This is Spring--Really

Rabbit has been sprayed blue this season and he's going to manage the garden from the top of the grotto.

Pansy popped up from nowhere on the path and is the first to bloom with tulips and daphs showing signs of unfurling pretty soon.
I have never bothered with pansies in the past but last year, I had this Zen moment when I realized they give so much and ask so little in return.
Besides, I won a pot of them at a bridge game.

This little guy also seeded himself from the original mother ship. He's holding his own against the dandelions and they're all looking rather pretty right now.
Either I feel that way or I have to weed.

A Door is Born

My #3 son the carpenter had a couple of days free and he decided to install a deck off the family room.

In this picture #1 son is helping to bash down part of the wall.

Then comes the cutting away of the plaster on the inside.


The wall is down and the lady of the house is wondering how she is expected to cook meals for the next while--the next while is when the brick dust is settling into every crevice in the house.

She wisely opts for dinner out while she thinks it over.

And the new door is in. The old window it replaced is leaning against the wall on the right.

In the beginning it was like one of those children's rhymes--there was small house with lot of itty bitty rooms--that kind of tale.

First, #3 chopped out a wall and a narrow staircase off the kitchen, revealing two tiny bedrooms that soon lost their adjoining walls and a big room was born.

So now we have a kitchen/ family room in their basic stages--and that tiny window in the family room appeared to be begging, "free me." and that seemed a good time to consider installing the deck and a door to get to the deck.

I suspect there will be a domestic mutiny if the kitchen isn't soon turned into a pleasant working space.

Hey- You Weren't Invited.

I've never felt warm and fuzzy about squirrels since the year I grew my first tulips and the little rotters snapped off all the heads. Just like that. they didn't bother to eat them or store them in their memory books--no sir, just snap off and move on was their motto.

So, when they come to check out the bird feeder, I don't send them packing but I do snarl.

This guy felt right at home as he gobbled up his breakfast.



This one waited his turn and then found it easier to scarf up the leavings on the ground.

Now go away, far away and get a life.

Thai Wedding

Number three son recently married his bride for the second time in her home town of Bangkok.
The first time was in Canada but that didn't cut it with her relatives.
The photographer went all-out and had them change into various marriage costumes.

Now I ask you would you buy a used car from this man?
Stay with me.

If the relatives had never met Steve, they would be visibly quaking by now.

Thanks for waiting. This is the real Steve.
His bride Aw is truly awesome and he'd be happy to marry her again.

Back From Nowhere

I once worked with a woman whose presence in a room was enough to suck out all the air and vitality. Just like that.

I think of her in the spring when I go through a short but nasty bout of depression. it shows up out of nowhere when I would generally get excited about the snow melting and the bulbs beginning to shoot up.

The people I know who suffer from S.A.D. have their bad times during the winter but I seem to be stuck in a different time slot.

I begin to notice that every little decision becomes a monumental problem, a teasing remark cuts deep and I am into serious over-eating.

The cloud lifts as quickly as it fell and yesterday I knew it was done and my world looked good, really good.

There is thunder and rain today but I don't mind. the garden will get a good soaking.

Let the good times begin.