On the Cusp of May

It looks like all four butternut squash seedlings are surviving on my room's windowsills. I am now checking the bottom of one of the plant pots regularly, to see when roots begin to push out of the holes, and at that point hope to transplant to a bigger pot.

My other plants are equally loved if perhaps less abundantly thriving.

One spider plant looks especially happy while the other spider plants don't, but I've planted a runner in the former potato pot, and it looks like it might survive another week.

The lemon saplings that I grew from sprouted seeds are also looking really well and should have been transplanted months ago, two forget-me-not plants are hanging on to life and so is the nasturtium, and the forsythia has broad green leaves now.

The past week has also seen a magical conversion around Berlin, like on the banks of the amusing-sounding Reichpietschufer canal. There the rigid twigs of winter that bristled along the banks like a Prussian parade mustache, have now burst into soft shapes of paler green horse chestnut leaves, as well as crowns and canopies of other tree species. A few almost bare trees, likely plane trees, still appear nakedly along the streets, however.

As I wound around the traffic circle at the Siegessäule this afternoon, I also saw that dense thickets of old lilacs (at least half a century old, at an amateur's guess) are beginning to flower. They semi-incongruously embower the plinths underneath the pale white statues of various tough old generals of the Napoleonic era, with the odd shadowy yew sticking out of the plots.

Yesterday I went to the office. T. and I cycled home together afterward. It was nice to see colleagues again in person. Besides it was nice to know that once I was home, I could disconnect from the thought of work duties entirely. And later on I was so tired I went to sleep before midnight or 1 a.m., again, instead of still being 'wired' and wide awake at 3 a.m.. Maybe I'll go more often.

Today I went on another outing and dropped off donations at the LaGeSo complex in northern-central Berlin. A boyfriend and girlfriend were just being asked in the friendliest possible way if they'd like a coffee, at the entrance. And the other people who were picking up donations were scattered across the small lawn chatting with each other, like the last time I was there.

Altogether I was in and out quite quickly. (I only felt like a brigand when I asked for my bag, which had been used to carry the supplies, back!)

The pleasant atmosphere does not mean there isn't a critical situation for food charities in Berlin in general, however. Food and hygiene supplies are needed badly.

Food hoarding in Berlin also still seems to be widespread. I've seen signs in at least 2 different grocery chain stores, asking customers to only buy 2 packages of flour per household. With all due respect for the genuinely poor who might want to save money with this, I really feel like shaking my head that this is necessary.