I’m not sure I’ve ever seen baby lady bugs until Sunday. I was planting zinnias and was about to put disturb this area next to the fence. Do you see the tiny red spec on the little green leaf in the center of the photo? 
It was a lady bug! And there were others, lots of them! They scattered but some brave ones stayed put while I fetched the camera…
Isn’t it amazing what you can see if you just keep your eyes open!
Mom’s 82nd birthday was last week! She enjoyed a variety of activities and one was a trip to the Dallas Arboretum. Lorna came up with the idea for this excellent adventure and I’m glad she did. Mom, Lorna, Bear and I set off on Wednesday morning, a beautiful north Texas spring day.
Bear was an excellent adventurer. He rode in the stroller and sometimes got to get out and walk…
The grown-ups looked at the flowers and plants, mostly to get ideas about what we might do in our own yards. Wild roses are so pretty, but I don’t have room…
I have a lot more shade in my yard now than I used to and the best idea I got was to plant some ferns, purple oxalis, and some other purple-y shade lovers!
I also have succulents in pots near the pool. I wish I could grow one of these, but there’s just not room…
Here is my succulent space. No room for a century plant, although these guys should get bigger over the summer.
Mom loves her plants. She used to love to work in the yard but she can’t do that so much any more. Happily she is only 4 houses down so I can do some digging for her, along with Hector (her yard man and his crew), and Christopher.
I spent most of last Thursday and Friday in my yard, and then mom’s yard. I should have been working on the manuscript for the next (two) book(s), but I didn’t. I felt some guilt but not enough to go inside :-). I was too busy last year with the color book to work in the yard and I promised myself that this year I would get out and deal with the bare spots. The weather was perfect when I planted and we got some rain on Sunday to water the plants in. My yard is making me smile!
It’s nice now and it’s only going to get better! FYI to those who have not seen pics of my yard before: it’s small and unusual for my neighborhood. Every other house has the typical big yard of grass with bushes at the house. Lucky for us we live in a neighborhood without restrictions. Also, luckily, our neighbors really like our yard.
Spring is the season of hope and I keep running across interesting articles that are hope-related. You would imagine that I am referring to uplifting and happy articles, but these are not. In fact the second article is depressing, just so you know.
Yesterday in the NY Times Simon Critchley wrote an op-ed piece, Abandon (Nearly) All Hope. It requires a certain amount of focus even though it is a short read. I was tired when I read it so had to concentrate more than I normally do when eating my granola. The upshot is that dewy-eyed hope can be harmful. For example, when we elect someone who promises things we that know are not remotely possible, why do we let the hope that ‘this time will be different’ allow us to believe in the impossible? This is true not just in politics, but in everyday life. There is a lot to be said for realistic hopefulness.
In the Times Sunday Magazine was another, longer article: It’s The End of the World As We Know It… and He Feels Fine. It is about Paul Kingsnorth, a long-time environmental activist and novelist who has given up activism—not because he doesn’t believe in climate change, but rather, he doesn’t see the human race changing in time to avert disaster. This is not a happy article.
I’ve been mulling over the ideas presented in these two articles and how well they dovetail. I am married to a scientist and I do believe that we are altering our planet, and not for the better. I would happily do my bit to change things but real change requires a collective will to make changes that none of are going to like. For one thing, it’s going to be expensive. And I live in the South… should I give up air conditioning? I would if everyone else did but I look around and I don’t believe that many of my fellow Texans would willingly sweat through our summers. What to do?
This brings me back to hope. I am an optimist by nature. I am hopeful that somehow, we’ll muddle through. I am not sure that this is a realistic hope and I can understand Mr. Kingsnorth’s point of view, but I am not going to live my life constantly depressed. Instead, today I planted flower seeds in the bare areas of my yard. (Luckily there aren’t many bare areas.) I did change the sprinkler system this year to drip irrigation. I can water less and less water will be lost to evaporation.
I’m going to enjoy this beautiful Spring and I hope for many more. I am going to try to be willing to make hard changes when the time comes. I am going to be happy—and I hope that you will be too.
PS: My stacked rocks are beginning to resemble something (Jabba-the-Hut?) with two large front teeth. I may need to do something about that…
There are times when I wonder why so many of my quilts have flowers on them. And then, spring happens!
Dianthus is a happy plant. Look closely at the bottom, center bud that is opening like a whirlygig. So fun!
Many of my iris are now in so much shade that they’ve given up, but not this one. One of the best parts of digital photography is that you can almost always get decent close-ups and it’s so lovely to see the details in flowers. I love the beard…
Columbines are always exciting!
Like shooting stars, or fireworks, or aliens…
I have some bluebonnets in my yard and they are such a great shade of blue. I’m hoping to gather the seeds this year and scatter them better than I have in years past.
I know that many of you are not yet enjoying spring. I hope these pictures make you smile on this Easter weekend.
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