in our yard over the winter and my maternity leave are draped in green, green, green. I spent so much time cooped up in this house when Barrett was so small, partially due to recovery and having a flu/cold, and partially because it was just plain miserable out. Some of our plants have gone through a full cycle of flowering and turning to seed, and some are still getting ready for that. I find myself often reflecting on/comparing Barrett’s timeline of life so far and the life in our yard. Not sure why I do this and it is almost subconscious, how I track Barrett’s growth and compare her to the wild nature outside. Maybe after she turns one year old I’ll stop this funny comparison.
Our yard is so lush. There’s a big maple out front that shades our entire yard and keeps our house cool as well. Sitting in our living room, all I can see are hues of green and I absolutely love it. Especially now that the ivy on the fence is growing back, we have privacy in our plants. Sidenote: it’s a chain-link fence and the ivy was cut back to nothing but stems a few months ago.
I like to think that here, Sandwich is admiring our front yard. In reality, she is probably just soaking in this sunbeam.
I was thinking today about how much I love winter, and how fun it will be for my daughter to have a winter birthday. But then, what if she doesn’t like winter and wishes her birthday were in the summer? I started coming up with ideas of how I will explain to her and tell her all the fun things about winter. Summer always sells itself as most appealing with its warm weather, green lush plants, pretty bright blue skies … So many people prefer summer to the cold, monotone, stay-cozy-inside of winter. However, Bryan and I both love winter with its cold and snow, we love snowboarding and being outside in the cold, and it’s a great time for knitting and being indoors to share stories with friends. I would much rather be cold and need to add another pair of socks or long johns than being so hot that I can’t bear to sleep with clothes or a sheet on.
Maybe we will buy some Christmas cactus for Barrett.
