Yesterday was a day of hellos.  Hello!, I said, to the part of the hardwood floor in my bedroom usually covered by a large area rug (and to the dust that had arrived since I last peeked under there).   With the warm sun streaming through my bedroom window on a Sunday morning, it felt like time to start my spring cleaning.

Hello!, I said, to my beautiful nieces in Minneapolis, whom I like to pretend are waving and looking at me on Skype, when I know they are most certainly looking at the moving images of themselves on their mommy’s new Mac.  They are snowed in, which made it feel even more like spring here when I looked outside my window.

Hello!, I said, to my neighbour across the street, whom I’d never met before, as I set out for a late afternoon stroll.  While she puttered in her garden in the disappearing light of the day, what a lovely conversation we had – truly, one of the most engaging chats I’ve had in a long while.  It felt great to connect with another live person, since all of my communications up to that point in the day were either over the internet or by text.  I clearly was hungry for personal contact.

But more than an urge to talk, it was the garden that drew me across the street.  I haven’t thought about it in a while, but I miss my garden in Los Angeles. I miss it especially now, when spring is hinting to us that she’s not so far away that we can’t start to dream.  Having a garden taught me to appreciate the change of seasons, and especially this change, from the darkness of winter to the brightness of spring.

This is the start of my fourth year in Vancouver, and I have deduced that it’s usually the end of February here when colors start to pop out of the ground and burst open on trees.  I’ve heard reports of cherry blossom sightings around town, and can’t wait to see them with my own eyes, any day now… I’m not sure why, but there’s something magical about seeing cherry blossoms that makes anything seem possible.

The view from my living room window 2/25/10

A couple weeks ago, I saw the first snowdrops on my street (the flower, not the wet stuff that falls from the sky), and yesterday, I spotted my first crocuses in front of the house on the corner, the one with the spectacular garden that will just get more and more brilliant over the next several months. Those little gems are so beautiful, with their purples and yellows and whites poking out.  Just seeing them made me so happy.  Well, hello!, I said out loud as I strolled by… hello, and welcome back!

Winter has been a time of hibernation for me, at least as far as writing is concerned.  I’ve been focused on finding work, figuring out new ways to support myself.  While I’m still sorting that out, I keep coming back to writing as a source of inspiration, if not income.  So with spring just around the corner, I am also saying hello to this blog again.  Hello, hello, hello!