Spring moving into summer is always a kind of crap-shoot. The fruit trees bloom before we’re done with snow and cold on a regular basis, but the little fruits still form. The, what I like to call, smart trees are only now leafing out-the mulberries. I wait until Memorial Day to plant my garden, so those tender shoots are only now poking through to the sunny days that will help them grow, and I can already taste the fresh grilled zucchini and the butternut squash lasagna.

And then we get horrendous winds and hail and that takes a toll on the little fruits, and on the crops in the field. I start counting the jars of jelly I still have from last season in case they have to last another year, but I always hope for the fruits that weren’t pounded into the ground to have a running chance of making it to harvest. I love a good spring snow. I love a summer snow. I love snow. But I can do without hail and 40 mile ‘an hour winds.