It is 5 pm and i am sitting at the kitchen table that overlooks our backyard. I have a cup of green tea and a slice (the last one) of mixed berry coffeecake on the table. Outside, birds are singing their evening song. The air is still and sweet and warm. It is the last week of winter and on a day like today, it is easy to believe that spring is just around the corner.

The windows in the house are open. There is no need to keep the cold out today. I have Real Simple open before me. I find it to be the quintessential American magazine, especially the July issue (which for obvious reasons seems very patriotic) which i am reading a month later. The recipes for baby-back ribs, fried green tomatoes and blueberry cobbler; the lady who wrote in to say that one of the top three things she wants to do before she dies is to have a little cottage on the coast of Maine and spend her days writing a novel (i know nothing of Maine but it sounds like a fabulous idea); articles on summer parties and summer clothes and summer flowers.

Every issue of the magazine i read always makes me want to go to America, in summer. It sounds positively idyllic. Reality may be something else but those pages of Real Simple keep me content during the cold winter months in Australia.

In honour of spring, i asked Jon to change my blog banner. I also cut my hair short and bought a sewing machine. I am looking forward to this new season and all it will have to offer. And then soon it will be summer and i will joyfully plunge myself into the ocean- that first dip in the cold water (it never seems to be warm enough) that will make me scream in delight before giving myself up to the movement of the waves.

Yes. Winter is indeed over.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 5:53 pm and is filed under everyday life, revelations, spring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.