Open season

You guys, it was so GLORIOUS to come home on Friday night. It almost (ALMOST) made the length of the trip and the five days away from Torsten worth it. It was so NICE to have him waiting for me at the airport, and to come home to find out that he had bought me a delicious birthday cake, and also a gift of a bunch of bulbs and seeds so we can plant some flowers in our back yard this year (including beautiful purple iris bulbs, one of my favorites). And to greet an wriggling, nuzzling mass of excited dog at the door. And then to go to sleep in MY bed, cuddling with my husband.

And then! The weather this weekend! ESPECIALLY yesterday. It was so warm! And sunny! And breezy! And luckily Torsten and I had the foresight to go to Costco on Saturday and buy some food for grilling, because we had seen the weather forecast, so yesterday morning Torsten flung open the back door and announced, "Let Grilling and Squirrel Chasing Season 2010 begin."

And that was so apt! We went outside, and cleaned off our patio furniture, and uncovered and scrubbed the grill, and swept the patio, and put our new doormat (purchased last fall, but kept in waiting until now) in front of the back door. And then Torsten grilled bison burgers and corn on the cob for lunch, and we sat on the patio and enjoyed the food, while the dog lay peacefully in the sun at our feet, taking the occasional break to run after a squirrel and bury, dig up, and re-bury a couple of treats.

We lounged on the patio for awhile after lunch, drinking in the beautiful weather, reading, talking about where to plant the flowers once the last of the snow has melted (the left side of our yard melts much sooner than the right, so half the yard--luckily the half with the patio--is looking green and warm, while the other half is still covered in snow).

Afterward, we took the dog to the off-leash state park nearby, and we strolled while she sprinted and wrestled and swam and romped. The weather was just unbelievably perfect and we were clearly not the only ones who thought so--the park was full of people and dogs, and everyone was just in the most wonderful spring mood. It must have been all that vitamin D we were all soaking in. It makes everything blissful!

I still have spray-on sunscreen in my hair. It's supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny today, and 79 (SEVENTY-NINE) and sunny tomorrow. And suddenly I remember with perfect clarity how lovely it was last summer, when it stayed light until after nine, and we grilled out nearly every night, and went hiking almost every weekend. And I love that we get to have another summer like that this year. And then many many more summers like that in all the years to come.

We know this isn't it for the snow, that Denver gets a fair amount of snow in March and April, that we'll likely get at least one more good storm, if not more. But from here on out it should be the kind of snow that melts almost as quickly as it came. And that's the best kind of snow to have.

I love every season in Denver, truly. I'm ready for spring but I liked winter, genuinely liked it, enjoyed the coziness of it and the beauty of the snow. But this season, the one that's starting now? Grilling and Squirrel Chasing Season? This is definitely, without a doubt, the best one of all.