In lieu of an actual entry, a few random observations:
This was the first day of the year that was warm enough for the windows to be open all afternoon.
I made some very tasty mushroom gravy tonight. It seldom turns out that well. I wish I could remember how I did it.
The apple trees at the back of the orchard, which are difficult to get a look at because they are younger and smaller than the trees at the front, along the road, are now in full bloom with bright pink blossoms. The near trees, which will soon sport white blossoms, have as yet barely put out their buds.
There was a mild breeze blowing through town this afternoon, and I went down to the edge of the canyon to listen to the trees singing. The birds were enjoying it, too, but it was mostly jays and crows that I heard. So far this spring, I have heard only one lark. Last spring, a tree in the field behind the orchard drew dozens of larks. Their singing was like a tiny calliope. Houses have since been built all around the tree. I doubt that the larks will return to it. I have no idea where they will gather now.
While the wind here was mild, it was strong enough in Los Angeles to merit mention in the Sacramento newspaper. Reading about it made me nostalgic for those spring days when I would travel from the moderately breezy San Gabriel Valley, through a windy downtown, and on to Santa Monica, where lethal pieces of palm trees would go flying through the streets and the windows of shops would boom with the powerful gusts and make the reflections shudder. Once, getting off the bus on Ocean Avenue, I had to catch a woman was nearly blown over by the wind. Then I walked along the palisades and watched the few sailing boats piloted by daring skippers heel and bob through the whitecaps, and the long strings of kites rising into the sunlit sky from the beach. I love the spring winds in the beach towns.