Mercury

It has been almost a month since I posted anything, a month of the same old litany of papers to grade and juggling home, family, and school.  Yet there have been some new things that have surfaced.

Two weeks ago a fabulous new raised bed took the place of the old, falling apart one.  It is now full of dirt and mushroom compost, though the soil still needs some amending before I plant.  I think that is on Jack's list for next week.  For now, I have molasses tubs of dirt ready for broccoli plants if I have time after school.  Spring is so mercurial.  Yesterday I sighed over the peach tree blooms.  I know we will have another freeze.  The apricot has budded, but the blooms haven't opened yet.   While I watered the fruit trees and berry bushes Monday, I had an earnest chat with them all about the dangers of blooming so soon.   The hyacinths and some crocus are flowering in the front, making me itch to go to the big Menonite greenhouse and get plants for the other beds . . . But I know it's too early.

In the meantime, we have been seizing this sunshine.  Monday after school, we loaded up Bell's bike and went to the park at Cyril.  She rode and I jogged along next to her - we didn't have long, just about 30 minutes, but any exercise was better than none, and the day was far too gorgeous to stay inside.

Mercurial.  Today was cold and rain.  Rain - I almost forget what is like to have rain coming down in buckets or lulling me to sleep as it pings on the tin roof.  Whatever the form, I am thankful for it.

Spring break is just a mememory ( and a different post all together) as this week does just become the same litany of school and home.  Todays's litany was a bit more frustrating - I spent two hours on the phone, mostly on hold, trying to deal with an insurance issue.  It was frustrating enough that I might have been lacking in patience when it came to my students.   And then I came home and discovered the messages about John Morgan.  That just makes my heart heavy.  I thought about the classes we sat in together and the shows I had watched him in. Life is mercurial.  It is so full, yet so ephemeral, gone before we grasp its meaning if we are not careful and diligent to live it.  And so we pray - we pray for those who are weak, who need healing, who need a miracle - and we pray for ourselves that we might not forget to live this life and be thankful for it.