Back yard view, with dogwoods and Brian’s redbud in the distance.

May, always our busiest month, is next week you guys!  Which means we are fast approaching the days where Pat and I traditionally communicate by post-it note, only recently enhanced by technology and the ability to text each other.  But that is entirely dependent on my carrying a device in which to text and since I rarely do that, the post-it note is still generally the most reliable form of communication here. Thankfully, Edie is old enough we can leave her home alone, because we’ve already had one incident where both of us committed to something without looking to see if the other one was around.  Edie has started realizing when I ask her if she has her key, it means she stands a good chance of being locked out when she comes home if she doesn’t have it.  Ah, spring in the Calvert house.

Since at least some of our activities might be of interest to some of you, I thought I’d share them here.  The Craft Cville group is back up and running and is holding their first drop-in craft night this coming Monday, April 27, at The Bridge, over in Belmont, starting a 7 pm.  Next Sunday afternoon, May 3,  Cville Swaps is meeting up at the Charlottesville Cooking School for a Cinco de Mayo themed swap.  If you’re interested, rsvp here.  I’m thinking of bringing the infamous mango salsa as my swap.  It’s Virginia’s recipe and I’m not sharing, so if you want some for yourself, come get it.

Also going on Sunday May 3, Whisper Hill Farm is holding a plant sale.  Details here.  Whisper Hill is one of my favorite farms to buy produce from, so I’m looking forward to getting a few starts from their greenhouse for my various garden plots while I check out their new digs.

I’ve got an upcoming canning class at The Happy Cook on Thursday, May 21.  I’ll be making Blueberry syrup, everyone will take home a jar and we’ll spend an evening talking food and canning and I might even cough up one or two of my favorite berry picking spots that I tend to keep on the down low (at least two of them don’t have web sites either.) I always have such a good time teaching there and students get a discount on items purchased that evening.  What more could you ask for? Call the store at 434-977-2665 to register.

Inbetween all that, we’ve got tickets to see the Replacements in DC, I’m chaperoning Edie’s orchestra field trip to Williamsburg and there are still perennial beds to be thinned, two (!!) vegetable gardens to get in, home improvement projects to be managed, teacher appreciation lunches to help with, orchestra concerts to attend, wedding anniversaries to be celebrated and jobs to be done.  Have I mentioned I recently started a new part time job?  I’m working in an office downtown for a few hours every day in addition to continuing with PB&J Fund two afternoons a week. This doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned my other projects – oh no, not at all. I’ve still got a good three of them simmering on the back burner, probably leaving you to question exactly how many burners does my stove have?  I wonder that sometimes myself.

At any rate, those the happenings you might want to know about.  And if it gets a little quiet here in the coming weeks, you’ll know why.  I’m probably outside digging in the dirt, avoiding loads of other things, most importantly, things like laundry and house cleaning.  You know, the usual.