It is bulky, awkwardly large and heavy. It seems like 'only yesterday' that we turned the damn thing. But yet again it's time to turn the queen-size, pillow-top mattress on our bed over again. Winter (wool) side down, spring (silk) side up. And to remove all the winter bedclothes, replacing them with bright, cheery spring ones in turn.

Yesterday I finally finished cleaning out all the kitchen cupboards for spring, and the bathroom vanities and drawers, replacing a mild chaos with order and neatness that will last, who knows how long? Tea and spices make quite a mess, leaving bits of themselves to be perpetually wiped away.

And yesterday my husband scraped, buffed and scrubbed the floor planks on the deck, along with the rail tops, to rid them of winter mould or anything else that accumulated, and then set about applying the preservative that he always likes to use before he is able to put up the large awning that covers the deck in the summer, and retrieves the garden furniture from our garden shed to place it back on the deck, for our summer 'livingroom'.

I've yet to do the windows, and wash the sheers that cover them, and clean the screens but that will all fall into place. We're (almost) ready to face the coming planting season in our garden. My husband has gone off for more garden soil, for he used almost all of what he bought a few days earlier, for seeding that pathetic lawn of ours. This time the soil is meant to fill up all of our many garden pots and urns.

And that's another job that beckons him, withdrawing all those pots stored under the deck and covered with a tarp to keep them intact during the winter; clay becomes friable when it's exposed to freeze-and-thaw conditions. And when he uncovers them we'll see which of the hostas I'd planted in a few of them will have survived; all - likely enough, since one has been thriving in a large pot for years.

He'll use a mixture of peat moss, sheep manure and garden soil to fill the pots and then we'll set about acquiring the gorgeous fillers, flowers beloved by us in particular, demanding aesthetic care in their arrangement and giving us enormous pleasure for the spring, summer and early fall months.