Last weekend we went and toured the farm where our CSA is coming from. It was so beautiful there, acres upon acres of gorgeous green fields and grass. The smell, the air, the golden sun streaming through the tree branches at 7pm, the sweat on my neck, the prickle of grass in my shoes…all of it reminded me of my grandma’s old house, of summers spent on her porch with cold drinks, of running barefoot through her giant yard, of playing under the maple trees…I felt content at that farm. I’m happiest when there is space around me and fresh air and green grass. I told Jason that someday I want to move out of the city and buy a house in the country. He said I had to mow the lawn, and I said fine. I dream of a big old house out in the country with a huge porch that I can hang flower baskets from and have a rocking chair to sit and read or craft, a wild little garden with azaleas and irises and roses and who knows what else all along the porch, and a bay window in the living room.

Someday.

For now, though, we are cleaning and unpacking and organizing in our current house. We want to move eventually…soon…but don’t have any immediate plans for it. We are just waiting for the perfect new place to come along, instead of rushing and moving into the least bad place we could find on Craigslist in a week. That’s what we did this time, and it has not turned out so well. But we are making the best of it and every time I think there’s no more space for anything, we find something that can be gotten rid of, or consolidated, or stacked just one inch higher, and we make it work.

The windows are all open, the air is fresh and warm, and the sun is out. It will be sunny and hot (90°!) until Wednesday. I plan on taking full advantage of it. Windows open all day every day, dresses, skirts, and lots of iced tea.

For dinner tonight we are having avocado-lemon pesto pasta salad with spinach salads on the side. I drew up a meal plan for this week and so far it’s going quite well. I’ve been feeling not so great physically lately and I realized it’s because I’ve been loading up on junk instead of eating well, plus Jason and I end up just coming home and plonking down in front of our computers and we don’t get that hour or so of quiet time just the two of us to catch up. I wanted all that to change, and so far I’m enjoying it.

This coming Thursday is when our CSA boxes start. I am beyond excited. The meal plans will continue as I’m sure we’ll need them in order to use up all of the veggies we get each week. There is just something so heartening about knowing that no more than a week ago, our food was still on the stem under the sun, and it was picked by kind, hardworking hands (the family who run the farm are such nice people).

I will post the recipe for that avocado pesto tomorrow. And I’m sure there will be many more recipes to come as I cook my way through our mysterious CSA boxes each week! I can’t wait!

A lot has happened in the past three days. Jason moved in, graduated, got and accepted a formal job offer, we celebrated mother’s day, discovered hydrangeas growing up high in one of our maple trees, and met our other next-door neighbor who told us all kinds of unsavory stories of our landlord. I got bad news about my job. We saw three more centipedes in a 9-hour time span.

But mostly, Jason’s desk is set up in the living room and his toothbrush has a spot in the bathroom and we woke up together early on a Monday morning, for the first time in almost three years. The long distance is over. And right now that’s all I could possibly need.

This morning I ventured outside while waiting for my tea to brew. It was a balmy 63 degrees and perfectly wet and rainy. I don’t mind the rain at all when it’s warm — it’s the cold, clammy, 40 degree rain that I can’t stand. But today was different. It finally looks, smells, and feels like spring outside…and it’s about darn time Pittsburgh caught up with the rest of the world.

I am loving watching this backyard take shape. We still want to fix up the garden bed next to the back patio, and I’m sure once the weather picks up (read: once it stops raining for more than five minutes so that we can spend a day outside working) we’ll be out there getting our hands dirty. I want to plant a big bush of purple phlox, some wooly lamb’s ear, and maybe a big, bushy border of petunias.

What’s happening in your yard lately?

Oh hey there. Remember when I used to post here? Yeah. Me too.

So far this month I have been cleaning and “nesting” like a champ in preparation for Jason to move in in three weeks(!). We will have been long distance for almost three years at that point. We are both so ready for it to be over. He’s started moving some of his things here already and it’s just so nice to see it around every day (even if it is weird stuff like his bowling pin lamp). I can’t believe I’ll be celebrating three years together with this man in July. I’m a lucky woman, let me tell you.

In gardening news, our daffodils and forsythia finally bloomed! Our yard is a yellow party right now. I love it. I cut some of each and brought them in on a vase for the kitchen table, and it cheers me up every time I see it.

So that’s what I’ve had of an April so far. I want to start taking more photos, cooking more food, baking more recipes, hanging more art, and appreciating more of the small things again. And I want to start sharing it here again. I’m going to try. Really I am. I have so much good in my life right now.

Today was so very spring-like out again. Temps in the low 60s and sunny, with pleasant breezes this morning turning to strong winds in the afternoon. I napped on the couch with the windows thrown open. Tomorrow, though, high of 37 and cloudy, followed by a week of freezing temps again. Sigh. When will the winter weather be over?

At some point in time a previous tenant at the house planted a small strawberry patch in the back yard. Today I went and checked on them, and they are still alive and green as ever, totally unfazed by being buried in snow for more than a month straight. I can’t wait to see if the strawberries they produce are any good. In fact I can’t wait for the backyard to bloom in general; it’ll be exciting to see what kinds of gardens have been left behind by people who lived here before us.

Tonight I’m cozying up with a large mug of mint tea and Lord of the Rings. Jason already went to bed and I am at one of my favorite parts in the books — the part in the Fellowship when they reach Rivendell — so I’m eager to spend this “me” time tonight reading further.