Thursday

It's a slow climb, but it is a climb, right out of the cold and damp, the sniffles and fevers, the countless fixes of broken this, broken that.

But it's slow. I'm only half tempted to spend any time outside!

And that's just as well because right after breakfast...






... Snowdrop is dropped here for the morning. She's still not quite up to speed. Another day of rest will give her the strength she needs to face life's challenges.






A good sign: she asks for lunch, even though I just finished clearing the breakfast table! She'd love a croissant, but I have none. Next best thing: pancakes!






And from there it's all up up up. She makes a book...






... she plays with her characters. She isn't dancing and prancing yet, but she surely is almost her old self.






When she leaves and I finish off another round of fixes for things that don't work quite right, I have before me several hours before it's time to cook dinner. I do have plants that need to go in, but honestly, it's just a little too cold to make it a pleasant task. I put it off for tomorrow and concentrate instead on digging out old stuff in the garden that should have been replaced last year if not the year before. You want to believe that perennial flowers will come back each year and that they will only gain in strength. While that's true for some of them (count day lilies as reliable in this regard), not all get sumptuous with age. Some can be divided. Some just have to be retired to the compost heap.

This afternoon, I pile on the compost heap.

I'll leave you with a few farmette photos. There are some stellar views right now, despite the gray skies. Well, at least I think they're stellar. May is the month with some of my favorite hues in the garden -- light green, complemented by pinks, whites and lemon yellows. Oh, but why favor one over the next -- it all looks so splendid! Really it does!







(Jacket, in the crab apple)






(the old orchard)






(the tulips)