May 20, 2018

I did not watch the Royal wedding, so let's get that out of the way. It is currently 10 degrees Celsius and I'm waiting for the temperature to warm up, but traditionally, the long weekend in May is wet and cold and totally unacceptable for the camping and outdoor get-togethers that many Canadians engage in. We do not camp. However, there are so many outdoor jobs that need my attention, that I may just have to put another layer on and get on with business.

I walked around a bit this morning and took a few pictures to share the Spring progress with you. It rained throughout the night and was extremely foggy at 1:00 a.m. when I was out picking up son from a party (arranged ahead of time, yes I'm a good mother). He still managed to get up in time to go to work at 8:00 this morning.

There isn't much in bloom yet. I do love these pink tulips, complete with raindrops.

Wet grass means wet paws, and underbelly, and everything else for Scooter the-cat-with-no-tail.

The rhubarb loves the rain and it is exploding. Time for rhubarb crisp soon. Note how the dandelions are also enjoying the rain.

When we first bought our house, we were at the end of a dead-end road surrounded by farm land on three sides and a little yellow brick house on the fourth side owned by an older couple who only came up from the city a few times a year. Now we have a very big house right across from us and another house is going to be built beside that one. It is currently a big mess, but no doubt with the good weather upon us, there will be a flurry of activity. We're practically in the suburbs now! (You would find this amusing if you saw our little village which doesn't even have a store or gas station anymore).

The forsythia is fading and the ground phlox was very soggy this morning. Oh, the grass, the grass, the grass that I must try to dig out of my flower beds.

More wet tulips surrounded by taller phlox which will show their blooms later in the summer.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed at this time of year when the earth wakes up rapidly after the final dregs of snow disappears and Spring seems to last about a day and a half before Summer hits us. Yesterday I juggled grocery shopping, baking muffins, and doing a bit of trim mowing and "whipper snipping". Supper was chicken and pork souvlaki that was on sale, with rice and Greek salad. It was the first time I used the barbecue this season and it felt nice to be on the back porch with the smell of meat barbecuing and a half a glass of red wine.

I am happy that it is a long weekend (Victoria Day weekend) so I can have an extra day to tackle chores. I still have some perennials and shrubs that need cutting back, so much trim work to do along fence lines and around trees, weeding, and it's best not to even talk about the strawberry bed and vegetable garden. I did manage to push the vacuum around yesterday morning, however. Although it seems like I'm bemoaning the fact that I have all of these seasonal jobs to do, I get a great sense of accomplishment when I can look at a cleaned up flower bed, or see how nice and neat the property looks when the trim work is done. It's always this first push of the season that is so daunting, but once that is done, the rest is manageable if we keep on top of it. How are you spending your weekend?