Yet another fire in the stove today!

ITS ONLY NINE DEGREES ABOVE FREEZING! It’s snowing in Vermont!

I got home from Mother’s Day at the nursery just now, soaking wet from showing people stuff outside that would be great Mother’s Day gifts- lilacs, blueberry bushes, jap maples, weeping cherries, and the like. It’s damn cold out there- I can see my breath with each exhale.

Im a damn good fire starter- three minutes and wet wood turns to fire with a little help from cardboard and empty pistachio shells. My wood stove worked as easily as I did to create warmth in my cozy salt box on a brutally cold mid-May Sunday.

Blanket is covering a cold wet dog near the fire curled up on the old couch cushion. She seems miserable, but won’t be for long as the stove starts cranking out heat.

This huge zelkova caught my eye this morning, with its fleshy new growth exploding all over the branches. I moved it to this spot two months ago to make room for new arrivals. It’s umbrella-like canopy makes zee best shade tree with the widest part of the tree being the very top. Smallish leaves allow dappled light onto turf below unlike maples that cast deep shade on lawns. Awesome shade tree if you can get one.

Hope nobody wants to buy this particular tree. It would be extremely expensive to move. Plus, it’s like family. I’ve had it about 20 years. I’ve often fantasized about taking it home. I would need to rent a huge front end loader with forks.

This tree caught my eye last night also just before I hopped into my truck to go home and mow the lawn-again. Zelkovas ROCK!

Donald Wyman crabapple smiling at the camera yesterday as I walked to the gate to close it for the day. I saw my first and only honey bee on this tree earlier in the week. It’s legs were completely covered in pollen- such a struggle for that poor little bee to fly with such heavy luggage. You ever thought YOUR life was hard? Observe the insect world for a while and you’ll consider yourself lucky to be human. They struggle!

Appalachian red redbud flowers emerging with blue cloudless sky yesterday. Redbud trees ROCK. This tree lifts spirits high with every season!

Onion plants with columbine piggy-backers sneaking into pots as seeds last year- random occurrence that sometimes is a nice surprise.