Easter Days

*In early March I started about a hundred pots of mung bean plants for my biology students to slowly kill with varying concentrations of salt water, with the exception of their control plants. Some of us are a little devastated by this experiment. Killing plants is very sad.

*Mabel started ballet lessons a few weeks ago. She started asking last December after seeing The Nutcracker  performed by a local ballet academy. I originally planned to consider that this fall, but Mabel is very persistent so here we are. I’m so glad I remembered my camera and was able to capture her sweet expression as she prepared to walk into her first class.

*We have spent the last year or so thinking that our dog Trudy, who turned 14 earlier this year, was in her last days. I remember telling Keats to say his goodbyes last fall before he headed back to college, but then she rebounded. There was a cycle of bad spells followed by periods of recovery for many months with an overall decline as you would expect of a large dog her age. She lived a longer life than any dog we’ve had and was part of our family from the time she was a puppy. Last winter was rough but it was mostly her care that was difficult. She seemed to still enjoy her life. I wanted her to see one more spring, and she did. As the end of her life began to seem imminent, I prayed that she would pass peacefully in her sleep (does it every happen that way?) but a few weeks ago It became clear that her quality of life had deteriorated too far. Jonny and Beatrix carried her to the vet where they both cried and said goodbye. She was buried in our yard with a corkscrew willow, propagated from the original tree we brought from Georgia over twenty years ago, planted above her resting place. (You can see the original tree at the end of this post which happens to be the very long story of our previous dog Okee’s life.) Trudy was a really good girl. In fact that was one of the Easter scavenger hunt clues: “Good Girl.” After reading those two words, the kids knew exactly where the next prize and clue were hidden. We’ve had half a dozen dogs or so over the years, and Trudy is the one that never did anything wrong beyond puppyhood chewing and a bit of digging in my flower beds in recent years. She’s also the only dog we’ve ever had that couldn’t learn a single command, though she always came when called. I’ve not really had time to miss her, but writing this, I do. I really do.

*We managed a walk along the river timed perfectly to see all the spring wildflowers blooming. Spring ephemerals will always be my favorites.

*I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned here that I have a special interest in American chestnut trees dating back to my college days at The University of Georgia. I worked in a lab in where I helped with propagation of American chestnut via somatic embryogenesis. For my dad’s 70th birthday I bought us both memberships to The American Chestnut Foundation which gave us the opportunity to purchase American Chestnut seedlings at their once a year member’s only spring sale. The seedlings sell out quickly so we both had alarms set. We texted each other before the sale to make sure we were both ready and seconds later when we both managed to grab our trees. They sold out within fifteen minutes so we were lucky! Now we will compare notes as we watch our trees grow. While they are not blight resistant, it is still good to plant them to preserve genetic diversity and they may reach maturity and produce chestnuts before succumbing to blight.

*Ambrose has an unusual level of affection for eggs. We typically don’t refrigerate our eggs (those from our flock of chickens) and if we don’t keep them out of his reach he gets into them. He carries them around wrapped in blankets, tucks them into “safe places,” and we find broken egg messes in unexpected places. Easter eggs were very exciting for Ambrose. Mabel and I spent an afternoon making a huge mess in the kitchen dyeing eggs with all sorts of natural dyes. (I put a highlight on my Instagram page with what we dyed them with.) I kept the flat of eggs pictured above on a dresser in my bedroom for about a week. Larkspur teased me a good bit for how much I admired them, giving them loving glances whenever I passed. I guess Ambrose comes by his egg affection honestly.

*I have gotten behind with my posts and have lots more to share with you soon! Spring is really the best time ever.