Spring Popped Up

All kinds of Spring has popped up right outside our patio doors.  The lettuce is more lettuce-y and the spinach behind it is making an appearance too.  In the next planter the scallions are up about 1/4", just barely enough green to be seen, and I thought I saw a basil peeking out from under a piece of soil but I can't be sure.  The ferns have shot up and fronds are unfurling, but the best part, the part you can't experience is the fragrance of the lilies of the valley.  I walk out the patio doors and before I've even stepped off the single step it surrounds me, that heady scent that is like no other.  There's a reason lilies of the valley only last for a week or so, I think, and it's because they're so rich and so sensual that too much of them and civilization would grind to a halt so people could just lay in the grass and let that aroma waft over them.  Or at least my part of civilization would.  It's a good thing that the Stargazers aren't blooming at the same time or I'd have to take time off work just to sniff my way around the yard... and around and around and around.  I love lilies.  I need to find varieties that  bloom all season.  (Maybe that's what I'll Google at work today.)  That way I'll always have a lily to look forward to.  Durwood's going to Stein's today to get some shallot sets.  We've got an empty patio pot that would be perfect for them.  This is the time of year when eagerness to plant overrides logic so we have to be aware of the care needs of what we shove into the ground.  Durwood planted a few Persian melon seeds he got from a friend in pots that will get transplanted once they're up and healthy.  I don't think I've ever eaten a Persian melon but I'm willing to try.  See the Lantana?  I wanted to buy an already planted hanging basket of them, but they didn't have any so I planted my own.  Hummingbirds and butterflies like them.  See the Slinky on each shepherd's crook?  Slinkys are the ultimate squirrel retardant.  Squirrels don't like climbing poles with Slinkies on them so DIL2 gave Durwood a bunch for Christmas a couple years ago and they work like a charm.  Plus they bob up and down when it's windy.  Amuses me no end.



May 15--Limoges, Plaque with Censing Angels.  Billows of smoke drifted through the shafts of sunlight as Regina stood inside the church doors.  In the gloom she saw the glint of gold.  Those Catholics, she thought, they sure weren't shy about showing off their money.  She wondered how many rich people tried to buy their way into Heaven.

And that's when the Sandman came and bonked me on the head.  I vaguely remember taking off my glasses and turning out the light.  Too bad there's not an Olympic sleeping medal; I'd win.  Adieu, mon braves.
--Barbara