I got paid for the fiddle school gig — a fuchsia plant, a chocolate bar and several fervent hugs. The fuchsia is out on the porch, easing into bloom and looking as if I always have the good taste to acquire porch flowers, which I of course don’t.

The flower beds still look awful, but I find that I just don’t care; when I do, conditions will improve.

The only flowers in my garden that the local rabbits don’t eat to the ground are daffodils, blue hyacinths, and hellebores. Maybe I should go out and buy a whole whack of hellebores and plant them everywhere that isn’t covered with periwinkle.