"I could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honor more."

- Richard Lovelace, Off to War


Award-winning novel!

Noble Cause has won the John Esten Cooke Award for Fiction.
Find out more about this Virginia writer on my Life in the Past Lane blog.







Sunday, April 4, 2010

Spring is here. Lots to do.


Wow, what great weather we had in Pa. for Easter weekend! I got a lot of much-needed yardwork done, and also took the time to pick three vases full of flowers.

I have purple, white, light pink, hot pink, yellow, and lavender hyacinths (gifts from Easter's past that I planted), daffodils, and a huge vase of forsythea. I also have a beautiful carpet of purple phlox that is blooming in waves. Still waiting for lilacs and azealas to burst.

One job I do every spring is rake the dead leaves from an old stone wall that runs right on the tree line of the woods. I always plan to do it before we have too many sunny days so I don't run into snakes, but it never works out that way. This year was no exception -- a three-foot black snake ended up in the pile of leaves I was raking, but I saw him in time to scoot him on his way.

I decided the stone wall looked kind of bare all raked clean, so I planted some daffodil bulbs. I also planted some poppies, which will give me color into the summer.

I have two big projects that I'd like to get done in April: Painting the roof of one shed, and tearing down another one. I'll keep you posted!

Jessica James

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