Forsythia on fire in front of the house. I planted this hedge . . . eight? . . . years ago? More than five, fewer than ten, that's all I know off the top of my head. It was the summer we had the big front-yard oak taken down. The front yard in the aftermath looked like the battlefield of the Somme, and I didn't want the rain to wash what sad topsoil we had into the street, so I dug up baby forsythia plants (the bushes put out runners underground, rather like mint, so spread themselves out into new rooted growths) and planted them in a line along the curb, leaving a gap for the mailman --- thinking we'd put in some flagstones for a walk, but that still hasn't happened yet. Anyway, I planted them there to minimize the runoff, edging the actual curb with transplanted liriope/monkey grass, and adding bulbs, black-eyed Susans, purple coneflower, and other plants that have come back year after year.
It always looks a little messy, but it's better than mud in the street.
In this growing zone, at least, forsythia is an unstoppable force. Basically nothing kills it. I have dug up a clump of forsythia and set it down and forgotten to plant it, and it dug down into the soil and bloomed the next year anyway. I think you'd have to pour acid on it to do it in. It's drought-resistant and cold-resistant; it prefers sun but will bloom in the shade if it has no choice.
And the canes, in late winter, are wonderful to bring inside and put in a vase of water to force the bloom. In January, if you think to do this (I didn't this year, alas), you can have springtime in your house.
Today is supposed to be warmer than yesterday, but it's very dreary out right now and feels chillier than it is. I worked up some heat walking the dog in my weighted vest, but back inside, I'm glad of my warm comfy clothes.
Wearing today:
*Wool& Sierra dress (XS) in Iris Blue, bought January 2025, last worn February 17. Wears in 2025: 9. I think this dress is my clear frontrunner for most wears so far this year. But then it is so easy to wear . . .
*Secondhand Connemara merino cardigan, bought fall 2024, first year of wear
*Secondhand Allbirds tencel-merino leggings, bought January 2024, second year of wear
*Secondhand Birkenstock Rosemeads, bought February 2023, third year of wear
I'd planned to wear my periwinkle Flax tunic over this dress today, because I like the look. But when I put it on, I felt cold, so I reached for my most dependably warm presentable cardigan (my charcoal-gray Aran zip hoodie is just as warm, but also rattier-looking).
Things to do today:
*Walk the dog (done for the morning, but we'll go out again in the afternoon)
*Finish writing and loading essays for next week
*Loaf about a bit, because I have been productive, and it's Friday
*Warm up Ash Wednesday's soup to finish for dinner
This was an EXCELLENT soup, as it turned out. The base was just a bag of red lentils and about four medium-sized Yukon Gold potatoes cooked in water to cover (you need about twice as much water as you have lentils, essentially). I started these in the crockpot early in the day, so both the lentils and the potatoes more or less dissolved --- you could accomplish the same in a Dutch oven on the stove with a couple hours' simmering. I diced a yellow onion and about five cloves of garlic, then sauteed them in butter until transparent and fragrant, then added them to the lentil/potato water to cook all day.
Closer to suppertime, when everything in the crockpot had softened and liquefied, I used a potato masher to liquefy it all further. I didn't want a puree, but I did want the potatoes to be mostly a soup base, not a discrete vegetable. I added salt and pepper to taste, then decided what kind of spice I wanted. At this point I could have gone in the direction of curry, with those kinds of spices (curry powder, cumin, ginger, coriander, and some dried red peppers for heat). But instead, and especially because we also had sourdough bread to eat with it, I opted for dill and added that to taste, with a fair dollop of heavy cream to thicken the soup base. Coconut milk would have worked okay here for a vegan option, but probably would not have been as good with dill as with curry spices. Unsweetened oat milk: maybe? Nothing quite touches heavy cream, and with a thick potato base to a soup, you don't need much, no more than 1/4 cup.
Anyway, it was delicious, and we're having it again tonight. I'm not doing a grocery no-buy for Lent, because that doesn't seem quite practical, but I am definitely trying to go as long between grocery orders as I can, to use up my pantry and freezer stocks, and to avoid food waste. So we are eating up our leftovers. Not that we particularly mind when the leftovers are good. Mostly they are good, and mostly we don't have that much left over from any given meal. I try to make enough for an ample dinner, then lunch the next day. It's not that often that I have so much of something that we eat it repeatedly for supper, but for the first Friday in Lent, it seems appropriate to eat leftover soup from our day of fasting.
We also don't give up meat for Lent --- I wouldn't mind so much, but I don't cook only for myself --- but I am trying to limit red-meat consumption to Saturday nights and Sundays, and to institute more meatless meals during the week, though obviously Friday is the front-runner for this. We might do fish one other night, but keep Friday as a night for beans. Our overall Lenten menu is always simple, with lots of soups, so the challenge is to make Fridays even simpler. I haven't eaten yet today, and I might just wait until dinner, and make it a fast day. Ideally I'd decide that on the front end and dedicate it as a sacrifice --- but it seems to me that I could just make that decision right now, offer it up, and carry on.
Waiting another day to wash my hair: still happy with these Humby Organics bars, still no trouble with my scalp.
Think I'll make myself a cup of tea, to follow my last cup of coffee, and maybe drink some water with electrolytes, too. Then onward.
EVENING UPDATE:
Church-appro for Stations of the Cross; Or, How to Change Your Clothes Without Totally Changing Your Clothes:
*Same dress (my husband said, "I like your shirt."), which is a bit short.
*Same leggings
*Secondhand Garnet Hill cotton-modal lantern maxi skirt, first year of wear
*Secondhand Banana Republic silk-cotton cardigan, first year of wear
*Secondhand Birk Melrose boots, second year of wear
Heading out in a few for Stations.