Glorious....

The glories of Spring continue to inspire and amaze me. How many times will I live through this and yet, it is always a surprise...

The pond is always beautiful, but especially in the spring when the dogwoods are in bloom.

A couple of years ago, they were suffering from some kind of blight and we were afraid we were going to lose them. Bob found the right spray to use that brought them back with no ill effects.

They are better than ever now.

On the patio. The later blooming tulips are beginning their show. These light pink ones are so delicate - especially next to the rough trunks of the trumpet vines that cover our pergola and the brick of the patio.

It is so pleasant to be able to sit outside in the morning and drink a cup of coffee, listen to the birds and just see everything springing to life around us.

I'm hoping something - surely something(!) - will inspire me to create something new in the bead part of my life.

Tina and I are heading to Baton Rouge tomorrow to present a program on uses of Lemon Balm at a day at White Oak Plantation. She's bringing her still to make a hydrosol of Lemon Balm and I'm bringing my jewelry along with some Lemon Balm soap we made up especially for the event.

I hear we are going to be feasting on that Loo'siana cuisine and we are looking forward to the change of scene. Craw Daddy's - hmmm. I'm so weird about food, guess I'll just think of them as tiny lobsters!

Thursday evening, we return home and expect to pull ourselves together enough to vend at the Landis Valley Herb Fair. We've been participants there almost since the beginning, so we see a lot of old friends and look forward to it every year. Everything is already packed up to go, so it should be no problem (where have I heard that before?!)

One last shot of the bleeding heart in the back yard. We have three plants that were put in when we moved here - 21 years ago. Each year they get bigger and spread out a little more.

This plant always brings back childhood memories of living at our grandparents' house with bleeding heart out back.

Our grandmother told a story as she took the blooms apart.

The outside pink petals were Cinderella's gown. Her earrings and dancing slippers were inside and the very last thing is the bottle of champagne that Cinderella and her prince sipped before midnight.

I've never been to Louisiana, so I'm looking forward to it. See y'all on Thursday or so with some pix of Baton Rouge and if it's later - there will be pix of Landis Valley too.