Wicked Wednesday: Taking It Outdoors

Wicked Wednesdays we all weigh in on a topic, and then ask our readers to chime in as well. Last week we talked about spring cleaning. This week’s question, given that Memorial Day is coming up, and many a grill will be hauled out from winter storage, what is your favorite “it isn’t winter any more” outdoor activity?

Julie: Every spring, I try and do the Couch to 5K program, to get outside and moving. (I walk faster than I run, so this isn’t any great feat. Just makes me feel better about myself.) I also help get my folks’ summer house ready, which has meant dealing with gifts from mice the last three years. (Here’s hoping that won’t happen this year. Yeesh.) I also give myself or get a pedicure, and try to get my feet used to wearing sandals again. I live in a condo, otherwise it would be all about gardening as well.

Jessie: I head to the beach and start preparing the house my family has there for the season. I open the windows and remake all the beds with fresh linens. I stock my container garden and plant the window boxes. I rake out the garden beds and bring out the patio furniture. When I’m done I head to the beach and fly a kite.

Liz: Getting outside during the day – whether I’m working at the office or at home. If I’m at the office, I’ll grab a friend and we’ll head to Bushnell Park in Hartford and do a few laps, then grab a Starbucks on the way back. At home, I try to get Shaggy to the green for a walk. It gives me a good excuse to get out.

Edith: Let’s hear it for flying a kite after chores, the first pedicure, and laps at the park! For me, it’s eating at the table on the deck, preferably all three meals in the day. Planting the vegetable garden is huge. But a lot of it is just gazing at the fully greened-up trees, lawns, and shrubs. Forsythia turns from yellow to green. Tree branches get hidden by emerald leaves. The garlic I planted in the fall pushes happily up from its hay mulch. Even my baby blueberries bushes sprout brilliant green leaves. Call me happy.

Sherry: This is the second week in a row I have to confess to having no special rites of passage or spring routines. Seeing this week’s topic made me ponder this. I decided that maybe it’s because since 1981 I’ve lived lots of different places with lots of different climates. I’ve moved, on average, about every three years. Perhaps if I stayed one place for a long period of time I’d settle into some routine but I’m not sure I even want to. I walk all year long through sleet and rain and dark of night but that’s only because I have a dog and a yard without a fence. I do love when spring buds out in wave after wave of blooming trees, flowers, and bushes.

Barb: I love being outdoors, and this spring has been so late in New England, I’m especially excited. I move my writing operation to the porch, especially our deep front porch in Boothbay Harbor, Maine where I am inspired by the views of sailboats, lobster boats, islands and sea birds. I also look especially for restaurants where we can dine alfresco.

Readers: What is your favorite “it isn’t winter any more” outdoor activity?