Spring Planning: We’re Down To The Wire

By Cheryl Ryan

We’re having a perfectly wet winter here in Northern California. There has been enough rain to make activity planning frustrating but a good amount to ensure a beautiful spring and summer. I’m using my rainy downtime to go through thirty years of photos, taking them from overstuffed, dusty bins and loading them up to the cloud.  

My daughter suggested getting a fancy scanner, making the actual scanning part easy. So, it’s the organizing that is taking so long. But it’s been unexpectedly fun to take the trip down memory lane! There are some long-forgotten gems in there. And I thought I looked terrible in those photos back in the day—well, I have a much different opinion about that now. It was also fun starting the project with my daughter. She loved seeing her long-lost baby photos.

I plan to take all the videos to someone else. I interviewed Beatrice Legrand a few years back. She will convert all the different video formats onto one disk, and because there are far fewer videos than photos, it will be easier to organize them before handing them over.

At the same time, I am creating my spring planting plan, ordering spring flower seeds, and sketching out my garden plan, all in hopes of a successful growing season. Most years, I start too late, or the rains stop early, and I don’t have proper irrigation in place. But this year will be different because of my early planning. I know, I know, I’ve said these words before, but hope springs eternal.

And lastly, we’re planning a spring vacation with our family. On my agenda is a family easter egg hunt. I did one last year for Gus at age 2. He liked it, but I don’t think he quite got it. So, at the last minute, I hid some treats for his parents so they could show him how it’s done. They were all in and went for it. It was so so fun. So this year, I’m planning one for Gus, age 3, and Zoey, age 2. And I’ll do one for my big kids so they can show their babies how it’s done. I’m trying to find something interesting to get them excited about it. Any and all ideas are welcome 🙂

Other Things

As always, I’m cooking. I made this Grapefruit Cake and Crockpot Thai Yellow Curry Chicken

Books –  I’m still very keen on the book Breath: The New Science Of a Lost Art by James Nester which talks about the important health benefits of breathing through our noses. Our bodies were designed with a sophisticated filter system, yet according to Nestor and evolutionary changes in our foods, most of us breathe through our mouths. Mouth breathing not only doesn’t take advantage of our sophisticated filter system but can actually cause health problems. He also discusses advanced meditative breathing techniques and breathing that can enrich our athletic abilities and promote various health benefits. 

The Season Of Reading

I went down a bit of a young adult reading rabbit hole. I read House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Kline and The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer. I’m not sure I can recommend them. They were fun, easy reads but very predictable. If you’re looking for that these are the books for you.

I’ve just finished The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. This book was not a fun and predictable read. It is made up of complex characters that you come to really care about. But they live in harsh circumstances with trouble around a lot of corners. The underlying theme of the book is a rather scathing commentary on our US class system. I always love a satisfying ending, and this book brought that. It took me a minute to get into it, but it was worth it.

I hope you are making the best of your winter downtime, but if you’re like me, I’m sure you’re ready for some blue skies.