And it Smelled Like Spring.

If I had made some arbitrary "to do" list for myself today, and if that "to do" list included cleaning all of my kitchen cabinets and drawers, it never would have happened.  But at some point this afternoon, it was clearly warmer outside than it was in the house, so I started opening windows and doors.  And then it hit me...

The smell of spring.  The grass warming in the sun.  The hyacinth on the kitchen table.

It smelled like Holy Saturday at grandma Dorothy's, making potato salad and slicing the ham.  Each year we packed beautiful baskets, carefully lined with linens, doilies, and perfectly ironed hankies.  We marched them down through the old polish village to St. Hedwig's for Sweinconka, the polish blessing of the food.  A little sampling of everything we were to eat on Easter Sunday - ham, kielbasa, ketchup, candy... (even a little cat and dog food for the animals).

It smelled like singing in the choir at the Easter vigil.  Verse upon verse of Alleluia's as the newly baptized marched down the isle, each one holding pots of tulips, and lilies, and hyacinths, transforming the alter into a magical garden.  These sweet familiar smells layered upon themselves, filling the air, year after year.

These are smells one can count on.   And these smells have some unspoken way of telling you it's time to clean out the cupboards.  And so I did.

After a good winter of rest, the girls are back in business!  

P.S...Crack is Whack, but the bathrooms are getting painted!!