At Last!

After thinking that winter would never end, I have been proven wrong by the profusion of blooms everywhere I look, both here at Camp Topisaw and at Rose Gate Farm next door. I can't remember a spring that has been more beautiful in recent years. It seems that all the plants have burst into bloom almost at the same time. I'm grateful to be able to enjoy it. Edie and I went to a nearby nursery yesterday that had loads of very nice hosta plants for sale. We bought quite a lot that we plan to use to make a shade bed underneath a large, treelike Magnolia fuscata. Now I am waiting for summer tropicals to break dormancy and begin growing. I have seen some sprouts on the ginger plants, but nothing yet on the bananas. Perhaps in just a week or so more we will see them sprouting.

Eggs in several colors

The hens are certainly making up for lost time this winter by laying prodigious numbers of eggs now that spring has arrived. We are getting about three dozen eggs everyday, which takes up a lot of refrigerator space. I am thankful that we have a separate fridge that we can dedicate solely to egg storage. While I have had many dozen at once earlier this spring, I now only have a few to store, thanks to the boom in our eggs' popularity. The eggs pictured come from our mixed flock of Black Australorps, Ameraucanas, Rhode Island Reds, and Marans chickens. They surely are good, and far superior to those available at the local markets. Let us know if you'd like to try a dozen or two.

Emma and Her Family

Our granddaughter Emma was baptized recently. She was, of course, incredibly well behaved and looked beautiful in the dress, bonnet and slippers that her great-grandmother Gale made for her. It's always nice (probably because it's so rare) to have our entire family together. There's a freedom in having your grown kids come home to visit--you've done your job, and now you just have to listen, encourage and trust them to make their own decisions. Having grown kids AND children still at home is especially nice--knowing that we can raise them and that they will move on, get jobs and function (and bring us such swell grandchildren!) makes us much more relaxed with the younger ones. Anyway, a beautiful day and a photo to treasure.