Opinion

ROB PEREZ enters a patch of milkweed and finds CARTER THE CATERPILLAR on a half-eaten leaf. Carter is a medium-sized monarch caterpillar with black, white, and yellow stripes. Carter continuously eats milkweed.

The gardening saga continues as I wait patiently for the seeds planted indoors to start. For a few days, the only things that had sprouted were the mustard greens, and watching all the rest of the trays remain solidly dirt, I started to feel a little discouraged. Perhaps I had not done enough research. Alas, a few more sprouted, and then I went away for the weekend.

I went to the Met recently to see Beethoven’s “Fidelio” and hang out with 3,800 very well-dressed patrons to see a passionate story about political tyranny but mainly to see the soprano Lise Davidsen who is worth the price of admission and more, especially when surrounded by the Met chorus, mostly men, imprisoned for political crimes but nonetheless in gorgeous voice. As for Lise, architects have designed enormous opera houses and finally they’ve designed a singer whose voice fills it so you feel it even in the cheaper seats.

There are no words in my vocabulary to express my thoughts and feelings about the weather extremes last week. Uff. I am really hoping that Ma Nature has vented all her anger at whoever or whatever upset her. I spent quite a bit of time venting to her, I know.

I’m a very lucky guy. My family’s healthy. They pay me to do things I love. And my six-year-old daughter consistently ranks me as strongest man in the house. Also, once a year, I take a bit of time off and we spend time on this island. The island is tropical and lush and volcanic. People refer to the island in all sorts of ways but perhaps the phrase I hear most often is: almost paradise.

The change of seasons always inspires me to do what my kids always refer to as “the purge”. Because I’m aware that I need to move the winter clothes out of the main closet and the warmer weather clothes back in, that means that it’s also time to go through everything not worn enough to justify keeping and finally get rid of those purchases that I wore perhaps one or two times.

Uff. That’s all I can say about this up and down weather. Right now it’s sleeting. We’ve had rain and snow is predicted later today. And. We’re not done yet. Tuesday and Wednesday are slated to bring another band of freezing moisture. Enough already, Mother Nature. We’re all sorry we offended you. Calm down. The entire country is facing extremes: floods, fires, blizzards. Late hibernation sounds just wonderful. Wake me when it’s sunny and the grass is green.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about values. Not just as a word, but as an invisible force that shapes our lives. Values are the foundation of civilization, the unspoken contract that binds us together. They define who we are, not just as a society, but as a family. We stand for something. We believe in something. Without values, we are lost—adrift in a sea of moral relativism.

We inch on towards spring. The sunshine this week has been wonderful, but once again the wind defeats her chance at warming us up. I’m itching for green. Grass, leaves. And flowers. My thin patience is wearing even thinner. But I’ll get over it.

I’ve had an easy life, like canoeing down a river, one mile leads to the next, Tuesday follows Monday, obey the rules, portage around dams, don’t approach alligators unless their eyes are closed, and don’t argue with men with large eyebrows carrying shotguns.