The Spring Manifesto, Revisited

Can I just say I am so glad I started this blog back in March?  I feel like it gave shape to my days while wading through the fog of newly-minted motherhood.  It's been so nice to hear from others, and so nice to try to remember to snap a photograph or jot down the little things day by day.  Since staying home, time has simultaneously moved at a snail's pace and at warp speed--- G is growing (and almost crawling now!) before my eyes, and I will be returning to work before I know it.  But recording things here has helped me reflect, slow down, enjoy. 

The other thing that has helped me reflect, slow down, enjoy is Julia's tradition of seasonal manifestos.  Since the summer solstice is only a few days away, I thought I would revisit my spring manifesto today and post a Summer one in the next few days.

From my spring list:

• Try new recipes with the produce from our farmshare. They always have such an amazing array of vegetables in the spring.  So, not as many as I thought, but I did try a few new recipes:  whole wheat pizza with spinach and artichoke hearts, chocolate-orange zucchini bread (amazing), roasted cabbage for Saint Patrick's Day, dill-basmati rice with chard and chickpeas, grilled tofu with sesame carrot salad during a heat wave, zucchini-bran bread, and roasted beets. There was also this epic disaster, which I may reattempt tomorrow.

• Sew a little floppy hat for G. so that her perfect baby skin is protected from the Southwestern sun.  Check!

• Raid the fabric stash and sew a top or dress for myself.   Check and check!. I've been getting a lot of use out of both in this heat. I still have to complete two more pieces for the wardrobe challenge. 

• Take more photos, either with the digital or Diana camera.  Digital = done.  I've taken almost daily photos of G and a lot for this blog--- endless macros of flowers and food, it seems.  Sadly, the Diana is still sitting on the table by the front door.  And all the roses I wanted to shoot on film have faded.  

• Set up our flower and vegetable beds for a summer of (hopefully successful) growing!  I think I just got overly ambitious with this.  Between having a baby and not knowing much about gardening in the Southwest, I look at my original plan and feel like I set myself up for failure (and indeed, most of the seedlings failed. I still don't know why.).  Some things are struggling in the heat right now, but I harvested a lot of garlic and used quite a few shallots in cooking.  We'll have chard very soon, and tomatoes and peppers a bit later.  Something ate the dahlias and zinnias.  I'm very sad about this; I was looking forward to a mini cutting garden. 

• Learn how to care for the many rose bushes that came with our house.  Check! Two bushes came back to life beautifully. Some other ones limped along. I'll keep trying.

• Walk more.  G and I (and one of the pups) walk almost every day.  It's so nice not to have to do  the pregnant waddle anymore. 

• Get back to reading, even if it's just a page or two each day.  Most days I've done this.  Right now I'm previewing a lot of YA novels for my return to work.  My favorite reads this spring were Journal of a Solitude (thanks Brooke!) and Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business (don't look at me like that).  G's favorites were Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and, of course, Goodnight Moon.  We just signed up for the summer reading program at the library today!  

• Explore a part of New Mexico I haven't seen yet.  Well, this just didn't happen.  But we have some things in the works for summer.

In the hectic thick of things, I can be really hard on myself about not finishing the day's to-do list.  But typing this all out, I feel like I actually accomplished quite a bit in the past three months.  And, most importantly, I feel like I tried to hold on to the things I enjoyed, while letting go of those things that didn't get done (because, frankly, I didn't enjoy doing them).  So, to repeat, I am so glad I started this little project.  I'll post a summer one soon!