A Walk To Save My Sanity

I'm surprised at how difficult I'm finding it to shelter in place.  

Getting out of my pajamas was a good first step.  Having our young friend in to help us clean brought some socially distant cheer.  I was dressed, the clouds weren't too threatening, and the street was empty.  I needed to exercise, it was too cold to swim, and so I ventured out into the world for the first time in days.

 I found this

 outside my front door to my left, 

and this

to my right.

It was nice to be reminded that Spring is really on its way.

After a lovely conversation with The Neighbor on the Other Side, who told me to stay home and let her go to the store if we needed anything, who sat in her car as I stood a socially distant distance away, who wishes she could take her kids to museums to culture them up but without that option and with no sports to play or watch, she would, indeed be happy to go out to the store for us.

And then it began to rain.

We love rain in the desert. 

Everything wakes up. 

This field of bluebells has never appeared before, but there it was, on the side of my house, as I looked toward JannyLou and Fast Eddie's house, hoping for a sighting and a shouted conversation. 

And then I went into the backyard, where the snapdragons and the violas I planted last year, the ones that did absolutely nothing before withering to nothingness and leaving a gaping hole where color should have been, somehow those disappointing days have been replaced by this explosion of volunteer blossoms.  

I came back into the house with a smile on my face, a lilt in my step, and joy in my heart.

I'm so glad that gardening is not cancelled.