One thing.......................

...........leads to another.

Early this afternoon, before the sun appeared, I ventured into the garden. It rained last night, drenching rain accompanied by thunder so loud it awoke me from a deep sleep. Everything was washed clean and the grass appeared to be two inches taller than yesterday.
You may recall I mentioned my Spring garden chores have been a big fat zero. No time between these two trips to clean up the remaining fallen leaves. I'm on my knees.....no not weeding, instead asking Mother Nature's forgiveness for letting my little cottage garden become so overgrown and untidy while I travel the world! I did however grab the pruners and cut off the dead daffodil flowers (always leave the foliage until it dies back, it feeds the bulbs for next year), trimmed dead hydrangea tips, and cut back the Knockout roses. That's why I'm titling this post 'one thing leads to another". Really I should have been stuck here in the house addressing the packing issue!

I stepped outside into the back garden today because the fox was there. Standing quietly, surveying the garden around the gazebo. I hope so much she doesn't have her babies here this year. Seeing her looking so calm in a familiar area makes me think there may be a new litter of kits soon.
Do you recognize these rather bland buds waiting to burst?  They are the wisteria on the arbor..........

...........and I was surprised to see them opening. Of course they will be beautiful when the purple racemes are dangling elegantly, and their soft perfume fills the air. Our azaleas are also getting ready to put on their spring colors. I'm hoping all these beauties will still be blooming when we arrive home at Easter.

Looking up I see the flowers on our one remaining dogwood tree showing their pale green petals which will soon turn white.

Another embarrassing thing................I've not even hung a more seasonal flag on the potting shed, still showing Autumn pumpkins and falling leaves, shame on me.

I'll miss my garden as this is the time of year when it really looks so lovely, but with much of April and all of May here at home I'll be able to catch up. Mother Nature, I promise I'll do better!