Happy spring equinox, everyone!
Today, day and night are equal lengths. It’s a day of celebration around the northern hemisphere of the world under many names. For me it’s a day to honor balance and to contemplate the growing seeds of possibility that have been planted in my life.
In practice, it’s been a day of appreciating nature. I enjoyed my breakfast outside. I was curious about a bird I heard, so I turned on the Merlin Bird ID app to listen in. During the span of 1.5 minutes, it identified four different bird species. And I’m sure there were more that weren’t heard because there was too much background noise. I confirmed the bird I was curious about was an osprey, and not a red-tailed hawk. But there is one of those around too that I hear sometimes.
Some critters visited me during breakfast. A couple of tussock moth caterpillars did laps around the table, and one explored a new garden statue I concocted. The flamingo was a tea light holder. Since I wanted to put it in the backyard, I didn’t want it to be a reservoir for mosquitos. So I moved the Hope Frog to his back to cover the hole. I guess the caterpillar liked it!
I puttered around the yard for a bit, looking for other critters that were out in the lovely weather. I saw what might be a predatory stink bug (genus Euthyrhynchus??). The Seek app had a hard time identifying it down to species. I also saw someone who was decidedly *not* out. A tussock caterpillar spun its cocoon on the underside of my desert rose. And the capterpillar on the right was rappelling on a silken string from my oak tree. It looked like a teensy dragon. Turns out it’s a horned spanworm moth caterpillar. So neat!
After my backyard breakfast and walk around the yard, I decided to finally take care of my bonsai trees. Last year I neglected them and didn’t do anything with their roots. They were still Ok, but hypothetically you are supposed to manage them each year. So I definitely couldn’t avoid it this year, and I’d already put it off by a month. I put on my new craft-y apron, and I took both of them out of their pots. I trimmed their roots. I put them back in their pots and put in some rock landscaping in their pots too. (I like it in the big one better than the small.) I trimmed their tops. I watered them with some fertilized water, which I hadn’t done in awhile. Hopefully they’ll keep growing and thriving!
After repotting the bonsais, I had to do another spot clean on “the dress.” I gave my cat some ear medicine (without the apron on). It was sort of oily. I’ve been using the soap I shower with: Haipazaz Phezuta. They are Indigenous soap makers in Washington state. It’s been getting the job done!
Once the dress dried (with a little help from my hair dryer), I decided to go on a bike ride. I did an ~22 mile ride yesterday. I didn’t wash “the dress” today. It was not stinky. Did another 10ish mile ride. Still not stinky. I really need all of my clothes to be like this! I hate doing laundry. Well, at least folding it. I’m very honestly not going to wash the dress until it is stinky. Or until I spill something on it that has to go through the wash.
I saw a gator on my ride yesterday and today. Since I didn’t snap a picture yesterday, I decided to do so today. They really are neat to see. I’m guesstimating this alligator is 7-8 feet long… That’s a moor hen closer to shore. He was in Lake Maggiore where it goes into Dell Holmes Park (for those in the know in St. Pete). Down the road from where the Dell Holmes driving range is.
Right before I turned onto my street, I noticed a Christmas tree someone has left on a curb. I kept riding home, dropped off my bike and picked up my wheel barrow. I went back down the street and got the tree for my fire pit. (**Pause** Imagine that. Me. Wearing my dress. Rolling my wheelbarrow down the road. Loading up that tree in my dress. Rolling it back. Cracks me up thinking about it!!)
My evening was attending a webinar for the Anne Braden Anti-Racist Organizer program I’m a part of. The title of the webinar was: Visionary Organizers Fighting for Black Liberation. You can watch it here. It was incredibly powerful to learn about the amazing work each of the speakers is doing. In the theme of the equinox, I feel like a lot of seeds were planted with what they said. Each of them important, and I hope I can do my part to help them grow. Folks of all races are hurt by racism. White supremacy hurts *everyone.* *Everyone.* (I’m going to write it again…) *Everyone.* The seeds of love, radical inclusion, and transformation are growing. Growing into the world we all deserve. We have to keep tending and nourishing those seeds to let them bloom.
Happy spring equinox. I hope the seeds of transformation are sprouting your world too!