Outdoors Is Calling!

It's hard to believe it's the end of March already in a year whose last digit I'm still getting used to. As much as I try to ignore it, the grass is swiftly approaching that shaggy stage where it will need to be cut if we want to maintain our proper, buttoned-down suburban look. And mulch must be spread, flowering annuals purchased and planted, the dead and dying given a fitting disposal. Not to mention all the new stuff that needs to be done out back--grassing over that old garden, putting in borders, and, and, and, and.....(tip of the hat to M.F.K. Fisher).

It's amazing, the chores you'll take on willingly when it's your name on the results. When I was a kid, yard work was up there on my list of favorite things along with walking on hot coals. I hated the heat, I hated the wet, smelly grass, the bugs...you name it. If it was outside and it entailed the slightest amount of exertion, I hated it. In the days before electric string trimmers, you had to use those scissors-like lawn shears for borders, and that could take an entire day to do right. (I know, because I was often sent back out to "finish the job.") I hated it. Now, I find cutting the grass one of those satisfying jobs that give you immediate gratification, and trimming is rewarding because of the clean lines you get (thank God for string trimmers, however). The difference, of course, is that it's mine, all mine, and therefore it has to look good! The gardening industry reaps its fortune from my vanity.

We have a terraced garden bordering the street in the front. The top level is filled with azaleas that give a better and better show the older they become. The bottom level is always filled with colorful annuals. Each year I think I'll try something new, and each year I end up putting in hundreds of petunias anyway. They can't be beat for their cascading billows of color--they slow traffic along 12th Street. Putting in the petunias definitely does not qualify as work; it's a labor of love.

I have a truncated day today so I'm not able to spend much time here. Tomorrow's time will be even shorter, as I get things ready for Delaware. We'll probably leave mid-day. I still don't know if I'll be able to do posts there. I'm taking a flash drive with some music on it just in case.....