THIS TIME OF year I have trouble staying inside. And when I am inside, I am usually looking out. Because right now the leaves are leafing and the flowers are flowering and the birds and squirrels are mad with joy and I don't want to miss any of it. I just stare out the window marveling at the plants, the ones that came back and the new ones that I planted last year. Especially the tulips. I used to find tulips kind of boring but now I think they are so beautiful. The ones in the back of our yard glow pink and white and yellow like a strand of paper lanterns.

Spring always makes me appreciate the myth of Demeter and Persephone, how for six months the world is dark and cold and the plants are dormant and the other six months it is sunny and warm and leaves bud and flowers bloom etc. I can understand laying tributes at the altar each winter just in case this is the year that the gods decide the hell with it, we're moving on; we're not helping you mortals any more.

But not yet. This spring the gods decided to give us a show. The need to fiddle with my little garden interferes with my productivity, but to be honest I don't really mind.

Three Things Keeping Me Going This Week

1. Michaela and I joined two of her friends and their moms to go see the Alvin Ailey company perform at the Auditorium last weekend. They did a few new dances (my favorite was "Difference Between" by Matthew Neenan with music by Heather Christian) and ended with the classic "Revelations," choreographed by Ailey in 1960 to gospel music, which brought the audience to its feet. The dancers must have been exhausted, but the applause was jubilant and sustained enough to persuade them to do an extra round of the final section of the dance while the audience clapped in time with the music and I felt like we had been given a truly special gift.
2. The Book of I by David Greig. I did not know I needed to read a medieval romance/action story set in a monastery that features an over-the-hill Viking, a brew mistress who makes mead with powerful effects on those who consume it, and an innocent monk gifted at illustrating manuscripts, but it was surprisingly delightful if occasionally very violent. Also short (at 160 pages you could finish it in an afternoon).
3. Released on Earth Day, This is a Gardening Show, hosted by Zach Galifianakis, is what it sounds like: a chance for Zach Galifianakis to be a goofball while interviewing serious gardeners (and foragers) about plants. I learn a surprising amount while watching this show, and the episodes are only 15 minutes or so long. He also interviews children, which he is exceptionally good at doing, so the results are cute and funny.

That is all from me this week! I need to get back to making cartoons. I have been busy doing other things (not even just garden stuff) and it turns out there really are only so many hours in the day. Thank you for reading!

Also: Happy May Day! Go outside!

Love,

Claire