april rocks, and pictures will follow soon, but the problem is, pictures are best done at my work computer, and these days we are leaving work at friday noon due to fuloughs: no pay, so we make a point out of getting out of there when we're not being paid. the ironic thing is, we're still teaching twenty hours; i could at least hang around and make some pictures, but i don't.

spring is in the air; bradford pears, the whites, the pinks, the yellows and the salmon bushes are all abloom. spent the day turning the earth so i could plant tomatoes, peppers, and a few marigolds around the edges, but in between, i played velcro-mit catch with one boy and talked about arm-fart championships with another. Being five and nine, they find it difficult sometimes to relate to an oldtimer like me, and i'm sure it's boring having me on them all the time, about legos on the floor, or messy room, or whatever, but such is life around here as spring pops out and people and cats are flying in and out of doors. though there's still a touch of cool in the air, you can tell spring is here to stay, and it's time to get out and do some landscaping.

the winds of change are in the air all over town. neighbors have a house for sale; they're leaving town. farmer's market is open again; the rural king was full of fruit trees and every other living thing that people were hauling off to plant for the season. finally we bought tons of flowers and tomatoes and peppers for the garden, and brought them home and dug and hauled dirt a little more. in the evening we went to a quaker potluck where the children were unhappy with the vegetarian-style cooking, but went off to play a kind of mario while we sat around and discussed the life of the meeting. the life of the meeting was good: i was there; they are my best friends; i always feel comfortable with that crowd, and i found nothing wrong with the food. my back was a little sore from all the digging. my wife spoke up and said, we'd been married almost ten years, and it was all in the care of this very same meeting. a-men, i thought. to have a nice crowd like that, good people, good food, and outside the house, a multitude of stars - but, we went home early, and put the kids to bed, and here i am. the night settles early, and i'm on my way to bed, but i'm happy. might be because i left work so early on friday. pictures coming...