“. .. There's joy in the mountains;
There's life in the fountains;
Small clouds are sailing,
Blue sky prevailing;
The rain is over and gone!”

~Excerpt from “Written in March,” by William Wordsworth

The sky is bright blue and the ground is deliciously wet under the sun; all the sheddings of bark on the earth are glistening and colorful. I see a piece of bark in the shape of a bold woman wearing a pink and orange robe raising her hand. Suzi cheerfully takes her swim of blue in the morning brook. At home, I prepare my writing prompt for tomorrow’s Farm Pond Writers, virtual workshop. I listen to the news. The news is terrible. In my little office when I work I forget for a little while about the terrible news. In the afternoon, when I am tired of sitting at my computer I go to the kitchen. There are vegetables to prepare. Eagerly, I do a chore I have always disliked: I wash and peel and cut carrots and onions and beets and butternut squash and sweet potatoes and little potatoes. It takes quite a while, and I am happy. We are having roast vegetables in rice bowls. My daughter joins me, roasts the vegetables while I make wild rice and white rice and couscous. I burn the bottom of the wild rice and make more. This takes so much time! And I don’t mind. I am realizing that cooking is fun and pleasant and cheerful when I am willing to give it the time it needs to be done well and right. I make a cornbread from scratch, it goes in the oven. We saute the chicken for those who eat meat. We have been saving and saving the scraps for the pigs for two weeks, and when Frank is done with his clients he and I drive the food to Unity Farm for the pigs. We also have another lovely meal, and I package up food for my son and his girlfriend who come to the door to pick up their dinner; we all wish they could stay. This is the last day of March. Warm days are coming. As I passed the wetlands this morning, I did not see the geese or the mallards. Instead, I saw the great blue heron lift into the sky.