The smell of dirt.

Dirt. I like how it smells. I usually start noticing the earthy (no pun intended) odor wafting through the air in late March when the snow melts and the wet soil is exposed.

As I watered one of my three houseplants this morning, I got a whiff of wet dirt. It smelled so good! While recuperating from surgery the past several weeks, my exposure to most household activities has been diminished. But today, in early January, it felt like the first day of spring, just because I smelled dirt. I am discovering I can do a little more each day. Today the "little more" included carrying a small  plant to the kitchen for watering and...this is a real biggie...walking up the stairs. I hadn't seen the second floor of our house since the morning of November 30th, when we left for the hospital. 40 days! Things look about the same as when I left and I can't wait to sit down at my sewing machine soon. There are some small projects that I'm sure I can maneuver under the needle.

Now that I've had the little glimmer of hope that thoughts of spring conjure up, I think I'll take a glance at some of the gardening catalogs that have been arriving in the mail. I won't place any orders, but I might make some notes and pull a few pages out for future reference. It will be interesting to see . . .  when spring really arrives here in Alexander . . . what is pushing up through the dirt in my perennial garden. It will be its' first real springtime!

For now, I need to settle back into winter mode. After all, winter began only 15 days ago! We have a ways to go until spring.

Much of the snow that fell last week has melted in our warm 30° temperature today. But between the railing posts, you can see my perennial garden under a protective blanket of snow. It will be a few months before we will be having our morning coffee on the deck and enjoying the view of the garden. But I don't mind because I actually like the time for rest, reflection and planning that winter gives us.

Now that I'm starting to feel better and want to do more things, I still need to be mindful of the doctors advice to take it easy and not push myself too much. They say that the rest of my healing will require about 4 more months . . . just in time to dig some dirt in my garden . . . not just smell it!

I hope you are enjoying winter days and the prospect that spring will return. In fact, you've probably noticed the days are getting longer. Five minutes more of daylight tacked on the start of the day and ten more at the end make a big difference!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post. As always, your questions and comments are welcome.  And until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy