Spring is in the Air! (Kind Of)

So even though I'm in the Southern hemisphere, I still associate Easter with Spring. Maybe it's because I'm a heathenish pagan, but I prefer to think of Easter as a time for natural rebirth, a time to reevaluate things, make things new, all kind of pretty ideas like that. To be honest, I like making resolutions more at Easter than I do at New Year's.

We celebrated Easter with Alexandre's extended family. We had a big lunch. I wore spring pastels. I mean, the temperature and weather during a California spring and a Brazilian autumn aren't that different, plus I've just had this big move and my life essentially started over, so I don't feel like I'm forcing things too much.

Alexandre and I also had a DIY project this weekend: an herb garden! I've wanted a nice one forever. You may remember my post from last year when I tried to grow herbs in our dingy, dark, and humid apartment. It didn't go over well, and there were more bugs than edible plants.

But now....behold!

From top left, we have green onion (cebolinha), mint (hortelã), basil (manjericão), celery (salsão), cilantro (coentro), dedo de moça peppers, and oregano. The peppers are the only ones that Gatinha can reach from the window sill, so we're hoping they'll teach her not to chew, if she tries.

It was such a fun project. Alexandre's mom took us to a big plant fair/market (if you know where I live, you probably know which one). She knows all about this kind of stuff, of course. I had made a list of the herbs I wanted. Then we picked out the best wall mount and little pots. We had to deal with MIL pouting when we refused to buy the tacky white metal wall mount that was 3 times the price and listen to her insist that wood looks cheap but somehow metal doesn't Alexandre's mother was very helpful and knows a lot about gardening and plants. (Did you know that there are actually 3 different types of basil? There are probably more, but we saw 3 different ones.) The MIL also warned me that the celery probably won't grow much, but it was only R$2 so I figured it was worth a try.

After meandering around the big plant market, Alexandre's mom went home and Alexandre and I went to the store to buy varnish and the right screws to mount the wood piece on the wall. Then he lovingly applied the varnish using a complicated pulley system that he invented on the balcony. Apparently you have to apply varnish twice: once, and then again 8 hours later, so he did that. Then, this morning, he put the wall mount up! I got to do the fun part, which was putting the plants onto the mount and taking pictures. (Of course, I'll be the one to do all the cooking with these herbs, so I think he wins out in the long-run.)

At first Alexandre was whiny about the herb garden project (mostly because he had to wake up early) but then once it was finished, he was really proud and realized how fun at-home projects can be.  The next thing I want to do is find a creative way to put up my Embu das Artes pictures.

It's so nice to be starting out in a home that you know will be pretty permanent. I've moved way too much in the last decade of my life, and it's really comforting to be able to invest in my home a bit.