The merry, merry month of May

As many of you know, we were back in the States for two weeks for a combination of leave and business meetings. This being May, lots of things happened in the yard while we were gone: the trees leafed out, the azaleas and rhodos bloomed, the weeds flourished, and the grass grew. And grew. And grew. When we pulled into the driveway we were stunned to see the grass was at least 12 inches high - no exaggeration! David set out immediately to start knocking it down.

So far we've spent, together, at least 8 hours mowing. David did the whole yard in a preliminary round Friday, and I went back over the front when he stopped to fix dinner. We have a mowing curfew of 9:00 PM here, so that pretty much took care of Friday. Saturday it rained, and Sunday we're not allowed to mow. So David attacked the Back 40 again this evening and got about halfway through before the gas ran out. After eating and replenishing the gas can, I took over and managed to finish the Back 40 just after 9:00. We still have the middle section to go, and by then the front will need it again.

That's the story on the grass. The weeds are another story, and one that will occupy me for the entire summer. The azaleas and the rhodos, however, are a thing of beauty, at least for now. We have a lot of rhodos, and they seem to be healthier this year than last. There are only a few azaleas, but two of them are pictured here, in colors you probably don't expect to see from azaleas. We saw the orange ones at the Royal Greenhouses at Laeken (Brussels) just a few weeks ago but didn't realize we had one of these special babies right in our own back yard. Neither of us remembers it blooming last year.

And you can see I have my work cut out for me with these weeds.