Springing!

Leaping joyously into the new season...

Robin’s Eggs—Photo by Pixabay

And here we go, welcoming Spring, 2023! It’s been kind of a non-winter (at least in Philly) if you measure that time in snowfalls—which has been A-OK in my book, because driving in inclement weather is the stuff of my worst nightmares. Nevertheless, the sound of birds chirping and the sight of the early flowers blooming are annual miracles, however winter went down.

I love the musical experiments of modernist composer Max Richter, whom I’d “met” through my Evan. Evan made this video of the poem “Pandemic” by Lynn Ungar, coupled with Richter’s music, in Spring, 2020. Seems like a million years ago, doesn’t it? And how I wish we had all been able to hold onto those feelings of solidarity and love…

I’m also a big fan of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, which I have seen performed in many places, most memorably when Steve and I were in Paris in 2016, at a concert in the glorious Saint-Chapelle.

So imagine my joy to find Max Richter’s The New Four Seasons: Vivaldi Recomposed. And the joy was doubled when I found the official video with our dear friend and wonderful violinist Elena Urioste as the soloist! Here’s “Spring 1.”

Going waaaayyyy back, here’s a blog post of mine from 2012, about another Spring, after another mild winter. Check out the snazzy Spring coats on me and my sisters!

I really enjoyed writing for Fifth Season Fresh, a Pittsburgh-based startup that produced salad mixes using greens grown on a tech-forward vertical farm. Alas, they are no more, but the blog is still online. Here’s my mini-essay on Steve’s production of Hansel and Gretel, with a recipe for confit byaldi (a yummy variation on ratatouille).

Speaking of blogs, in the next “Working Title,” I’ll be having some fun with social media influencers! Join me there Wednesday morning!!

And finally, the Inspirational Quote of the Week, from Sitting Bull:

“Behold, the Spring has come; the earth has received the embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love! Every seed is awakened and so has all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land.”

For the week ahead, my friends, I wish you a beautiful blossoming of the heart and soul. Walk lightly on this earth we all share.

Photo courtesy of Melissa Otterbein