Drowsy Day

Dana is fond of saying that she hates eating outside. '"It's either too hot or too cold or too windy or there are too many bugs...." Although wanting to eat al fresco is one of the reasons we moved out of Berkeley with its summer fog and chilly temperatures rolling in reliably every afternoon, she does have a point.

Two of our guests were suffering last night from hay fever and allergies , we were all being swarmed by gnats and bitten by mosquitoes, but nobody was really complaining. It was just nice to sit outside and talk. We've been holed up and bundled up all winter, our main contacts with each other consisting  of muffled greetings as we passed each other, heads down, umbrellas up, walking our dogs or getting the mail. There's been very little lingering in the sun getting caught up on neighborhood gossip this winter.

Today spring has been officially declared. I am sitting in the garden in the shade of our big yellow umbrella. A passing squirrel stopped next to me and did a classic double take. It had been awhile since he'd seen a real human on his patch. A single monarch, the first of the season, floated by and fluttered back several times.

The newly shorn trees' twisted branches are darkly outlined against a cloudless cerulean sky, a light breeze stirring the leaves. The raucous weed whackers and leaf blowers have stopped, and the only sounds are the trickle of water in the bubbling fountain and Ozzie gently snoring as he dozes on the cool cement floor of the pump house....

It won't last long, soon a helicopter will racket over, or  a dog will bark, urgent chores will reassert themselves and I will be forced to move, but for the moment, it is pleasant to enjoy sun and the garden with no agenda.....