Littering the lawns at this time of the year are the remnants of a cruel winter that did its best to dampen our spirits and ruin our yards. It partially succeeded in both, but after all these years in upstate New York it’s going to take more than a long winter to beat us down completely. We are strong. We are resilient. And we are ready to clean up the mess.

While not the most brutal of winters, this last one has taken its time departing, and it had its fair share of nasty storms and cutting winds, hence a large amount of debris and detritus from the trees. Consider it nature’s way of pruning, dangerously done without regard to what’s below. Andy and I live in vague dread of having another tree-top pierce our roof again, but this winter passed without incident. The ground tells another story.

Large boughs litter the brown yard, while pinecones and acorns and leaves lie in a wet, matted mess. Still, there is life here if one has the patience to cull it. Hidden in a pinecone are the seeds to start a new evergreen. Within the capped acorn is a baby oak tree waiting to find sun, water and soil to crack itself open and reach for the sky. Life is messy sometimes. Messy and wonderful and laced with hope in the bleakest of circumstances.

Behold the Aviation, a beautiful cocktail that garners its amethyst hue from an integral dose of Crème de violette. Do not be fooled by the latter’s dairy-like name – it’s a purple cordial that is not in the least bit creamy. As for the cocktail, it’s an old classic that has withstood several incarnations over the years. Recipes vary, but I’ll provide a starting standard to get you going if you’re interested in a tart and floral gin-based beauty.

The Aviation

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ ounces Gin
• ½ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice (strained)
• ¾ ounce Maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
• ¾ ounce Crème de violette
• Maraschino cherry to garnish

Shake with ice and strain into the prettiest cocktail glass you have on hand.

Given its tendency to change over the years, this is a pretty forgiving cocktail, and you should adjust and modify the ration of ingredients to your wish and whim. (There’s nothing better than cocktail experimenting, as long as you have no place to go afterward.)

This is a great drink for spring; its violet color and floral accents are the perfect accompaniment to seasonal gatherings. When our violets come into bloom, I may use a few of their blossoms to replace the cherry as a garnish. I’m just that precious. You can be too. 

I’m writing this on Easter Sunday, in the midst of John Legend’s thus far pretty decent performance as the title character in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ – an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that I have never seen. This production looks like it may have been outfitted from one of Kanye West’s fashion show, and that’s not an entire bad thing. That barely-there tank top is totally going to be my go-to item for this upcoming summer. Hello nip-slips… now on with the last Holy Week…

I’ve forced a lot of things in my life – paperwhite narcissus, forsythia, cherry branches, my ass into a pair of tiger-patterned velvet pants – but I’ve never forced anything quite like I’m trying to force this spring into being. 

Despite the cold, warmer winds floated in the dreamy music of Cigarettes After Sex. 

The changing curves of a bouquet. 

The stairway to heaven may be red. 

Plans for the spring smudge were delayed by a bad attitude. 

Annual Easter mayhem by a purple-tulle-collared rabbit. 

Full-frontal male nudity in all its Easter glory. 

Beware the evil Easter bunny! He will snatch you up with his devilish grin and you will be destined to live a life shrouded in purple tulle forever after. Such was the likely nightmare scenario being played out in my mind as my Mom made me sit on this frightening creature’s lap one Easter season. It was at the now-long-gone Mohawk Mall, but I still remember it distinctly, and the expression on my face betrays how terrified I was.

Now it is a favorite photo of all those who love nothing more than taking the piss out of me (the numbers of which grow exponentially larger with each passing year it seems). Anyway, enjoy it now. I do. And even though I still get a little anxious and herky-jerky when one of these things is on the loose (in a mall or restaurant at this time of the year), I’ve mostly made my peace with the big bunny. Happy Easter everybody!

Along with spring cleaning, I usually do a sage smudging around this time to drive out all the negative energy and bad spirits. This year I found a sage and lavender smudge stick – there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be as pleasant an experience as possible, and lavender makes everything better.

It is most definitely a therapeutic exercise, done as much for superstitious peace of mind as it is for spreading some scented smoke throughout the house. It’s almost scientific, the way I plan and execute a proper household smudging. Starting at one end of the attic, I work my way through the house, leaving windows open at integral positions, allowing for the bad juju to escape, waving my sage and lavender wand like some enchanted wizard, driving the darkness away. By the time I reach the basement, the house is filled with the sharp incense of the sage, and a silence that somehow feels more peaceful than before the smudging began. It’s all in my head, or maybe it’s something more. Regardless, there’s power in ritual. Strength in tradition. Peace in the tried and true practices that force us to pause in the ever-quickening tick-tock of the calendar clock.

We are setting the stage for spring.

It is my favorite production.

I’ve passed this building and these stairs a thousand times, but only on a recent trip to Boston did the light catch it just right to reveal the beauty of the intersection of humanity and sky. The brilliant blue of the day (which would prove to be fleeting as the sky soon faded back into winter gray) finds reflection in the windows of the building, while the newly-painted stairs ascend ever-upward, like some fantastical Mary Poppins world that is partly-drawn, partly-imagined, partly-painted, and partly-real. Chimney smoke and chalk drawings. A step in time and the string of a kite.