Finally! The weather has started to ripen and the air is a little more dense, doesn't quite knock the air out of you as soon as you step outside. The last couple of weeks Tim and I have spent cleaning up our front yard so that we can brick it. This involved clearing away the pond, fish, and a million other gross things that happened to live under the soil.

We have also been dealing with some plumbing issues that we pretty much expected were going to happen in a 1902 house with some handyman past owners. I often wonder and hope that we are not in this alone, that other old DC houses have the same issues.

This time of year has me feeling very cluttery. I am not sure if that makes sense, but I look around at my house, my clothes, my life and just want to clean everything out. Start fresh. This could be lent. This could be spring. This could be that the sun does that to you. There is something so simple, so pure, so non-cluttery about the first buds of spring. Crocuses, daffodills, and soon cherry blossoms. They are so crisp.

I was talking with my sister the other day and we were complaining about the weather this winter. She said, "You always forget how great spring is, and then every year you remember how wonderful it feels."