Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

How long ago did I plant that spinach? About two weeks ago, I think, and with the warm, rainy weather we've had, those little seeds have been working hard. I visited the raised beds this afternoon (it's about 50 degrees today), and underneath the glass doors, I saw these lovely little tendrils of baby spinach peeking their heads out toward the sun. I wonder where they think they're going.

Good thing I've learned that those aren't weed sprouts. They don't look anything like a real spinach leaf, do they? All wispy and narrow. One year, when I was particularly diligent about weeding, I picked out all the spinach seedlings, thinking they were weeds. Not much of a spinach crop that time.

But now, I know better, and these little babies will be ready to eat sooner than I think, as long as we keep getting the rain we're getting. Spinach is pretty hardy, especially under cover, so even if we have a hard frost, they'll just relax for a day or two, then start reaching toward the sky again.

After petting the spinach and re-covering the bed, I went around to the other bed, which is

lying fallow (don't you love that farmer-talk?) for now. I don't know how he got there, but one of our little bluebirds has returned to us. When we got married, we stayed with our dear friends on our honeymoon. At dinner the night before we left, our dessert was a lovely, made-from-scratch cake decorated with little plastic bluebirds. 

We brought them all home--about a handful of birds for each of us--and one of them will turn up occasionally in a drawer or in a pencil holder or in a tiny gift box, surprising us and reminding us of the sweet expression of love our friends gave to us. 

Where have you been, little bluebird?