Oh honey bears, life is sweet. Like wild onion sweet, that kind of good, that kind of fresh, that kind of secret joy. Do you see now, big sky god, why I need lots and lots of warm sunshine? It changes everything. We've gone on long woody walks and met strangers in the woods, strangers who didn't scare me or annoy me, strangers to whom I could say, "Hey there, he's all right, he's shy, he won't mess with you." And they would say, "He's a pretty dog." And I would say, "Isn't he?" And then Buddy Black would amble up behind us and be friendly and would make up for Basho's standoffish ways.

Yesterday morning the lake was thawing (saying that word out loud makes me think I still have a lisp, which, occasionally, is true) and I stood out there at the edge of the wood and listened to the slushy crackling ice. Breathtaking sounds, breathtaking air and light and woody smells.

I cleaned up around here. Vacuumed. Opened all the windows. Paid my bills. Cleaned out my cupboards, my refrigerator, my aching head. Then I made a big pot of soup with winter root vegetables and barley. Then I made bread. I started that last night and just pulled the loaves out of the oven 30 minutes ago and just ate my first thick piece of my first homemade loaf of bread. And it was damned good.

I'm so domestic. I keep house. And bake. I'm practically June Cleaver, y'all.

I've been staying away from the machines. I've been listening to the radio, listening to the news, reading The Life of Pi, reading Practical Horticulture (I am ready, right NOW, to start my garden), reading my vegetarian cookbook, talking to Basho and Buddy Black who are such excellent companions, and just generally feeling peaceful and lucky.

I was looking at this site (which I found through Jude), another personality testing place, and I'm still an INTj (although I did test once as an INFj), but that's not the interesting part. I found this page quite interesting. My hidden agenda is to be healthy. Of course it is. If I don't feel healthy, I'm miserable. Otherwise, I'm a pretty happy camper. And because I also do like to know things, I've been trying to determine the hidden agenda of everyone. Most of my close buddies are INFp types. Or ENFp types. Those folks like to understand and know things, respectively. I like that.

Did you know that tomorrow the temperature may get as high as 70 degrees? Oh man.

Did you know that I have to plan my class right now? It's true. Bye bye you sweet things you.