Today, I woke up after a wonderful night’s sleep and the sun was shining. I woke the princess sleeping next to me with kisses on her belly and headed downstairs to have my breakfast. I’m a creature of habit. When I first got here, I had avocado toast every day but somewhere in the darkness of November that transitioned to an english muffin with butter and peanut butter. The amount of topping added is dependent on my mood.

After breakfast and starting some laundry, Sophie and I headed out to our walk along the village paths. I only needed a sweatshirt today and to me that felt promising. Sophie ran, and sniffed, and peed, and then rolled-which is never a good sign. It means she found something either dead or rotten. Even this behavior didn’t diminish my mood. The sun felt warm and all along the paths, wild flowers and primroses were beginning to show their faces.

We got home and went immediately into the garden. Today’s project was hand turning my vegetable plot with a pitch fork and hand tools. My hands were cold working in the soil but I was able to weed and turn over the ground without difficulty. Sophie always sees this gardening time as license to dig, so she was happy too.

After a brief break for lunch, I finished the veggie plot and then began raking out more of my perennial borders. Daffodils are starting to bloom in my garden as well as a lone dwarf iris, and some crocus. The primroses are starting to pick up and the heather continues to bloom in my rock garden.

It’s hard to feel anything but happy when I realize I am gardening in February. Early February! France may be a bit gray and a long way from the people I love but hell, this is something. I am digging, transplanting and planning huge things in my beautiful garden.

Sophie and will call today a win. We were outside most of the day with temperatures in the 50s and we didn’t get rained on.