I love cloudy and cool days for working in the garden. The weather at the beginning of the week made me completely happy. What also makes me happy is the crazy amount of late spring color everywhere. I’m a big fan of spirea. They are blooming right now and the good news is that if they are sheared back after the flowers fade, they will bloom again this season. If you stay dedicated to the task you will get a third bloom.

There is a large one at the old office of David Finklestein just about to enter Vineyard Haven proper. I think the variety is Anthony Waterer. They are some nice yellow leafed varieties that break up a boring green hedge.

In the vegetable garden, I’m hopelessly behind where I planned to be. This week I’ve made a goal to plant at least one thing everyday. I still have all my winter and summer squashes languishing in their plug trays. My experiment several weeks ago was a success.

To prevent rodents digging up the not-yet-sprouted seeds, I covered the trays with mint leaves and dipped Q-tips in straight peppermint oil and placed them here and there around the plantings.

Usually, it’s closer to the Fourth of July when the peas really start producing. Happily, we’ve been eating them daily in the field. They never seem to make it into the kitchen. The shell variety Lincoln comes early, doesn’t need staking and can be pulled up for another planting soon. I put some tomato plants next to them. Wonder if I’ll ever get them staked?

Both varieties that can be eaten without shelling are ready — Mammouth Snow and Super Sugar Snap. I encouraged great-grandson, Zappa, to use both hands when picking. He’s a quick study in the garden.

Some say if you live long enough you will look down your arms and see your mother’s hands. I see my Dads! This is the result of years spent gloveless outdoors working. Oops!

When we were youngsters in the 1950s, the family would take road trips. We were always amused by and recited out loud the roadside signs of Burma Shave. The poems were a fixture of highways at the time.

A property on Middle Road has its own version in the form of a knock-knock joke. It’s quite a ways up towards Beetlebung Corner. It’s worth a drive up-Island.

What with impending war with Iran, the military on the streets of a U.S. city and the roughing up and handcuffing of a sitting United States Senator, it’s difficult to know where to start.

My sense of outrage has been diluted. I think this is the point when the zone is flooded with so much chaos, folks tend to shut down. The five million or so ordinary citizens who showed up last Saturday are still engaged and standing up to tyranny. Way to go, people.

I was thinking about the lack of empathy from DJT and his cronies. Who can forget Obama singing Amazing Grace at Mother Emmanuel Church after the shooting 10 years ago?

No one tops Joe Biden on his ability to comfort those in need and/or grief. Trump, conversely, said it would be a “waste of time” to call Tim Waltz to offer condolences to the people of Minnesota after the political assassination last week.

I wonder if empathy is learned or an innate feature of a human being. Whichever, it seems to be missing in folks presently in power in our country.