While there’s a lot to stress about in the world – climate change, for example – there is also much to celebrate. Time for our monthly series “What’s Bringing You Joy?,” where Hannah and I share some recent items that have made us smile. Share with us too. We’d love to hear from you!
Rachel –
Things beginning to return to “normal.” It’s about one year since Covid started and we all “locked down.” It was quite a dark and dire time. Remember when we all thought it would last two weeks? Did you sanitize your groceries? Did you pool resources with your friends and try to find flour and eggs? (We did.) But now the pandemic is starting to let-up. People are getting vaccinated, masks are shown to work, schools are re-opening. While things aren’t fully normal – I won’t be attending any large dinner parties or 100 person weddings soon – I’m slowly returning to feeling like myself. I wear two masks, but now shop in a few stores. I sit fifteen feet away outside in the cold with blankets, but see my friends and share a drink. My children do the same. We are thinking ahead to summer trips and camps. There is optimism in the air, and things are so much better than they were last March. Let’s celebrate how far we’ve come!
We visited friends last weekend and got to see some local maple tapping. Remember when maple syrup month was canceled last year? Not this year!
The weather is changing and I will participate in spring activities that I skipped in 2020. Along the same vain as above, I’m looking forward to enjoying spring activities that I skipped last year. Passover and Easter are weeks away. Did you celebrate via zoom last year? My family did. But now grandparents have been vaccinated, and while the holiday will be smaller, it’ll be in person. Farm stands and farmers markets will open too. We head to Newfields for a farm tour next weekend. I also LOVE the Concord Farmer’s Market. So many good vendors, you run into local friends, your kids climb “the tree.” It really involves so many positive aspects of small town, New England living. I cannot wait to go!
Hannah –
Spring is in the Air! Spring is springing, the sap is running, and our seedlings are sprouting. I love watching the kids inspecting the trays of soil, looking for new sprouts, and running down the trail to see how much sap has collected in the buckets. These small, daily joys keep me going when I feel run down by all the craziness of homeschool and caring for three small humans 24/7. The kids are excited about planning their gardens and planting sunflowers “everywhere” around our new house and it rubs off on me. I am excited about starting a real pollinator paradise this year (details to follow) and I’ve been daydreaming about that. In the meantime, we visited the lambs at Kearsarge Gore Farm (post of KGF to follow!), my daughter made a lovely recycled egg carton wreath for our door and my husband made us a delicious peach pie (from our frozen local peaches) for PI day.
Unlimited Possibilities is an education and service foundation dedicated to helping eliminate social injustices by providing financial support and direct service.
Yay, GreenLifeNH! We were recognized by the wonderful non-profit, Unlimited Possibilities (UP), with a monetary gift to “keep up the good work”. We’ll use it to reach more people and businesses across New Hampshire. Thanks, UP!!! And Rachel was on NHPR’s The Exchange yesterday talking about composting and throwing in a good word for GreenLifeNH. Let’s keep the green momentum going!