Spring

Spring is probably my favorite season. The bloom of flowers and lovely shades of spring green in emerging leaves lifts my heart. The angle of the sun has changed dramatically and our apartment is once again flooded with light and warmth.

One thing that's a little hard about the warmer weather and recent plethora of holidays is just being faced again and more directly with socioeconomic inequalities. The first really warm weather we had, it seemed like the streets just filled with people begging or trying to earn pittance washing car windows, selling odds and ends, hawking flowers. During school holidays I've noticed that all of a sudden there are kids working everywhere - selling gum or snacks on the street, or standing in for their parents at the local vegetable stand.

It helps a little knowing that Terry is here working with an organization that strives directly to help these specific kids - to discourage parents from putting kids to work, to support them in schools, and so on - but I know it's hard for families under economic duress to cope sometimes.

Recent economic hardships in Greece have reverberated here, too, as waves of Albanian emigrants working there back return home, jobless. It's a tough time right now in this corner of the world. And yet the apple and peach trees continue to bloom in all their spring-time glory.