Fresh

After a few false starts, Spring is here! After being taunted by early-blooming daffodils and several spurts of ridiculously warm weather (only to bundle up again as another cold front swept through), I think Spring has finally settled in to stay. Granted, it's nippy outside right now -- but my sense of proportion has been a little distorted by over a decade of Florida's habit of "Winter, winter, SUMMER!" I can't put away the sweaters and jackets yet (it is only March, after all!), but the dogwood outside my kitchen window is blooming and the birds are trilling all of winter's pent-up songs.

And these girls -- well, I told a friend that all of my wildest chicken dreams are coming true, wondering at the same time if it's quite, quite normal to have wild chicken dreams... 

They are laying so well now -- last week we had eggs from all of them two days in a row, and four to five seems to be our average! After a very slow winter, I'd begun to wonder if even my "three per day" hope would be granted. My fears have been squelched, and we've even been able to gift a few eggs to friends (not many, because we consume them so voraciously!). And they're such entertaining biddies, too! Next winter we'll be putting a light in the coop, because I am convinced that longer days have contributed to better laying.

I feel like the world around us is just waiting to burst into bloom -- at least, the copious amounts of pollen that are accumulating on every outdoor surface would seem to indicate that!

With all of the freshness out-of-doors, I've been in the mood for a little refreshing within, too. My cleaning schedule has worked wonders for my housekeeping! February ended with almost every block checked -- even better than January. Improving rather than tapering off is probably a first for my housekeeping efforts, and it looks like March will be following suit! Having the housekeeping on auto-pilot, as it were, has freed me up to attend to other tasks -- declutterings, deeper cleans, that sort of thing. 

Another refresh? A simple polo shirt, purchased on clearance about four or five years ago for Little Man -- but never worn, because the embroidered skull design proved stubborn. Why, oh why, do they put skulls on toddler clothes? Fed up with the futility of a brand-new shirt cluttering my sewing supplies, I cut a simple leather patch and embroidered it with an anchor. I suppose I could say bought this shirt for Laddie, little though I knew it at the time!  

Fresh and new, everywhere I look. And if the sense of freshness fades from my consciousness, a few kicks and rolls from the little one inside my ever-expanding belly are a timely reminder!