My Easter Trip
by Betsy Rogers

This is how I started my trip: by going to camp to see how much ice was left on Good Friday morning. There was only a little bit at the foot of the lake and a little bit at the head of the lake. The mist in the picture is over the ice. When I got up at 6:30 there was a heavy fog/mist over the whole lake. It was really cool. Figuratively and literally.

I left Friday at 7:45. Rhode Island has embraced spring completely. Liza has daffodils in bloom and her forsythia is way in bloom. The redbud is in bloom, wild cherry (also called fire cherry) is in bloom, shad is in bloom. PMJ rhododendron (my least favorte magenta color) is in bloom. Magnolia trees in bloom. It's very, very pretty and was nice and warm while I was there. We had a good visit. We went plant shopping so I could get some pansies. I ended up with 2 six-packs of violas, one a beautiful dark red and the other a brilliant yellow. I will put them together in a small pot on my deck for now. Liza gave me a pot of pansies in bloom. I got to have a long conversation with my sister and another with her daughter. That was really nice: they both sounded great. Anna is a real peach and sounded really wonderful. She's getting ready for college and will be 20 later this week. I can't believe she'll be 20 (and neither can she). Liza, Mark and I had a lot of fun together. I love sleeping in the back room at my mother's house. There are skylights above the bed and I can see the stars and moon as I lie there. The dogs were pretty well behaved but Chances ate the chocolate candy that was shaped like carrots and some chocolate eggs as well. Then she puked up a bunch of little tin foil bundles, each one separate as if her stomach had unwrapped each piece of chocolate. That made me laugh. I bought 10 leashes at the Dollar Store. Those should last a while (Tess chews leashes really fast when I turn my back unless I hide them and I always forget to hide them).

When I got home my daffodils were a whole lot higher. My tomato seeds have started to germinate and my cosmos are 1.5 inches high. My asters are just coming up. Maples are in bloom more. I saw from the register at the bog that my friend Rush was here for the weekend. Now I'm off to Upper Jay to barcode more books, taking 4 laptops and 4 people. It's a beautiful day.