Joys of Spring (2025)

Hello all, it’s already April and I thought it’s about time to share what kept me busy the past two months

My daughter Maddie now lives in Washington DC and I visited her and her boyfriend, Will last week. I took a redeye flight from Sacramento on a Thursday night and got there on Friday morning. I was there for an extended weekend and flew back on Monday. I timed my visit to see the cherry blossoms but I was a few days late to see its peak. There were still blossoms but they were past the prime. The white blossoms are very light and delicate and are easily blown away. The biggest surprise though was the beds of tulips in the National Mall, in what‘s called Floral Library. It was a delight to see the variety of colors and some even had striated petals.

Maddie is doing well and I’ m excited to share that she is an entrepreneur running her own company called Gold Star Labs, a software development studio specializing in edtech and immersive art. She has collaborated with many well known companies and design studios developing award-winning educational games. Hope you are curious enough to check out her company website, and she has even done a project with the NY Museum of Modern Art!

https://goldstarlabs.io

Lastly, I’d like to share a hopeful poem. Despite world’s troubles, there’s always nature to bring me comfort and Mary Oliver eloquently expresses it for me.

I always make time to go outside, even if it’s just yard work or volunteering as docent in the open space near my neighborhood.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver
Wild Geese