I made it back to the gym today. I’ve always been a sporadic gym person at best, but last fall I had been back in the gym about six weeks, and was really enjoying it, when Patrick died. Afterwards, I tried a couple of times, but I just couldn’t do it. The treadmill seemed like a terrible analogy for my life, there were too many people, I couldn’t face having to see people. But, now it’s spring again, and my garden is coming back to life, and I’ve found myself the last few days getting cranky in that way that means you’ve got some energy to burn off. Plus, I lost some weight after Patrick died (the only good side-effect of this all, getting rid of that 10 pounds I’ve been unable to shed for three or four years) and I could feel it creeping back on again. So this monring I dug my gym clothes out of the bottom of the closet, pulled out the iPod my fabulous stepmother, in a fit of excessive, yet deeply appreciated generosity gave me for my birthday, and off I went for an hour. It was good. I liked it. One more thing I’m able to do again.

As for the garden– it’s been in the fifties and sixties here for three weeks, which is totally weird. Global warming, I guess — but I’m going for it. The arugula I foolishly planted has sprouted, as has the kale, and the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, brussels sprouts and flowers I’ve started in the basement are also sprouting. I’m thinking of putting in the broccoli raab and maybe some chard. I fell in love with chard last summer, and having a freezer full of chard saw me through a long winter. So more chard. And beets — both for the beets and for the greens. What the hell, I’m planting things early. Forget hedging my bets, life’s too short and seeds are cheap. If everything freezes, I’ll start over. If it doesn’t, I’m ahead of the game.