Digging in the Dirt

Like the groundhog, my neighbors and I have come blinking into the light. After a week or so of too-cold (with the added insult of no snow) temperatures, we've been graced with a couple of way above average balmy days. These are days that make hooky seem like not just a good idea, but a moral imperative. (Honestly, I think I smelled charcoal last night as someone celebrated by cooking out!) I cut off the heat pump and flung open the windows. Spooky's gotten some much-needed long walks and I spent a calm hour today re-potting some houseplants that badly needed it.

Which got me to thinking.

I've heard that you need to re-pot your plants at least once every two years. In that time, the plant's roots have sucked all the nutrients from the soil and, if you don't put the plant in fresh soil, the poor thing will essentially starve.

There's much I can learn from a philodendron.

Sure, winter's not over yet, not even here where it's been a mild one. But we can all use some new soil every now and then. Shake off the doldrums of grey skies, cold temperatures and bad news (I swear, watching the news is like reading Revelation these days) and try something different around your roots. Like what? Here are five ideas to get you started.

1. Make curry for dinner instead of the spaghetti you have every Tuesday.
2. Try a kickboxing class.
3. Take up needlepoint.
4. Listen to country-&-western instead of NPR for a day.
5. Throw the diet into the ditch and have buttered popcorn for dinner.

True, not everything you try is likely to be a smashing success, but who knows? You just may discover a whole new way of looking at the world.

Not bad for February.