I remember stopping for gas at a Super America somewhere in Minneapolis in April 1996, and before I got out of my car, KS95 started to play the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”. The DJ introduced it saying that it had been one long, cold lonely winter (which saw a record-breaking air temperature of minus 60 in Tower in February), and that the forecast was…finally…calling for sun and warmer temperatures. I felt hopeful and downright euphoric for the first time in months.
Most of us in the northern part of the northern hemisphere never thought the 2022-23 winter would end, and this month, April — when you get your hopes up — has been all over the place: eighty degrees one day, snow the next. For the last four nights, I’ve had to cover the clematis (not pictured), the year-old azalea, and some other plant I can’t remember the name of, but it got nipped by frost a few years ago, so I covered it, too. Anyway, today they look happy.
And so am I! Happy that it’s above 55 degrees. Happy that I could go outside without a coat and boots. Happy that I could slip on gardening gloves and rev up the weed wacker (which surprisingly held a charge after sitting out under the covered porch all winter). Happy to say goodbye to the snow shovel that’s been on the deck since October.
I didn’t go crazy. Just 45 minutes. My body isn’t used to all the excitement of pulling weeds and raking just yet. Like the weather, it feels like 80 degrees one day and ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IT’S SNOWING! the next. But today, I got 45 minutes of happy.
How are finding your happy these days? Leave a comment, and clap along!
Lynn Haraldson, Writer 
My mother always said she could definitively judge the change of seasons by when her UPS guy showed up in shorts. Ours is still in long pants, though he did look at me funny when I asked him if it was time for shorts yet, poor guy. Enjoying the warmer temps out here in the PNW, shucking a few layers during the morning run and savoring this year’s first batch of chicken that came off the grill on Sunday – why does it always taste so amazing after a dreary stretch of soups & stews? Love it. Happy gardening, Lynn!
Grilling! Oh, yes, I know it can be – and IS – done in winter, but it’s so sublime in the warmer temps. On to corn-on-the-cob season! Happy gardening to you, too, emmaclaire 🙂
Also? Advil is a miracle drug 🫢
This lifted my spirits!