Trash out from the back when the white truck moves. Recycling out but not the paper. Not the cardboard. Toilet broken and fixed.

Baby crying in gasps on the telephone. Cat walking on the keyboard. Laundry on the floor and dishes in the sink. Stomach upset from chemical drinks and leftover ham.

Husband away. Peas coming up. Llama in the living room and pansies in the car. Letters photocopied. Baseball game on.

List of things to do. Seeds to plant. Curtains to fix. Rooms to clean and checkbooks to balance. Lonely, lonesome or alone?

I wish things were as lovely as cherry blossoms fallen on grass.

I am trying to convince myself that snow is good for a garden. That April 5 is a fine time for snow. That I am at work anyway so I shouldn't even care.

Play Ball

Abigail at Safeco Field
Originally uploaded by Mandy K.

Opening Day. 1:25, Abby down for a nap. All day preparing. Buy seeds, pansies, gloves and a trowel. Borrow wagon. Buy potting soil, composted manure.

Find extension cord. Radio outside. Batteries for the monitor. Glass of water.

Last year's tomoatoes, vines pale and dead, pull them out. Sweep sand from the top of the soil. Litter and leaves. Bamboo stakes.

Add peat moss. Add manure. Turn over, turn under. Gather seeds. Sugar Snap and Dwarf Gray Sugar peas. Bloomsdale spinach. Mesclun and mustard greens. Early Wonder beet and Cherry Belle radish. Bunching onion and Danvers Half Long carrot.

Bending over. Heart burn. Mark rows with broken stakes. Peas down the middle. Red Sox up by two. Sun gone, skin cold. Plant pansies on the stairs. Big Papi. Inside, dirty clothes off, jammies on. There's a lot to like about Lowell. Knit in bed next to a sleeping baby. Thank goodness for Coco Crisp.