The last several days have made me regret donning long underwear. The mornings are still chilly but at midday it’s downright hot.

On Sunday Violet played her cello for the Easter service at Chilmark Community Church. Then we hopped on the ferry for a trip to Amherst for her evening concert. It was even warmer there.

As usual, I detest highway driving. The Mass Pike was literally a parking lot for miles. I guess everyone had traveled for the holiday. It’s remarkable that folks think their horn can magically clear a path for them.

There is a garden in the campus center that is very interesting. Several willow saplings are at each entryway. They are lashed together to form a perfect archway. Bamboo stakes are bound together artistically for plant supports.

Oddly, with the exception of daffodils, no spring flowers were anywhere. Here on the Vineyard, folks have been spiffing up yards and containers since Palm Sunday. The nurseries are loaded with pansies and flowering bulbs.

At my house, even the Virginia bluebells are blooming. Mertensia virginica is a native eastern North American plant with blue-grey foliage. The flowers start out pink but quickly turn blue. It gets quite tall and spreads like crazy.

Also, the grape hyacinths are finally coming along. They are a bit later than the other hyacinths but are really reliable for years, not to mention adorable.

Not to speak ill of the beautiful, enormous swaths of daffodils everywhere but I am fond of a random single one that just appears in the woods and that seemingly no one planted.

One time I dumped a truckload of horse manure and a tulip came up. It had a white stem more than six feet long, having grown through the whole pile relentlessly.

The Olson place in North Tisbury has a lovely star magnolia in full and glorious bloom. My own has been taken over by a patch of bamboo and has a measly five flowers.

On the job sites, we’ve been busy spreading compost as top dressing on all the beds. I’m not a big fan of mulch. It sucks all the nutrients out of a bed and acts like a helmet during droughty conditions. I’m not saying for you to not use it, but I’m not. I feel the same way about the endless amounts of plastic soaker hose spread in a not- very-pleasing fashion all over beds.

While I’m talking smack I may as well go all the way. While at a job site recently, I watched four young men armed with incredibly loud leaf blowers attack a lawn. I sat in my truck wearing ear protection and it was still deafening. That’s all I have to say about that.

Tennessee state representative Gloria Johnson has made me proud to be an old white woman. Her support of the two Justins (Jones and Pearson) has been admirable.

I have renewed hope for our country with the young people mobilizing against gun violence.

Marsha Blackburn, the U.S. senator from Tennessee, made a statement on the Senate floor — after the usual and useless thoughts and prayers — that our children need to be protected with more armed security guards at schools. This is a politician who took more than a million dollars in campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association.

As of Tuesday Justin Jones has been reinstated and we are waiting to hear about Justin Pearson on Wednesday.

It’s amazing how the G.O.P. has misread the mood of the country. More shall be revealed in the coming weeks. We have Fox court cases and D.J.T.’s impending legal woes ahead of us. Never a dull moment!