Vernal Equinox!

The birds know whats going on! Following months of silence they are suddenly vocal from before sun up well into twilight.

The snow banks are proof of whats going on! After two days of rain(!) they are still huge but not as huge as they were at the start of the week.

The clocks have been adjusted to keep up with whats going on. Now set an hour ahead of where they were two weeks ago the daylight we are having seems just endless.

As of 5:48 this morning SPRING is here!

On top of all this the tulips available in stores this year are the best I can ever remember. They last and last, continuing to grow towards the light, hanging onto their petals until they are wide open like technicolour daisies.

In our house living in a way that acknowledges the seasons is central to how things feel, how we live, even what we eat. Martha has been a huge inspiration for me in this regard through the years (yes that Martha!) I have an almost complete set of her magazines from the first 10 years she was publishing and I continue to use them as seasonal inspiration.

Each month I get out my collection for the upcoming month, make myself a cup of tea and comb through them, notebook in hand to gather ideas and develop plans for the upcoming weeks. Everything from menus to household maintenance and organization to cleaning and houseplant and garden information is there, just when I want or need it.

I've been doing this for years and I'm amazed how it keeps the endless chores and what can be the drudge of domestic responsibilities fresh and healthy and even entertaining for the whole family.

Life outside the house is busy and distracting for all of us. Its generally very fast paced, often hectic and since we are all going in opposite directions for the majority of the work and school week it can really be functionally divisive. This monthly process and routine acknowledgement of the seasons brings us all together in our experience of our home and I have seen how we all benefit from it.

I said in a recent post I had some inclination towards "old school" thinking. Living seasonally is definitely one example of that mindset but we definitely live it in a context of today's world and reality.

So the arrival of a new season is exciting not just because its been a pretty intense winter or because in Canada, Spring is generally a kinder and gentler time than the one that precedes it but also because it holds in store all kinds of fresh yet familiar tasks and treats to which we are all looking forward.

(And of course more knitting too!)