I finally cracked! I couldn’t take it anymore. Too much rain. Too much wind. Too many trees, branches fallen. Too big the waves. Nothing I could do.

But what I did do is snatch every bit of sunshine and blooming flowers that I could for a fleeting moment. Sun may not be entirely visible in this photo of blooming daffodils but it was there, I promise. And then it was gone as clouds filtered in. Timing is everything, but if you don’t have time for the timing, flowers help. They carry some sense of place when the sun doesn’t shine, struggle as they may with one of the wettest springs on record. And who am I to say, perhaps they rather enjoy a lot of moisture and prosper in spite of the downpours we have experienced.  

Even the lupine plants are beginning to show up. They had just started to show up when we got six inches of heavy wet snow. They survived and continue to push on. With any luck and some spurts of warmer weather and sunshine, my guess is they will be right on track for the big dance in June. 

Weeds are happy, too. They seem to have advanced well in all the wet weather. Our raised gardens support their growth quite well and we anticipate a good crop for pulling any day now.

There is garlic showing up, too. I thought the plants were from last year’s onion sets, but I was corrected. They are doing quite well. The onion sets are still at the garden supply stores in neat little brown bags being prepared for sale. We always had lots of onions growing up, and endive. Our father loved a big bowl of endive, bacon and new potatoes with a vinegar treatment. The rest of our family was a bit reluctant to appreciate this dish but happy to see dad well fed and out of trouble. He produced homemade dandelion wine, too. His father made moonshine in the basement of their home during Prohibition. Maybe dad got a little introduction there. We, and other friends in the neighborhood, used to patrol surrounding yards with bushel baskets, hoping to win the prize for treats at the “Dairy Freeze.”

There was sunshine then.

Got off track a bit, didn’t I. Where was I? Oh yes, sunshine and daffodils. I hope you all are getting to enjoy a little of the golden rays, too and maybe even a glimpse of things coming up from below. Grubs are coming up from below and whatever eats them is tearing up the yard with a vengeance. It must be time for a lot of things to show up. I was beginning to think everything had drowned.     

Take a walk on the wild side. Get out and squint. See what’s popping up in the dooryard and around the ’hood!