The best thing about spring isn't the flowers. It isn't the clear robin's egg blue sky or the puffy white clouds or even the warming temperatures. It's the sheen of green. The sheen of bright, neon green that blooms on every living surface...every bush, every tree, every field, every hedge. It transforms the whole world, just like the hoarfrost does in the winter or the first snow.

Today was so clear you could see forever. It was the kind of day when the hot air balloons come out, though we didn't actually see any. I cut back last year's growth of heather from the garden. Two of the roses seem to be beyond hope, but who know? It's spring! Hope is in everything. The kids and I sat on the trampoline in the sunshine during the afternoon. A bumblebee buzzed us. I could hear the high voices of children throughout the neighborhood and someone chopping something. Our neighbor's wash was flapping on the clothesline in the back. It was warm as well, the warmest day so far, and only going to get warmer according to the forecast.

Anders' birthday is coming up and the kids and I went shopping today: got presents and then some. After, I finished reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone and knew my hesitation in even starting it was correct...how am I supposed to wait until the sequel(s) is available? Book torture!

I have made a dent in the magazines, getting through all the Donna Hay's and now starting on the Livings. I ripped a lot of pages out of the Donna Hays. The recipes sound so good and the photos are so fantastic you feel as though you could take a bite from each glossy page. I found a predilection for what sounds good to me. If there is asparagus, spinach, pastry, meringue, chicken or salmon involved, it was a pretty sure bet that the pages would be added to my growing pile of keepers.

Weekends in spring, in between short weeks, what could be better?