Yes, I'm a happy woman as I finally finished my taxes. As I confided to a friend earlier today, I thought about doing my taxes back in January but successfully avoided them until this week. Do we know how much I really hate doing taxes? Have I mentioned just how crazy I think the government is to trust (math challenged) artists such as yours truly to do their own taxes? It's not the paying of taxes; we need schools and roads and hospitals and the like. It's that awful, spirit- crushing paperwork and those god-forsaken plug ugly forms. But thanks to the helpful ministrations of our good friend John the Artist/Photographer/Accountant (quite the impressive abilities avalanche!) who held the hands of Bob and myself last year, walking us through the Valley of the Shadow of Taxes, I only screamed out loud six times while doing this year's installment. Thank you John! (You know who you are, and I dutifully used the pen with your name on it to fill out those evil forms.) Can't wait for my refund check!
And referencing another kind of green stuff, I am also happy that little green things are emerging as if on cue. It's been a long, cold winter into spring but this week saw warmer temperatures and a bit of rain that caused garden eruptions. Witness the above miracle! Last year, I started Delphinium from seeds, specifically the variety "Blue Bird" (a bright mid-blue with a white center.) I was worried as the bloomed modestly last year and I find far and away the trickiest thing with Delphinium is wintering them over. They really hate freezing and thawing and tend to succumb to crown rot and all sorts of other pestilence. But my wondering eyes spied seven or eight of my seedlings robustly popping out of Terra Firma just this week. Huzzah.
At the opposite end of life's cycle, Bob and our friend Joe felled a mighty maple this past week.
It was a very tall tree. I'm glad that Bob had help as these things can be tricky. (Joe had a close call with a mid-sized tree that decided to shed a shed a sudden branch, square on his head. He wound up in the hospital, lucky to be alive and kicking.) This one stopped falling half way into it's descent, at a rakish angle. I looked out our kitchen window and witnessed a stuck diagonal. Several minutes later, there was a resounding boom as it hit the ground, finally relenting to be timber. It is a beginning on next winter's fire wood. Here's another shot:
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