Blossoms Here and There

Our manzanita joins the Show of Valentine-y Pink

pruning with antique saw

It's raining, thank God! We were worried that all our rain had fallen early in the season, that we would be left high and dry against the summer drought.

I'm looking out the window at the lovely cherry plum tree. For a few weeks it's a pretty tree, while the blossoms draw the attention away from the ungainly shape. B. has to do several hours of trimming every year to keep both the tree and the nearby wisteria from invading the house.

Trees are flowering all over the county now and I'm relishing the fact that God willing, I'll be repeating my experience of two years ago, when I got in on Spring here, and two months later, in Maryland, watched a slightly different version of the performance. Because I do have a ticket to fly in late March.

It's Valentine's Day, and love is being expressed all over the place, like bursts of flowers showing that the plant, or marriage or friendship, is still alive and fruitful. Last year my Valentine and I ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant that gave us this origami money with our dessert mints. Is it a lucky Japanese tradition? Maybe. I do know that I am a lucky woman. I have the same Valentine this year.

Maryland blooms 2009