Hello spring...

I love my haven.  Although not yet complete, it is already so much more than that for which I hoped.

Yesterday, I had a mid-day (my mid-day) meal out there and stayed in my have for hours.  I started by enjoying this bacon-wrapped fillet topped with Boursin cheese and some sautéed asparagus, along with a peanut butter Nutella cheesecake bar (my last of this batch).  I then wrote some notes and streamed two episodes of "Shetland," a new-to-me British detective show on Netflix that Becky told me about.  I would have stayed out even longer, but after a few hours my computer died (the plug is not yet finished).  Even though my fingers were blue from being out in the cold, I was such a happy girl for my time outside.

I love that Amos loves my haven as much as I do.  He is especially happy with this latest round of furnishing musical chairs.

He now has a spot from which he can keep an eye out on the world.

Or keep an eye out on me.

Or ponder his existence.

Because I have this wonderful space outside, I have seen more of these.

And been sanguine enough to laugh at (rather than despair over) how all of my Easter lilies, once so carefully separated, have all seemed to have somehow migrated to the front of my lily bed.

In between the bouts of illness (in its many symptoms), since gaining my haven, life has been better.  Of course, I shall love my haven even more once I figure out what I want as a water fountain and once Firewood Man has finished off my two outlets and built a frame for my tulip window.  Then, maybe, I might even say that my in-between life is good.

On my walks with Amos, I pass by this clump of tulips.

Even though I have an entire tulip bed, I think I need to find a space in my yard for a clump of tulips ... or two or three.

On my walks I also pass by this tree.  I do not know what it is, although I privately call it a tulip tree. I think I need me a tulip tree in my yard.  Somewhere.  Somehow.

When I get back home, these days, I pause to check on the progress of my redbud tree.  Soon.  Soon and very soon I shall have blossoms!

In the background, you can see that my ornamental pear tree is already in full bloom.  My redbud is a late bloomer compared to all the other ones in the neighborhood.  I have high hopes, though, that this might be the first year that the pear and the redbud have blooming overlaps.  That would certainly be blossom bliss!

The bulbs beneath the ornamental magnolia tree (the blossoms of which where cruelly zapped by a freeze this year) have sprouted.  Although, if you look closely, one clump didn't come up.

As far a blooms go, these are a tad disappointing because the blossoms are too small for me to see with my crappy eyes unless I get down on the ground.  So, today, I got down on the ground and admired them for a while.

A welcome sight amongst all the new growth are the buds on my very non-economical variegated maple tree.  After languishing in the full sun on the other side of the yard, last fall I made a desperate attempt to save it by having Firewood Man move it in the lee of my neighbor's garage.  This way, it only has partial sun.  What was a surprise about this tree (that I discovered last fall after I got some new growth after the leaves all died off in the summer sun) is that the new leaves are not variegated GREEN and white, but are variegated bright pink and yellow and then somehow fade to GREEN and white.  Fascinating, eh?  I am fervently crossing my fingers that the move will me a solid season of growth rather than a season of growth then death then growth then death then growth.

I shall end with this strangle sort of blossom that I found on a tree whilst I was walking.  The sunlight is making these seem yellow, but they are actually GREEN.  So, from afar, my crappy eyes think they are some sort of strange leaves.  But, upon closer inspection, they are blossoms!  I so adore the color GREEN, but I do happen to think that blossoms should be any other color than GREEN so has to shout their presence to the world.

Hello Spring!