I FEEL A SEASON!!

It's happened - I can actually feel a season shift here in San Francisco. Last week it was winter, and now it's Spring. I'm so excited. It's that subtle nuance in the weather - that tiny shift in the temperature and the landscape and the smell in the air that is screaming SPRINGTIME! It actually feels a lot like springtime in Seattle felt (which, of course, doesn't happen until July. :) Not really - but definitely not until March/April), because it's still raining. But there is a warmth in the air that tells me it is a spring rain, and that the winter rains have passed. There is a certain smell to the rain as well - wet concrete seems to have a different smell in springtime than in winter. Maybe because it's warmer? It reminds me of track, when outdoor practice stopped being brutally cold and wet and started becoming warmer, yet still wet, but now bearable. When we could stop wearing layers of tights and strip off those sweatshirts during the running workouts. This is the season where track haunts my memory and fills me with nostalgia - the smells and the rain and the new green growth on the trees just immediately transport me back to long jump practice, or hurdles, or 200 repeats. These are the days when I long to be back on the track with my smelly spikes on, jumping over or throwing something. I miss that. And there's just no substitute for it in regular life.

I headed over to my garden on Saturday. I'd like to say it was because the weather was lovely and spring-like, but it was mainly because earlier that week, I got a slightly terse note from the garden committee asking me to please weed my grossly overgrown plot. I was reminded that the garden agreement stated that all plots would be maintained. Oops. I have really let the garden go over the last few months, mainly because none of the seeds I planted were growing. I guess that doesn't mean that the weeds weren't growing. So, I needed to go make amends. But, the lovely, spring-like weather did make it easy to go and I decided to ride my bike. Since we moved to the new apartment, I've been meaning to ride my bike to the garden because there's really no excuse not to, now. It's so much closer. And it turned out to be a perfect bike ride. I only had to ride on city streets for about 8 blocks, then I entered the Panhandle (which is a 5-6 block skinny little extension of golden gate park) and rode through that until I got to Golden Gate Park and once I exited the park, I only had 6 blocks to ride on 7th Ave. Delightful.

My plot was an abomination - I'm so embarrassed. But it had been raining so much that the weeds were a breeze to pull out - like pulling a knife out of butter. Or something like that. I finished up in just and hour, and there was a full wheelbarrow of weeds to dump. Next up, I'm getting some new soil through a big group garden order and I am going to try some weedless gardening this year, meaning that I'll lay down a layer of material - newspaper, cardboard - and then load up the dirt on top of that, and then plant. Supposedly, the plants grow and the weeds don't. I don't know - my parents did an experiment with it last year and that section of their garden was SO happy and productive. I need to do a little bit more reading, but it sounds like a good plan. A large number of garden members are also going together on a big, bulk heirloom seed order which should be arriving in a few weeks and then I can get my plant on. The one HUGE advantage to gardening in San Francisco is that there is no such thing as a frost, and the soil is warm enough to plant directly in the ground almost year-round. So I can put my new seeds right into the dirt as soon as they arrive. The one HUGE disadvantage to gardening in San Francisco is that it will never be warm enough to grow tomatoes, bell peppers or corn, all vegetables that I LOVE. So, I'll stick to the lettuces and broccolis and spinaches, oh my. It's all good if it comes from the garden.

Last week, when we were in Big Sur, I didn't get a chance to go to the Sunday Farmer's Market and so I bought my fruit from the grocery store instead of waiting for the Tuesday Farmer's Market. Wow. Huge mistake. It's not worth it, just...don't even bother. I got underripe, tart and juiceless oranges and super-sour, mealy pink lady apples. So this week, I didn't need to go to the Farmer's Market on Sunday, only the grocery store for some staples, because we had a limited menu this week, but I opted to skip buying fruit at the grocery store and head to the Tuesday Ferry Building Farmer's market. I still had to suffer through some of the bad fruit yesterday and so today I'm looking forward to biting into a crisp, delicious, sweet apple and a juicy, sweet, flavorful orange and tangerine. And maybe there will be some kiwis if I'm lucky. Here's to delicious fruit!!

UPDATE: Okay, I totally jumped the gun and have to scratch all that I said about Spring time. I just stepped outside to go to the market and the nice, spring rain has turned into wet, cold and WINDY winter storm. It is fricken freezing out there! :( On the up side, venturing out was totally worth it - my fruit is DELICIOUS!