Springing Forward (a little early)

Northern California can't seem to get its act together, seasonally speaking. We put up with a chilly Summer and a very summery Autumn. Our tree didn't start turning colors until Thanksgiving and didn't lose its leaves until after Christmas. It seems like Berkeley, in an attempt to get back on schedule, has skipped over Winter and gone straight into Spring in January. Fine by me.

After many months of inattention, our landlord sent out his landscaper (read: sullen teenager in headphones) to tidy up the yard. He managed to miss the tangles of ivy encroaching the path to our door, but he was very thorough about weed-whacking the many large stands of paperwhites. *sigh* I went out with a shovel (read: serving spoon) and rescued some of the most at-risk bulbs. They're now quite happily blooming and perfuming our apartment. Spring is in the air, indoors and out- and it's heavenly!

Spring has a reputation for stirring people into action- to get outdoors, to clean house, possibly to act on their New Year's resolutions. For me, it's time for a fresh start. Time for new projects, new looks, new motivation, and hopefully, new collaborations...