I can’t help myself. It’s that time of year when I take up my trysts with Johnny once again. We meet once a week, intimately, for about 2+ hours or so. I ride him; control him. Sometimes he bucks and kicks and gives me fits, yet we manage to smooth things over. He can be obstinate but I usually have the upper hand. Both of us end up satisfied at the end of it all. If you don’t know who Johnny is, you’d better follow the link provided above. And shame on you for not reading my archives!

He seems to be having a few issues this year. One particularly annoying, and life threatening part of his repertoire seems to be a steering issue. Make a turn too tight or fast and you find that the steering wheel is stuck. This usually happens when headed straight for a tree or one of the boulders that sprout from our yard.
Look out ahead!
Only fast thinking and a good strong wrench of the wheel can save you. Several times I’ve come close to crashing into something, so I’m really careful now. Really now, wouldn’t you find that annoying as you-know-what?

The other issue is that he seems hungry all the time. If not completely—and I mean completely—full of gas, he coughs and sputters going uphill. With our yard, uphill comes as part of the package. Up the slope, down the slope. No getting around it. Can’t go across the slope because you might tip over. [There is only one true flat spot in our yard and we’re thinking of turning it into a boules court.]

Maybe he didn’t like his winter vacation in the shed instead of the garage. Or maybe he’s decided he doesn’t like New Jersey because it’s too much work. But more than likely Johnny just needs a little spa time. We need to make and appointment with the travelling Deere Spa to come and give him a going-over. Maybe then he’ll mend his ways.

We’re back in New Jersey as of last night after a whirlwind trip to Colorado. We packed a lot into those few days! After the wide open spaces of Colorado, our corner of the world seems closed-in and secular with the trees fully leafed out. Kind of like being in a green cocoon. A welcoming one, though. In five short days things really filled in. Above is looking out over one of the front yards.

I can’t say we had a great time dealing with issues at our as-yet-still-unsold house in Ft. Collins, but it was fun visiting with old friends. Walking through our empty house was nostalgic and tugged at my heart strings. It really is a beautiful house. The ghosts of past dogs were everywhere I looked: the room where quite a few of them were born; the courtyard patio in front where Indy used to love to lay; just about everywhere I turned I could see them. Funny that I didn’t see myself doing things in the house, mostly the dogs. Would I want to live there again? No, not really.

Our time at the cabin was serene, albeit short. Thanks to our friends Donna and Larry for getting everything ready for us! How nice to have hot water and a cold fridge (not to mention a snow-free driveway)! We enjoyed our visit with you and we’re so glad you have internet now.

Whereas our house didn’t really feel like home anymore, the cabin certainly did. It just enveloped us in its log walls and worked its magic on us. It did feel strange to be there without the dogs to accompany us on walks. It’s the first tme we’ve both stayed at the cabin without them. I’ll be sharing more about the cabin in the next few days. My body may be in New Jersey, but my head is still in Colorado and I’m not really in the mood for writing and creating. Too many other things crowding my mind right now.

Thanks to Linda and Phil for putting us up for the night, the great food, the dog fix, and for just being the wonderful people that you are.

I leave you with a photo of part of our back yard as it looked two weeks ago, and now as it looks today. Are you GREEN with envy?

Like I said, there is a reason New Jersey is called the Garden State. Take a look at this house in Wayne as an example! It just takes my breath away. Azaleas of every available hue and dogwood trees cover their yard. We found this house last year as it’s on the way to work for Rick and this year he kept an eye on it for me, letting me know when it was in full bloom. These were taken over the weekend. It inspired us so much we went out and bought four azalea plants!

The photo of above was taken with my little camera’s feature, Stitch Assist, which allows you to take panoramic shots easily. To see the full effect, click here to view a much larger version. This is a series of four photos taken separately, then stitched together in Photoshop Elements. I love this camera feature because it shows your previous photo in the viewfinder so you can line up your next shot perfectly. It also keeps the exposure the same from photo to photo, allowing a seamless transition.

What follows are the four photos, taken from left to right.

Using the night shot feature on my little camera I captured the moon last night as it rose behind the trees. Soon the trees will be too leafed out to get this shot until late autumn.

While I am in the process of working on a few more Las Vegas entries, I thought I’d share this photo of my favorite tree in town. I think this is a weeping cherry, and a very old one at that. It takes up the entire front yard with its enormous girth. Its owners have a sense of humor too, as they decorate the tree on each holiday with the appropriate trappings for that particular holiday.

I remember last year when we moved here it was over the Easter weekend, and the tree was in full bloom with Easter eggs dangling from its branches. This year Easter came early and the tree was not yet in bloom. For whatever reason they chose not to decorate it for Easter this year. The last ornaments that hung from it were shamrocks. I have vowed to take a photo of it every time they decorate it from now on. Maybe that will be the 4th of July?

The only blooming trees we have are the shad trees in the woods. They are plentiful around our area, and the first trees to come out. The wooded hills are dotted with splashes of white.

Another tree at the egde of the woods [as yet unidentified], appears to be going to bloom, but it might be just leaves. Hard to tell, but it looks like a blossom coming to me.

The skunk cabbage (at least that’s what I call it) is starting to take over the ground in the woods where it’s boggy. Soon the large ferns will be up and the whole area will turn into a lush jungle.

We’ve had a little rain each day over the past week and our grass is getting greener and greener. Soon Johnny will need to be put back into service. The grass seed that I strew about 3 weeks ago on the spots where the dogs have worried the ground bare, is now sprouting and growing like crazy. Our woods are taking on a green fuzziness, and it changes on a daily basis. Soon our neighbor’s house will be obscured behind a solid curtain of green and we won’t be able to see our back gate anymore. It happens so gradually over time that you can’t really say when it happened.

I welcome the wooded privacy wholeheartedly, even if it means I can’t see the birds in the trees anymore, or if the bears are there. At first it will seem strange to be so closed in, but we will soon be used to it. Just like we adjusted when the trees became bare, leaving us feeling naked and exposed to the world.

The changing of the seasons is such a wonderful thing. It keeps us from becoming stale and stagnant and pushes us forth to do different things than we have been doing over the past months. Instead of sitting by a cozy fire in the evening and watching TV, we’ll be sitting out on our deck or having dinner down by the pool. I’ll be swimming laps in the morning instead of sitting here writing drivel for you to read. My neighbor Kim has already commissioned me for morning walks. I hope to learn how to play tennis as well. Ahh, I can’t wait! I look forward to throwing off the inactivity and sluggishness of winter and embracing the new season!