Unlocking

I've just added a book to my "want to read" list on Goodreads. The book is called If This Isn't Nice, What is?: Advice for the Young by Kurt Vonnegut.   This book was brought to my attention when I found the following quote:

“One sort of optional thing you might do is to realize there are six seasons instead of four. The poetry of four seasons is all wrong for this part of the planet, and this may explain why we are so depressed so much of the time. I mean, Spring doesn’t feel like Spring a lot of the time, and November is all wrong for Fall and so on. Here is the truth about the seasons: Spring is May and June! What could be springier than May and June? Summer is July and August. Really hot, right? Autumn is September and October. See the pumpkins? Smell those burning leaves. Next comes the season called “Locking.” That is when Nature shuts everything down. November and December aren’t Winter. They’re Locking. Next comes Winter, January and February. Boy! Are they ever cold! What comes next? Not Spring. Unlocking comes next. What else could April be?” 
― Kurt Vonnegut, If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young

Wow, does this ever speak to me! We are currently very much in the season of "Unlocking" around here... bits of thawing and mud, followed by more snow and ice, then more thawing and mud. Not quite winter, not quite spring. But we're unlocking from winter's grip, moving toward spring. Unlocking! So much hope and promise in this "Season."

Drawing up the Garden Plan

I'm making the most of Unlocking here at the Homestead. I've been preparing for the arrival of our first batch of honeybees. I've been collecting maple sap, to boil into delicious maple syrup. And... I've been planning our garden. These tasks are keeping me busy and keeping my mind focused on the warm, sunny days of spring that are soon to be.

I typically find something to love in all the seasons, but it was a long, cruel Winter here in New England, and embracing this season of Unlocking is bringing me out of those winter doldrums and putting a smile on my face. Thanks for the perspective, Mr. Vonnegut!