The mini daffs ‘Tete-a-Tete’ opened yesterday.

The oak tree is getting a faint fuzzy haze as the buds swell.

A light breeze ruffled the water in the birdbath.

And the cats sat in attendance.

Zak

Happy

And Oreo, who has had a few altercations with a feral male who comes through the yard now and then.

Late afternoon, early spring. Lovely.

~~Rhonda

Oreo sits on the carport roof and implores us to let him in. Dream on, kitty. I wonder how long he’ll sit there hoping before he finally heads for the garage?

~~Rhonda

They were laughing at Zilli. We were teasing her with a foxtail.

Fun was had by all. ~~Rhonda

And here they are on the ladder and the library shelves. They are about six feet off the ground here.

Zak was a cutie, too.

Here is Buttercup now. She’s keeping an interested eye on the caterpillars in the fish tank. So far she hasn’t bothered them.

And Zilli, being cute.

And Zak, relaxing.

Funny how they have such distinct and separate personalities. A source of endless fun.

~~Rhonda

The early daffodils are finished, but the mid-season and later ones are still beautiful.

We have a friend with a tree trimming business and he gives us wood chips for the gardens. A wonderful gift.

These lovely Poet’s daffodils came from DH’s family farm.

The Honesty just opened yesterday. Soon the tops of the plants will be covered with beautiful purple blossoms. They spread easily and come up all over the yard. They provide easy and beautiful drifts of color in lots of areas of the yard this time of year.

After working in the yard, we picked DD#3 up from school. On the way home, we made an impromptu visit to our friend Laurie’s house. Her granddaughter was there and asked to fly kites. They had a wonderful time!

When we had to leave, DD said, “I’d forgotten how much fun it was to fly kites.”

I love this time of year…all those beautiful flowers.

DH had an all day meeting on Thursday, so was able to come home much earlier than usual. We worked in the yard until dark. We cleaned the raised beds in the veggie garden and planted five kinds of lettuce, herbs, green beans, sugar snap peas, yellow squash and three tomato plants.

I am so looking forward to that first fresh-from-the-garden salad.

While we worked, we had an overseer. Zilli was totally intrigued by all the weed pulling and dirt digging.

After the veggie garden was in order, DH and DD took a bike ride, while I walked around the yard and took more pictures.

The redbud blossoms opened yesterday, April 17.

This bench is the perfect spot to sit on a spring afternoon or evening. It offers a view across the northeast part of the front yard. Right now, it’s the daffodils. In a month it will be the irises, and a month later the daylilies. A beautiful view.

Zak caught the last of the evening sunshine on the sidewalk.

Spring. Love it. ~~Rhonda

The yellow, white, and lavender crocus are done blooming, but the large purple ones are still in full bloom.

The Tete-a-Tete daffodils are the first to bloom in the yard and are still going strong. These minis are only 5-6″ tall.

Happy enjoys the warmer sunshine these days. The flower bed by the kitchen door must have suited her just fine this particular day. Doesn’t she look comfy among the budding daffs?

How can yellow be that yellow? Simply glorious.

I love the Siberian Squill. Such a gorgeous shade of blue. These tiny flowers were in the yard when we bought the house in 1994.

We planted the Glory of the Snow several years ago and it is slowly spreading around the yard outside the kitchen door.

The lilacs are looking great. Can’t wait to smell them!

I don’t know the variety of daffodil this is, but it is beautiful and we have a LOT of them around the yard.

Another flower that smells wonderful. The Star Magnolia is just bursting into full bloom. We forced some of these blossoms several weeks ago and they were small and had no scent at all. A shame, because the scent is heady and not to be missed.

Oreo walks the fence around my fenced garden. Take a look at that chip pile! Our friendly neighborhood tree trimmer keeps us well supplied.

The daffodils are blooming in every corner of the yard.

It will just get better and better from now on. Lots more flowers to come! ~~Rhonda

The Citty Club comes complete with rules.

Waiting…waiting…waiting…

Here comes Zilli now…

Where’d she go?

Zilli played hard…now it’s time for a long cat nap.

~~Rhonda