Happy St. David’s Day!

I always celebrate this saint's day. Not only does it mark the end of February (cruellest month of the year, T.S. Eliot notwithstanding), it's also a Welsh national holiday. And of course I first went to college in St. Davids, PA.

Back in the Philadelphia area, March 1 is often the start of spring. That's not an issue here. We haven't had a frost in more than a year, and we put in the garden a week ago. We started with spinach, peas, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and bok choy. Later on we'll add peppers (sweet and hot), tomatoes (slicing and sauce), squash, and various other delectables. Most of the herbs are perennials.

Though today was also the first day of NaNoEdMo, I couldn’t start editing the novel. I’m not done with the first draft yet, though I did compose 50,000 incoherent, rambling, and inconsistent words in NaNovember. So I spent the day working on my office, which had become a repository for things unwanted elsewhere: unshelved books, teetering stacks of CDs, files that really belong in permanent storage, tote bags stuffed with unfinished cross-stitch projects, and boxes of junk from the whole family — clothes, ornaments, electronic gadgets — to sell on eBay or take to Goodwill.

So (in the intervals of doing four loads of laundry and various other housework), I sorted, shelved, unpacked, arranged, discarded, and organized. Michele came up in the evening (she and Paul played D&D all afternoon) and helped with hanging pictures, putting up and filling an additional bookcase, and consolidated the rest of the boxes . It looks completely different, and it’s going to be usable. That’s a big step forward.

It was a productive way to spend the day. The physical labor helped me burn off some of the stress of the week. I’ve got a solid sense of accomplishment. Also, I was starved for solitude. Though there are more entertaining ways to spend a day alone, this was, I think, the best thing I could do for myself.

Tomorrow is church; I’m first reader. We have an adult education meeting afterward. I’m going to skip the NaNoWriters and try to spend some more time in the office — maybe even writing.