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?