When did it become so GREEN!!

Amazing. Towering grass in the orchard, begging to be shorn. (And we’d better do it or we’ll need ghost scythers in there soon.) Pockets of violets and wildflowers and, yes, dandelions throughout the lawn. The trees are all in tender leaves. And our redbuds and crabapples are in full blossom for the first time I can remember. So gorgeous. And the sun, harbinger of 10 dry days ahead, is yelling for us to get outside and be a part of this fantasticness – so a few quick catch-ups before Richard and I – tend to our new stream bed, set about finishing up the last stage of our stone wall out front, saw up a maple that uprooted itself right by our pond dam and stack it on a new pile over in our meadow across the road (on palettes c/o Royce), and various gardening, grounds chores. By the by, it is forecoast to go to below freezing tonight, just to keep us honest.

Bird update. The Canada geese have 6 goslings, scruffy grey and yellow, with loads of pluck. They’re probably in the side yard right now, bobbing and chewing through some very tall dandelion stalks. There are also 4 other Canada geese adults hanging around. At first we thought they were trying to nest, but now we think they’re the offspring of last year’s family. We’ve introduced our hatched Pilgrim geese – 2 girls, 1 with a major underbite, and a scrawny gander – to Shmuel, Mary Ann, and Felicity and a new family has been born. They have taken to the pond, claimed goose island, and Shmuel is ruler of the roost around here, bossing all the Canada geese around, showing them whose boss. He’s a good papa, full of hiss and vinegar. We also have 8 small ducklings and 6 new chicks (Have I ever mentioned my husband is a hatch-addict? I believe I have.) So our roosts and coops and hearts are full and I’m going outside.