This peach tree was in the shade yesterday morning, and the light came out soft and diffused. I took the saturation down a notch to soften the look even further.

The pear blossoms were my favorite subject yesterday, and I played around with several of the photos. This one was my favorite of the bunch.

While I was wandering around, I noticed how the light shone through the forsythia. It was so stunning. I’m not sure I captured it, but it is an interesting picture.

And the newest plum tree was just gorgeous:

One of the pear trees had the most perfect blooms:

Pear blossoms in black and white:

The redbuds are budding, and are going to be amazing:

There are several forsythia around the place, but this one was the first, and has been around since I was a child. It’s an old friend:

And finally, one of my favorite heralds of spring, daffodils:

I really should be planting my lettuces and starting some seeds, but as usual, I’m running behind. There is a new belt on the rototiller, though. It’s a start.

He’s already talking about driving lessons.

Somehow, I must find it in myself to deal with the next eight or so years, without having a nervous breakdown. Yup, that’s the plan.

_{Oh god, is that another white hair?}

I did a lot outside yesterday — besides chasing butterflies — though. I walked up the road and collected more of those rosy pebbles to put around my barrel cactus. Then, I walked around all the fruit trees — anyone who’s been here knows there’s a lot – to see which ones were budding. Most of them are, to some degree. This one’s a peach tree:

After that, the Incipient Teenager and I played soccer while Mom watered her flowerbed. Some of the bulbs are coming up, and her dianthus are actually about to bloom. I don’t care what that groundhog says. It feels like early spring.

Fun fact: I can’t sneak up on butterflies.

When I was a kid, I had a barrel cactus in a pot. Mom must’ve potted it for me, though I don’t remember. I thought it was really special, because 99% of all the cactus you see out here are prickly pears.

Recently, I’ve found just a few barrel cacti here and there in the pasture. So, I dug one up, potted it, and put some pretty pebbles around it. He lives on my porch, and seems to be happy there.

Fun fact: Potting cacti without gloves is not recommended, but it can be done.

The Husband and I hauled these old railroad ties to build a raised bed in a problem area of Dad’s corral garden. There’s a low spot that we can’t easily level out, which would defeat our favorite watering method of letting water run down a furrow.

In addition to that, Dad decided that while he loved pinto beans, he didn’t want to grow them again because the bean pods grow underneath the plant, making them too hard to pick. My solution was this raised bed. It’s narrow (only two ties wide), and tall, so the plants will be much easier to pick.