Alone on a Sunny Sunday Afternoon

Today was an amazing weather day...over 80 degrees and sunny in April!  We had our first-of-the-season Sunday dinner outside on the patio and then angled our chairs for either full sun exposure or umbrella shade while we savored toffee pavlova and iced tea for dessert and visited.  Then the guys left to go golfing, the girls left to go shopping, and I was left alone with the dishes.

Something is not right with this picture!  I am a major sun worshiper and I also love to walk.  Jeff and I usually go for a long walk every Sunday, and the nicer the weather the more we look forward to our walk.  But today---the most perfect day of the year thus far---I have no one to walk with and I have a sinkful of dirty dishes!  I swished the dishcloth in the soapy water and stared out the window at the neighbor's apple blossoms that hang over my fence, the lilac buds on my own bush, the sun slanting through the trees in the ravine, and the blue, blue sky above it all.  What was I doing stuck in the kitchen?  I looked at the coffee pot and the last two pans waiting their turn in the dishwater and I thought, "They can just wait a little longer."  Then I peeled off my gloves, grabbed my clippers, and headed out the door.  The street was full of kids playing basketball, skateboarding, chalk drawing, riding bikes, and selling lemonade.  The sidewalk was busy with people pushing strollers, walking dogs and jogging.  The breeze was fragrant with fresh-cut lawns, barbequed ribs, and flowers. The sounds of birds, laughter, splashing water, and happy shouts filled the air.  And it was perfectly, pleasantly hot!

My destination was the woods where I go for my morning run.  But this time, instead of looking around me and enjoying the panoramic view, I focused my attention on the sides of the path, watching for wildflowers, blossoms, branches and grasses to clip and take home to make a bouquet.  I love to forage in every season, and each offers its own special beauty and scent.  Today I clipped lavender-tipped grasses, tiny fuscia blooms, wildflowers, blossoms and just-budding leafy branches.  I left the more delicate flora for two reasons...those flowers would be wilted by the time I got them home, and if everyone "just picked one" there would be none to enjoy on walks through the forest.  What a good environmentalist I am!

When I got home, I snipped and trimmed the flowers and put them in a vase and set them on my dining room table.  They won't last long...maybe two days.  But the pleasure in picking them and admiring them is well worth their short lifespan.  I spent the rest of my quiet evening blogging and sipping an iced latte on my patio under the warmth of the evening sun...still wearing shorts and flip-flops at 7:30 at night because it was still 76 degrees!  And the dishes I ditched this afternoon?  I think I'll let them wait just a little longer and finish them after the sun goes down!