April adieu

I'd like to say this was taken in 2008. Instead, I must report that the date for this garden photo at the Lovestead was April 11, 2007. Haven't seen a hyacinth poke its head much above the ground yet, which indicates that we're about three weeks behind this year.

The daffodils have just started popping out. Mary and Terry Taylor came over last night looking for their kitty cat. Mary went home with the second daffodil plucked for the year.

Tomorrow we say hello to May. Hopefully, we'll be able to greet and enjoy the usual April happenings around here, albeit the wrong calendar date. The snow bank by the shop will melt completely today.

When Annie and her friends roll in Friday night, they can still go play in the snow, cuz there's plenty left in the woods. I propped up Rambo's monument for his grave last night. Weight of snow had forced it to its side. A circle extending almost two feet around the monument shows bare ground---the rest snow. One of these nights, I'll take a jaunt down there and spread out some more wildflower seeds on the Lodgepole pasture pet resting places.

I walked around the broken-down orchard last night. My friend Judie told me yesterday at Yoke's that I could take one of those many volunteer sprouts growing around one of the apple trees, stick it in the ground, and maybe it will grow. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I thought. Better than all the broken off tiny trunks sticking up where young trees were once gradually branching out. So, I took the shovel, did a little digging, and one of the sprout almost volunteered on its own to separate itself from the mother tree. While doing that job, I noticed that the living trees have tiny buds just beginning the transformation toward leafing out.

Usually, most tree buds have begun their leafy show by the third week in April. I'll be marking the day in May when that happens this year.

With May comes too many activities, but this year, I say, "Bring 'em on!" I'm rested enough from the long winter to welcome a hurry-up pace for a while. That includes lawn-mowing, seed planting, transplanting, horse transporting, horse welcoming, kid visiting, kid work with Laurie, horse shows, book signings-----and a fervent wish that in the midst of it all there's still time to enjoy in May the spiritually reviving shows of youthful nature that we missed in April.