Spring Has Sprung

As I drove to town this morning through the countryside to Katherine’s, everywhere I looked at people’s lawns and the roadside, bright and sunny daffodils were welcoming spring.

Across from the large roadside expanse of golden daffodils that I especially love because it has been there for decades and always come up earlier than others, there is a tiny ancient cemetery. Someone has cleaned it in recent years. I don’t know if family members or strangers are now mowing and keeping this burial place pristine. I’ve never stopped at this tiny cemetery because it seems so private although there is a little driveway in, and maybe someday I will stop and view the few tombstones there and admire the caretaker’s work. Today one grave was completely covered with the cheerful daffodil blooms that symbolize so well the renewal of hope and joy after the cold of winter.

Weather was beautiful today. Frantically Gerald and I helped Katherine get ready for the hospital van, which came 45 minutes earlier than we expected. Evidently the time for the
Tysabri infusion at the hospital was misunderstood by either Kate or the van driver. So it was a wonderful relief as she wheeled outside the door towards the van and she asked if she would need a wrap to tell her that she would be fine without a sweater or coat.

I had already told her as she brushed her hair to try to catch a glimpse in her yard of her new daffodils that had started blooming since yesterday. Her plants are unusually healthy and pretty—actually four different kinds of daffodils. Today’s new ones are bi-colored with a slightly orange center and a simpler one that is just plain yellow. Yesterday the lovely large pale yellow ones at the end of their house were showing their stuff, and my favorites—the miniature ones under the light post—were waving at me in the breeze. I picked three of each and placed in her vases so she could enjoy them inside the house.

After helping Katherine out of bed since it was her morning aide’s day off, Gerald went on home to continue his work on the softball tees he is building to carry down to the Georgia Dogs this weekend at Lexington. (I stayed in town for several errands after having a cup of soup at Honeybakers, my favorite lunch spot.) Gerald did take time off to listen to today’s ball game (we lost) and then went back to the shop. He finally managed to make himself quit when he smeared the end of a finger with the grinder. The nasty cold that started last Thursday put him way behind on this project.

He still is not recovered from his cold, but is much better than the weekend and on his birthday Monday and even yesterday. The only celebration I could think of that he was up to on Monday was bringing home salads and chicken pot pies from Bob Evans for our evening meal. He had to cancel the traditional breakfast with his brothers that day, but they are planning to meet in the morning.

I am sure there will soon be another breakfast or two soon when their only sister Ernestine and our niece Leah come and bring our great niece Emerson Leigh to meet her Illinois relatives. Ernestine has a high school reunion to attend, but we are all focused on meeting baby Emmie. (Emmie or Emie or Emmy—not sure how they spell that diminutive.) Katherine is hoping today’s infusion will help her be able to attend some of those family celebrations where Emmie will be our star. We feel like we already know her from her pictures and Ernestine’s descriptions.

Sam’s trombone lesson was cancelled today, but he went with me to Small’s (a locally run store that has a good meat market and deli) to pick up some barbecued pork steak he likes and other sides for our suppers. With his classic rock station still playing, I drove home to Woodsong, where our double daffodils, which have had buds for weeks, are finally showing a bloom or two beside the patio. Gerald’s bulb garden had a single daffodil and hyacinth in bloom that I don’t think were there when I left the farm. I must go out and enjoy the fragrance of hyacinth in the morning.