YESTERDAY

 The twins, our grand nieces, Tessa and Johanna, played indoors with the reborn dolls until the sun peeked through the clouds and the rain stopped.  Then it was off with Aunt Margaret to the thrift store to find baby clothes.

 Foo Kitty bathes before spying a moth flying in the room.  He waits to attack , anticipating a tasty morsel. 

Down the hall, Miss Maisey watches Margaret sleep.  I sneak a picture.  They must have been to the same hair dresser.

Today, Margaret makes more progress clearing her herb garden.

Murphy is so forlorn without his family this morning.  Cohen had his follow-up visit with the surgeon that removed the lesion from his scalp on March 30.  All is well and we are pleased with the benign biopsy result. 

The gang continues to wait for Toni and the children. 

I am not sure if they are perked up in happy anticipation or sheer terror.  

Here come the iris!

Things are starting to look a more lush here. The nights are not as cool and the spring bulb flowers are starting to open. Margaret has been  pulling weeds and clearing the herb garden. She had the twins working with her last week-end and has them here again to spend the night tonight. She will have them hard at work tomorrow I am sure.

The iris seem to have many more blooms on their stalks this year.  We should have a very nice show of them in for next week or so.

Sophia and I have flower seeds to plant.  We have just been waiting for the earth to warm up a little more before putting them out.  This should be great fun for both of us.  I'll , of course , keep you posted on her flower bed's progress.

Another shower seems to be on it's way. There is a brisk breeze pushing the clouds along at a pretty good pace. The gray clouds are low with the weight of rain and seem to be aching to release their burden.  If the temperature was a little higher I would be looking for some hail.

The azalea's have opened and the pink dogwood blooms are looking a little better than they were in the previous pictures I posted.  I noticed a few open iris today.  I will take pictures of them to post tomorrow.

Poor Cohen is a little worse for wear though.  A few days ago he fell on his face in a very big way.  Love his heart, he was bending over and before he knew it his heavy baby head pulled him down as far as he could go.  His nose became his bumper and the cement driveway the  immovable object that stopped his body in motion.  This picture was made a day or so after the mishap.  Here his injury is much improved, the scab is gone and the wound is not so raw looking as it was.     

The lilac hedges, dogwoods and other flowering trees are showing  stress from the crazy temperatures they have been subjected to for the last several weeks.  We've had some real teasers as far as the temperature ranges from day to day go.  It will be warm , even hot , and the sun will shine brightly enough to make you think summer is here.  Then, as soon as the shadows begin to lengthen the temperature plummets and we have  freezing or near freezing temperatures during the night.

As the day begins and the sun reaches for noon the  buds get just enough warmth to coax them into trying to expose themselves , just a little ,  maybe do a little bee teasing themselves.  Then.  BAM !  They're hit with cold and rain or slapped by the frost.  Poor little fellas are getting pretty gun shy.  I fear there will be no  grand show of color this year.  Not from the dogwoods, flowering fruit trees or  lilacs anyway.  But , I will say the flowers have made up for their lack of show by sharing their wonderful perfumes.  

 
Don't they smell wonderful ?

( The photograph's color is not correct. These violets really are violet. )

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The violets seem to be doing pretty well , hidden as they are under the forsythia ,  protected from the frost and the too cold rain.  They seem happy as they dance their way along the hedgerow.     

The poor pink dogwood's new faces are much too pinched  and have brown scars from their brush with Jack Frost.  As you can see the tree's tiny flowers are left to fend for themselves as the foliage has refused to venture out.  

      

Here on the edge of the wood the dogwoods are emboldened by the show of strength from behind and have dared to point their tiny, ungloved    fingers heavenward.  The blossoms strain themselves trying to catch as much warmth and sunshine as they can.   They fancy themselves dinner plates set upon the table waiting for slices of warm sunshine to be spooned  upon their surface.  

 The blueberries seem to be holding there own.   By having removed their coats Margaret plays with their lives!

From a distance the pear tree looks much more finely dressed than she is.

Stiil, she has managed to seduce a number of  bees. 

I hear them singing her praises as they flit from bloom to bloom.  And she whispers,  "Do your duty,  Soldier on,  O fine and faithful gentlemen ! "

Good night everyone.