The knee aspiration went normally, not very painful. The result: no bacteria present. So it’s not an infection that is making my knee hurt. It is apparently just taking more time to heal than usual. I’m to be patient – a virtue I’m seriously lacking in.

I’m in the final stages of planning a big Easter dinner for eight, which is an excellent number. A spiral-sliced ham is the featured dish, and we’ll wind things up with cherry pie a la mode. I’m braced for a sigh when I step on the scale Monday morning, but it’ll be worth it.

I saw a robin on Sunday. He wasn’t singing his complex territorial song, but his wary cry – not the bark! Bark! Bark-bark-bark shout of danger nearby, but the in-between warble mix. He was sitting in a sunbeam on a high naked branch, his orange breast glowing. Probably just passing through, on his way to Canada, though he was alone, not with a mob of males. His appearance is another sign of early spring, along with a stronger sun, some budding on the trees, snow banks shrinking, and a “soft” feel to the air.

Yesterday I bought a toothbrush for our cat.  I didn’t know there were such things, but PetSmart has them.  And Java chewed on it when I showed it to her, a good sign.   It came with a little tube of cat toothpaste, which she licked a taste of off my finger, another good sign.  I wonder if she really will eventually allow me to brush her teeth?