9 April 2026 Thursday

got to go on a walk by the river today with one of
the families i work with. it's finally starting to 
feel like it might (???) be spring for good here, 
after many false starts followed by snow. 

white butterflies flitted past my face in a swirling 
dance as we walked across a footbridge where a waterfall 
tumbled from the mountainside into the river. raspberry 
vines and rosettes of mullein were plentiful beside the 
paved trail. pairs of ducks flew arrowlike across the 
water, and geese honked as they swam below. 

the kid rode a bike a bit ahead as we adults talked. 

i felt very lucky. 

after work e set up my hammock stand out front and i
read as he hauled stones around the yard. he spent a
good number of months rebuilding a stone wall out 
there last summer. he'd never done that before. then
he went on to build a beautiful fountain. he's hoping
to find people who would pay him for stonework around
here. it's really remarkable what you can learn to do,
when you decide to.