APPRECIATING WHAT'S THERE

        There’s absolutely nothing like spring in Seattle. I don’t know about you, but I am enjoying the sunshine and beautiful blue skies we’ve had this past week. And, tomorrow, it’s supposed to be 70 degrees. According to my weather person, the average date we usually see that temperature is April 15^th, so it’s two days late. Doesn’t matter since I’ll take it early, right on time or late.

          Every morning on my walk, there’s something new to see that my walking partner and I missed in days past or that has suddenly appeared. There’s one house we walk by every morning and last week, we found they had developed a little scene under a tree. There’s a red fence, an outhouse with a green pathway, a picnic table, gnome, swing, birdbath and pond. It’s all very tiny, but clever and beautiful. Just today, we noticed the owners had added a meerkat statue with three meerkats. The owners of this home have also installed a bench and a dog biscuit container for the use of folks like us who pass by. There’s almost always something interesting to see here.

          Over the years of making this walk, we’ve found certain trees, bushes, flowerbeds that we look forward to seeing develop, grow and then be claimed by fall and winter. There’s a pussy willow tree…imagine a big tree covered with silver gray buds that develop pollen and a become a beautiful golden color (sneeze) in the sunshine. Gorgeous. There’s another tree that hasn’t yet put forth its leaves. When it does, it is the most striking lime green and the shape is perfect.

          We also walk by a very industrious gentleman’s home. Every fall, he plants what seems to be hundreds of daffodils and tulips. It’s so enjoyable to watch them rise from the dirt and take on the different yellows and oranges. He plants tulips in groups of different colors and they develop at different times. The ones that had a single pink tulip yesterday were all pink today. The one yellow one today will undoubtedly be joined by the remainder of the clump tomorrow. 

          When the bulbs complete their blooming period and have some time to store up energy, this man will remove them from his flowerbed and replace them with dahlias. My walking partner and I eagerly await the bloom time of these as well. A couple of years ago, I wrote this man a note telling him how much we enjoyed his flowerbed every morning. I also asked if he shared his dahlia bulbs since he digs those up every fall in order to replace the daffs and tulips. He responded that he did, so now I have some of his dahlias in my garden.

          Then, there’s Mr. Crankypants’ house and yard. He’s not a very friendly person, and we often discuss just how we’d rearrange his yard and house, how we’d paint the metal light fixtures, etc. We laughed at one point because his gate had apparently ceased to function properly so he closed it with several turns of something like a bicycle chain and padlock. And, before he had the entrance graded, he put a foot or so of chicken wire at the bottom of the gate…to keep me from crawling into his yard for a better look, I guess.

          Just this morning, as we were entering the home stretch, we could hear geese calling. We went into a driveway to see if we could find them. They were no where to be found. We could have gone further to see into the big pond on that property, but that would be trespassing so we didn’t. We continued on and hoped we could see into the stream where the calls seemed to be originating. Nope, and then Kathy told me to look on the roof. There was one of the geese, walking all over the roof and talking to his/her partner who was apparently in the foliage someplace. It was a treat.

          Back home, there’s plenty to do out in the sunshine. Weeds to pluck, dirt to  move, flowerpots to prepare, my own clumps of daffodils and tulips to appreciate. Right now, my magnolia tree is covered with beautiful lavender flowers and the dense reddish-purple peonies below are growing well. Just this week I cleaned the pump in my little water feature so now it makes a lot more noise as it splashes away…very enjoyable and calming, making my deck into a very pleasant oasis. I think I’ll be spending some time out there today and in the next few days. I wish y’all could join me for iced tea or the beverage if your choice. Maybe by this time next month that will be possible…hope so!!!