I believe it is time for me to get into this game. The house is grubby, the cellar is a mess, and I am now home-based, reponsible for organizing my own work for the first time in years.

Ottawa is lurching slowly through spring, whch is actually a good thing. The maple syrup producers need several weeks of temperatures straddling the freezing point (daytime highs averaging 5 Celsius, nighttime lows below freezing), and we are getting just that. Last year was a disaster; a freak heat wave before the equinox stopped the sap run and brought all the fruit trees out in bloom weeks early, only to be blasted by a snowstorm and heavy frost in early April. Thousands of Ontario orchards were knocked out of production, and I haven't seen any local hard fruit in the stores for a year.

I quit my federal government job two months ago, and am finally getting adjusted to setting my own goals and priorities. I began a fairly intense get-fit program of three gym workouts per week and keeping a food diary, and that is producing good results. Since New Year's Day, I have lost 20 pounds, and the exercise is rebuilding the rotator cuff of my left shoulder, injured 35 years ago and severely weakened since then by disuse.

I have yet to figure out how to add music practice to the weekly routine without neglecting other things, such as housework, that I feel duty-bound to do first. I hate muddle and dirt, but I don't want to hire a cleaner to do it for me because I am not earning at the moment.

I look forward to following others' home-front adventures.