Sometime during the more than two weeks of cloudy, dreary weather, Zappa — my five-year-old great-grandson — said, “Mame, didn’t the sky used to be blue?”

Out of the mouths of babes . . .

Then last Sunday and Monday, we actually had that long-lost blue sky. Everyone’s mood was considerably lifted.

Sadly, as I write on Tuesday, we’re back to gray and dismal.

It’s a great time to tackle those dreaded household tasks.

My friend Sharlee and I joked about our inability to throw things out. Marie Kondo would have a field day asking if various objects “brought me joy.”

I have several cracked mugs that serve as pencil holders. Do I own that many pencils?

I still like the Christmas decorated boxes and pots on Main street in Vineyard Haven. The new store Seven Sisters looks particularly nice. The use of ornamental cabbages and white birch logs are very seasonal and yet translate into the next.

Any day now folks will start thinking about daffodils and pansies.

While sorting my stored garlic, I found a few bulbs that had sprouted. The cloves were no longer useable as food. I separated them and poked them into some herb pots wintering in my greenhouse. After just a week they have a new lease on life.

Since the Pine Tree Gardens seeds have arrived, I started the onions on propagating mats set at 50 degrees. I had two winter keepers — Cortland and Patterson — and two early seasons, Ailsa Craig and red Southport.

It’s the same combination I have used for several years and the four packages, costing under $15, last me all year plus giveaways. I harvested almost two entire bushels.

Just for fun and data I stopped in the produce department at Cronig’s. A two-pound bag of red onions cost $4.99. There were five large onions in the bag. Do the math and figure how many bags you can purchase for $15.

Ghost Island Farm is offering its own kale, spinach and collards. They have a cartoon on the wall of a gravestone with the caption, “I ate all that kale for nothing.” Love that!

Growing up I never even heard of kale. It wasn’t until landing on the Vineyard in the spring of 1970 that I learned about it. This was in my back to nature phase from which I have yet to emerge.

My favorite thing about it is its ability to reseed at will. I haven’t actually planted it in the garden for several years. The key is recognizing the little babies and moving them around.

One thing I really like about my gardening skills is the ability to recognize tiny, emerging, just-barely-sprouted seeds.

My other asset is never giving up, especially given the years of missteps and failures.

Everything I ever learned is from doing it wrong first.

Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, recently compared himself to Moses at a gathering of Christian nationalists.

I feel the need to refresh his Biblical memory about Moses.

While he was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the Israelites in the valley were forming and worshipping a golden calf.

For that idolatrous act they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until only their children finally entered the Promised Land. Moses himself stayed out.

Where am I going with this? Be careful whom you revere!