Spring!

"April is the cruelest month, breeding

lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

memory and desire, stirring

dull roots with spring rain."  ~T.S. Eliot

It has been a long, cold, and gray March this year, so much so that I am eager to welcome April, however cruel it may be.  Yesterday was the first really spring-like day we have had here, and after holding out for a sunny day for the last two or so weeks, several of the flowers in our yard finally began to bloom:

We moved to this house in June last year, and first saw it towards the beginnings of last April.  I remember the tree in the front yard was in full pink bloom when we were here, and I remember seeing daffodils, but basically all that is growing right now is a surprise.

There's a bit of color indoors too:

Owen with stripes and rainbows!

Bed's Too Big Without You

It has been brought to my attention by a reader who also happens to be Dorothy’s granny that Dorothy’s bed looks a little, well, petite for her.

And I cannot argue the point.  Dorothy does look like a muffin-top in this bed, and the look is a bit ridiculous.  However, I do feel the need to point out that Dorothy currently has 4 other, large and larger beds that she could choose to lie in.

But a good portion of the time, Dorothy will choose the small bed and cram her muscular body into it.  I guess the girl likes to feel swaddled, or perhaps in her mind she is a petite delicate flower.  And who am I to argue with that?

Dorothy dreaming of violets, buttercups, lilies of the valley....

Plums and Roses

I'd like to introduce you to my beautiful bouquet of roses:

Lovely, no?

But what I see as a beautiful bouquet of roses belonging to me, Sir Plum sees as a lovely salad belonging to him.  He sees the flower below and thinks:  yum!  And:  dessert!

I thus have to keep said beautiful bouquet in a place high on the top of my secretary cabinet.  For if I move it to a lower spot on the counter, this is what happens:

And then this:

Which causes me to get out Plum's arch-nemesis:

To prevent this from happening:

Then follows a series of jump-bite-squirt-jump off.  Jump-squirt!-jump-off.  Ju-squirt!-jump-off.  J-squirt!-turn in mid air and land.  Then a lot of meowing and woe is me-ing and angry squawks from the purple cat.  Meanwhile this occurs:

But Dorothy has no idea why Plum finds the roses intriguing and/or edible.  They are not meaty!  They aren't even as tasty as Dorothy's new favorite treasures -- half-smushed, stinky gingkos found under the gingko trees on the streets.  

And from a nearby nook, another household member watches the commotion:

Cue ominous organ music: