I have a new plant fetish.



Sedums, succulents, stonecrop, I'm falling in love with them all. They cling close to the ground, thrive wherever they like and are happily easy to grow from the smallest of cuttings.


And their (and any) heliolatry makes my day.

My turn to bake cookies! Thanks for the recipe, Wendy, but I ask you this: why are my cookies so flat?! My cookies should be "moist and delicious!"




And proof that spring has finally arrived!


Roma recently encountered a snake in her yard, and now treads (and sniffs) more carefully.






But, those familiar with my hometown know that spring brings more than new plant and animal life. The melted snow and the frequent thunderstorms add up, and the muddy waters of the mighty Miss find their way into the city.


These seats accompany an ornate bandshell in a riverside park. You can see that this year's flood is relatively minor. I can remember much worse.

(photo Jeff Cook/QCTimes.com)







The dramatic presence of flood waters always raises the issue of flood walls. The city across the river has one, and each spring is spared from the flood threat. Maybe a flood wall would be best for many businesses and residents here, but I can't shake my instincts that flood walls are terrible inventions.

Here is an article on the issue, which made its way into the Wall Street Journal. (We midwesterners are news makers!) What do you think?

Another (fuzzy) photo to prove my Roma-love. Her appearance in my life was an utter surprise, and I can't believe my luck. She may be a little more responsibility than I expected to have on my plate for a while, but she's just so lovely and worth it.

And now, she has the jingling tags to prove it (appropriately enough, I think, in the shape of a big, red heart!)

Someone has a new owner, and it might be me...

New Hues

The return of color is evident from my recent photo-posts. Despite yesterday's sudden, strange thundersnow, blue and green are making a big comeback. As is pink, in the form of rosey-glowing cheeks.

I'm feeling healthy, and have things to look forward to (as well as a lot to get done in the present.) What more could a girl ask for? ( . . . maybe a little time to knit, walk the dog, and set up the sewing machine on my beautiful, refinished cabinet - photos to come . . . )

Up the garden path . . .

I just want to grow stuff.

Ciao, nuova amica!

Meet my new little gypsy, Roma.


She's so photogenic, if a little wiggly.















If anyone out there knows Italian, please excuse my poor guess at it!

Just lovely

This morning, I woke to a lovely sight:

These daffodils were bought yesterday as a bunch of unpromising stalks. What a difference a day makes . . .