Today is another glorious day, as pretty and bright as yesterday. I went out to the deck to chase the spawn away from the feeder and stayed a while taking in the sun and the warmth. Henry joined me. We played his game for a few minutes. He comes up one set of deck stairs, I pretend to chase him and he goes down the other stairs. Repeat.

When I was on the deck, I noticed the herbs in the deck boxes are coming to life. I saw oregano, basil and the tops of mint. Spring is here just about everywhere.

Yesterday I was possessed, possibly hexed. First, I finally took down the outside Christmas lights and the giant ornaments on the side tree. I wound the first set of lights on the spindle which came with the lights. Easy job. I then tackled the second set. I swore more times than I care to admit. I got both ends unwound but the middle was a jumbled mess. I was reminded of all the sets of Christmas tree lights my father cursed about when I was a kid. Every one of them was always tangled when the lights came out the next year. I sat on the stairs and worked on that set for over an hour. I was sweaty when I finally gave up and wound the mess around the spindle. I’ve moved this task to a future to-do list a long way off.

I ordered my mid-month groceries. They arrived in the early evening. I hauled them to the kitchen and put them away which entailed trying to find freezer space. I helped the cause by eating a drumstick ice cream cone.

Next, I moved heavy empty clay pots to the deck and rearranged a dining room shelf. I washed a tea set I found in a wooden box under the hutch. I don’t even remember it. The set is for a child. It is Limoge and is covered in tiny pink flowers. The whole set is intact. It is also clean.

My landline kept losing the dial tone. I checked and found a cord in the back with a wire which had frayed a bit. I have a similar phone upstairs. I bent down and reached under the bed to the power cord, but I couldn’t reach it. I got to my knees and finally found the end of the phone cord. Getting up from my knees was a project of its own.

Finally, I cleared below the cellar stairs. I had been throwing dirty towels and even dirty clothes down the stairs. There was a pile. I put everything into the washing machine.

This morning I woke up with the worst backache I have had in months. I moaned so loudly I scared Henry and Jack. Both of them sat without moving and watched me with wide eyes.

Today is a sloth day. I choose to do nothing because yesterday I did everything, far more than I usually do in a week or even a month. I hated it.

Today is spring. It is sunny and warm and may reach 60˚. The sky is a darker blue than yesterday’s. The air is still. It is a quiet morning. I watched the birds at the feeders this morning from the kitchen window. The first in were the goldfinches, males with their bright yellow chests. They settled on sunflower seeds. The chickadees arrived next and chose the mixed seed feeder. They zoomed in, grabbed a seed and zoomed out to a nearby branch to dine. My to-do list includes outside tasks. I want sun and warmth.

Last night, around eleven, Henry went out. I followed him and stood on the deck for a while. All of a sudden, I heard turkey gobbles, loud gobbles from more than one turkey. The sound came from the direction of the road. I could hear the turkeys were moving away, up the street, as their gobbles got fainter. Lots of turkeys roam the neighborhood. There is a small pond beyond the end of the street. The turkeys usually roost at night on tree branches around the pond. I guess they were enjoying an evening constitutional.

I strung the outside lights yesterday. This strand is longer than the last three victims of the spawns. Henry didn’t need the backdoor light to go out. The strand of white lights goes all the way down the banister and across one side of the big gate on the driveway.

When I was a kid, our plates were melmac. That insured that dropped plates would clatter, not break, when they hit the floor. We also had a set of indestructible aluminum glasses with a matching pitcher. We had a few glass glasses which once held jelly and some other glasses which held shrimp in cocktail sauce. They hit the floor hard. On one visit my mother brought me a couple of jelly glasses. She brought me memories. I am quite careful with those glasses. My tile floor is unyielding.

I have a small garden below the deck. Last year I planted strawberry plants. They have multiplied. One clump is tall and thick. Last year I did get a few berries or rather the birds or the spawns got a few berries. This year, when I see blossoms, I’m going to cover the plants in cheesecloth. I’m hoping they’ll be enough for a couple of strawberry shortcakes. I make cream of tartar biscuits instead of sponge cake. They were my father’s favorites, and they were what my mother always made. I think of them as family tradition.