Today I am scrambling back onto the work train. This afternoon I'll run the first of a three-Sunday seminar on manuscript organization. Then next week I'll need to go up to Monson twice: once for class, once for a gallery opening. That will end my high school season, just as Frost Place season is getting underway. No matter what, there will always be something to get frantic about.

But what a beautiful day we had yesterday--75 degrees, sunny, with a soft wind! I worked outside--planting, weeding, mowing--then changed into clean clothes and walked up to the market to buy dinner: flank steak, red onions, and peppers for the grill and, delight of delights, fiddleheads. How I miss my Harmony patch; I was so happy to see them there.

For lunch T walked down to one of the local Vietnamese restaurants and bought bahn mi sandwiches, and we ate them messily outside, in the sunshine.  He spent most of the day finishing the shed, the bits he couldn't get done before winter settled in. He built a door and cut trim, painted everything, and today is hoping to get a second coat on and everything installed so that he can finally call the project done. He's also been talking about his next carpenterial venture . . . a deck, and I am holding my breath, trying not to get too excited, because that would be so, so, so nice. All we have now are some temporary stairs, and the back of the house is ugly and raw-looking. A deck and real entrance stairs would be such an improvement.

It will be another glorious day, weather-wise, and I'll be holed up in my study all afternoon, working away at manuscripts. But I'll catch a bit of the day this morning: as soon as I finish writing to you, I'm going to get dressed, pull Vita the Bike out of the shed, and go for my first ride of the season. Tires are pumped, frame is washed, spring is everywhere, and I am excited.