April showers bring .... snow? Well, yes, sometimes they do. We woke up to just a couple of inches on the ground, enough to cover everything in a layer of white. It doesn't feel so dire though, after having a few warmish days prior. Just enough warmth and sunshine and hours spent stretching ourselves outside to give us faith that spring really does arrive soon enough, even if there are a few more dustings of snow likely to come. Of course we know that spring is coming eventually - at least in our minds. But come March, I do wonder if our bodies doubt that truth. It feels so good to be reminded - on our skin and in our bones - before coming back in to wait for the last of winter to be over.
Inside the same thing is happening. We've had enough of a hint of what's to come that we don't feel so cooped up anymore with cabin fever. And so, on days like today, when the wind is howling and the temperatures chilly and more rain (or snow?) coming...we don't mind too terribly staying in. There's a lot of music happening these days - Ezra got a lovely new tenor ukulele for his eleventh birthday last week, an upgrade from his fourth birthday gift (fourth!). The sound is so nice. And a few days later, we were so pleased to welcome a piano to the family. We had been waiting for a time when all the children were past the banging-on-things stage, and I think we might (almost) be there. Oh, it's so nice to have a piano in the house. Such joy. Though I do wish it were a bit more like riding a bicycle (I don't want to think about all the years and dollars my parents spent on my piano lessons), as I fumble my way back to playing.
But that's just the very thing these kinds of days are perfect for. There is no garden ready to plant. No ground firm enough for digging fencepost holes. It's too slippery for riding bicycles, and not enough snow for sledding. But there is music, and craft, and books, and each other. That's just what we'll do today.
