There is water everywhere now. Blue pools dotting the fields, filling the ditches. This little flood is having its way with a road a few miles east of here.

Sun hot enough to be summer, as long as you’re out of the spring wind.

I went for a wander around the outside of the farmyard yesterday, then came home and dug out summer clothes and changed into shorts and a tank top. Just as I was about to go over to South Forks to find the box of footwear that holds my sandals and thongs, a knock came on the door.

“Yoo Hoo! Anybody home?”

It was a friend I have not seen for 15 years or been in touch with for almost that many. She is in town this weekend visiting her parents, who I have seen in the store and the doctor’s office since moving here. What joy to see her face again. We hugged each other tightly, pulled back, hugged again, pulled back, and I gave her a big smack right on the lips, so glad to see her was I.

We had a wonderful visit. She’d brought a six-pack of cold beer, and we cracked ’em open and sat out on the deck for the rest of the afternoon, catching up on the details of each other’s lives — the things that her parents couldn’t tell me, the things that my sister couldn’t tell her when they’d run into each other once in a while over the years.

Only minutes after she arrived, I said “Please tell me you brought your scissors home with you! Do you know I haven’t had a good haircut in years?”

She’s been doing hair for over 20 years and is fast and knows what she’s doing. She’s coming back tonight to make mine presentable again. Perfect timing, as I’ve been pushing it back off my face constantly for more than a week already.

Clever and I hung out together in high school. I spent a lot of time at her place on the farm during my teenage years. Her parents allowed her to get in at any time of night, as long as she was out milking the cows first thing every morning. It was great freedom for me, who had strict curfews at home and couldn’t be out partying all night.