leder legends

Promises, promises. All indications were that today would be sunny and warmer than yesterday. Well, it's gray and cloudy.  I did get out in the yard and got a wheelbarrow full of sticks, and lots of bittercress. I made a dent in a huge population, I also sprayed spectracide on the rest (for now) and used up the Preen.  Here's hoping.  I also burned the grasses in the backyard...three bunches. I'm such a fire lover! All went well except for the last bunch...too close to the fence and had to run for a bucket of water!! Twas fun, fun, fun!

So happy that the squirrels did not find the tulip bulbs

This daffodil always comes up by itself every year....I know...all flowers come up by themselves. I mean this one stands alone every year on the west side of my house.  Heralder of spring! all by itself!

Daffodils to be

Why are they so happy in my yard?? Creeping Charlie!

Holes everywhere Skunks : Skunks are very precise in their digging. They will make individual cone shaped holes precisely at the spot where the grub/insect is. Photo courtesy of Rob Erickson of Wildlife Control Technology Magazine.

This weed is going to kill me Hairy Bittercress Hairy bittercress is a winter annual in warm regions and a summer annual in cooler zones. Plants appear where soil is overly moist. Leaves form a tuft along the ground, and white flowers appear on stalks that stand well above leaves. Flowers fade to form elongated seed capsules that spew seeds quite far. Hand-pull a few plants. If you have a serious infestation, apply a post-emergent broadleaf herbicide when plants are young.

So happy...hairy bittercress

New flowers Hellebore Also known as a Lenten  rose  or  Christmas   rose , hellebores produce spring flowers of delicate beauty and surprising resilience. In warmer climates, it may even tolerate light frosts, making it one of the best flowers to plant in spring. 

Pulmonaria True to form this lovely plant is one of the first to bloom.  

They say every day is a new day but I guess it doesn't always feel that way. Today felt particularly good! An entire day of sunshine in March is a gift. We are usually suffering the gray and the cloudy and sometimes the rainy kind of weather at this time of the year. After realizing that I was wasting precious sunshine by doing laundry and all the other things that needed doing...I got out of the pjs, put on some workaday clothes and worked in the yard.  I have some lovely weeds sprouting prolifically and from past experience I knew they would soon be scattering seeds everywhere. So I methodically made my way around the side and front yards. But so many sticks, so many clumps of grass growing where they ought not to be growing...I was almost totally distracted from my goal: get those weeds.  1 and 1/2 hrs later the wheelbarrow was full after a full circuit had been made. That felt good until I surveyed the back flowerbeds...those particular weeds like my bac...

Happy Easter!  Celebrate!!

It was so good to get together once again. We have all been so busy but we had an hour and a half and headed to Rose's. Great conversation and lovely colorful food. Pretty to look at and very tasty too. Peasant salad The Burger Spinach salad

family  ...it all started on Mar 9 surprise birthday party (for Arie's 70th...a month early: which is most likely why he didn't suspect a thing)) Sunday pizza and games: fast scrabble, rummicube and quirkle: (J learned some new games and how competitive N and S are.) Zootopia (fun movie with lots of adult humor. It's a good thing there were very few people in the theater besides us because Stormie was active...like all two yr olds.) bowling (everyone but Arie enjoyed this. Afterwards the kids came home with me and the rest of the kids went to Trivia at the Chance.) dogs (Nathan has Charlie, a pitbull mix, Aaron has Walter, a huge male Malamute, and Sarah and Andy have Lucy, a gorgeous black mutt. Surprisingly they got along. Poor Lucy thought it was much too warm in Michigan) house guests (chaos...but loved it all) shopping (girls and kids went to TJ Max and Nordstrom's rack) more shopping  ( the outlet mall) massages (Nathania and Andy and Sarah joined me) ...

We are in Phoenix staying in a house ...for free. Right?? It is a lovely house only 55 miles from where Arie is teaching. We have enjoyed the quiet, the good beds, the lovely kitchen and the beautiful yard. They said if we didn't clean and didn't wash the sheets etc a neighbor would do it for a small fee.  Anyway I'm too cheap to pay for something that I can do myself and that I have the time to do myself. So I'm happy to say it's clean...dare I say much cleaner than when we  arrived. Good exercise after too many days on my backside! I even washed the car. (which was a BMW convertible...made us feel young!)

In this day and age of great mobility, in our parenting do we give our children a sense of place? Or is that a thing of the past? I just finished reading Wendell Berry's A Place in Time. A very provocative read about the loss of one time replaced by another.  It's very sad and yet...

We thought it would fun and impressive taking a Pink Jeep tour into the hills of the Sonoran desert. Fun? ...not so much! Impressive?...not so much. Expensive??....terribly. I got a few decent pictures though.

Bryan Munro  has an interesting light art  show at the gardens. Chihuly works are always impressive at night Water towers

Aaron posted on facebook. A friend posted what he thought a Aaron baby would look like.