29.3.09

meaningful avenues of expression

Sun breaks today but still cold and windy. It seems that it has been raining forever. I just went outside and saw my first pea sprout of the year.

Two days ago I was able to get out and clean flower beds around my Peonies, Hostas, Bleeding Hearts, and in my shade garden. There are still beds to clean though--I wonder how many times each year I fill the dumpster with pine needles that drop from my neighbor's Lob Lolly Pine. They make good mulch during the winter but are still a pain to constantly deal with.

My neighbor whose foreclosed house was sold at auction on Friday was here to retrieve the last of her belongings. She gave me two GIANT--about 2 ft. long--C clamps that were in her potting shed. Yesterday I sprayed WD40 on them and got them working smoothly--not sure what I will ever use them for. She also gave me a brass captains bell, the lock from her gate, and a wooden barrel full of soil that I will add to the new potato bed.

Then I put up a new hook for my bird feeder and filled it up for the House Sparrows. Finally I repaired a broken wind chime and put it back up. Now I am procrastinating about getting back out there and picking up the piles of Pine needles and Rhododendron leaves that I raked up.