My 2026 garden is in. We had an unbelievably warm March and I transferred all of my seedlings early. Stealing the show at the moment is my bed of anemones and ranunculus. (I planted the corms in November to get blooms in spring.) If you want to see more of my gardening adventures (and watch my plants go from teeny seeds to full plants over 11 weeks) I have seven short videos on my youtube channel.

We went out to dinner at the end of February and I ordered “watermelon water” from the menu with no idea of what that would mean. Out came a cold glass and a can of Mela. It’s literally a watermelon in a can. We all loved it. I looked up online and no where in our area was carrying it yet, so, like any normal customer, I emailed our two local grocery stores to make a product request. I was thrilled when two weeks later, one of the them started stocking it! If you can find it locally, I recommend picking some up to try. And if not, they sell online, too.

My book club group chat has been buzzing about this March release for months and I was excited to see it as a Book of the Month offering. I couldn’t put it down. It’s Cinderella told through the step-mother’s point-of-view. I found it creative and so well-plotted. There is no magic in this retelling but the story still felt magical.

In this month’s issue of Sunset Magazine I found an article about Urchinite — a purple biomarble that is made from the mineralized shells of purple sea urchins harvested along the Mendocino Coast in Northern California. The urchins are overpopulated and have been deeply destructive to the underwater kelp forests. The hope is that by clearing some out, the coastal ecosystem can be restored. I couldn’t find the print version of the article online, but I did find this similar write up from 2025. I have no need for new countertops but I love the idea (and the color!).

I finished a knit tee shirt. A KNIT TEE SHIRT. The yarn is the tiniest silk and I used 1.5 needles. It took two months and it’s done and it fits and I am so happy with it. Pattern is the Cumulus Tee from PetiteKnit. I am looking forward to wearing it all spring and summer.

The podcast I look forward to every week is Hard Fork. It’s about tech which isn’t my typical content niche but I really like the hosts (journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton) and want to know more about AI which has obviously been a lot of the focus for the show in the past couple years. While the two newest episodes are free for anyone to listen to, you have to be a NY Times subscriber to go back and listen to old episodes in the app. I am sharing a gift link to a recent episode which had a super interesting middle segment (starts around 19 minutes) on AI’s current writing ability and why it may be slower to develop than anything else. I am super interested in AI’s influence on human creativity and this podcast always gives me something to think about.

And finally — a virtual bouquet for you. It’s been a long year already but the calendar confirms we are just wrapping up March. Sending love.