And...we have tomatoes!  (Warning - tomatoes are actually much smaller than they appear...)  I also have a few blossoms on my pepper plants - the garden is growing!

 

I had a cute lady bug on my grasses by the koi pond - and my koi are getting big!!  

I've been fighting algae in the pond this year - the pump gave out, so the water wasn't moving like it should have been.  I'm hoping that adding a new pump and monitoring the water conditions for a while will help.  Ralph wants to put in an expensive filter system to help.....I really hope it doesn't come to that.....

I took the dogs out for a walk a couple of weeks ago, and snapped this picture of the storm coming in.

 

Some wildflowers from our walks....

 

I think I officially have a garden - the beans are up, the zucchini are up, and the tomatoes are blooming!

 

I picked up a long-forgotten knitting project, and remembered one of the reasons it was forgotten...Pico likes to play with the yarn (including claws on my legs...)  She may be getting older, but she still likes to play.....

 

I think this was one of the quickest quilt tops I've made, and one of my favorites!  The fabric is from the Quartz Metallic collections, and it's beautiful!  The photos don't do it justice.  The colors are beautiful, and it sparkles!

 Now to choose a back fabric and get it to the quilters....

I took Friday off from work, intending to relax a bit, meet up with Meredith for lunch and some retail therapy, but...she got a better offer - she and Chris took off for the weekend at the coast.  So what happens when I don't have any plans?  Way too much yardwork!  It took two trips to Home Depot, and a lot of achy muscles today, but I pulled out the rocks along the edge of this pathway and the stepping stones:

And turned it into this:

I still have the large rocks in the background to move to a new location today, and will need the grass to grow to fill in some of the spots, but I like the way this looks (not perfectly straight for a reason, just in case you're judging....) and it will make mowing 10 times easier.  I have actually always disliked the pathway, but one it was in, it was too late.....until I had a free day, and enough energy to tear things up!

More of the wildlife we see on our walks - we've been tracking a pair of ducks all spring, but the seasonal creek is drying up.  I don't expect to see them much longer.  The killdeer will hang out for a while though...

 

Alex and I have been walking the dogs on our lunch, and have noticed a rabbit under a tree in the field almost every day we walk.  Sometime all we can see is the ears.....

Yesterday on our walk, one of his cousins was hiding right by the road, and jumped out of hiding about 5 feet away from Luna....and the chase was on!  Luna didn't stand a chance, and I have no idea what she would have done if she'd actually caught it, but she had a good run, anyway....

 

And I have beans coming up!!

 

I've been checking to see if I have any seeds sprouting in the garden, and found mushrooms instead!  These apparently die off as soon as the sun hits them - this was the first time I caught them early enough.

 

Jeff was up last weekend, and his and Yessica's quilt was back from the quilters....all it needed was the binding sewn on.  I got the quilt back Wednesday, and managed to get it done Friday night!  I had a little help though....

I like how this one turned out, one of the few that I've done not from a kit.  It took me three or four tries to get the last border chosen....I still need practice with my fabric choices.

And the garden is in!  I planted tomatoes a couple of weeks ago, but I got the rest in this weekend.  I also re-did the drip system - another first for me.  It even worked when I finished - miracles of miracles!

I put in three types of peppers - jalapenos, yellow bell, and salsa peppers, three types of beans - burgundy (aka Mom's magic purple beans), green bush beans, and foot-long beans, cilantro, eggplant, and two hills each of zucchini and lemon cucumbers.  Now we'll see what grows or doesn't....

 

Speaking of spring flowers - my orchid re-bloomed!  This is the only orchid I've ever had that has re-bloomed for me, and I think this is the third time!  (and I've tried lots of orchids.....poor things are doomed at my house.)

 

Some of my spring flowers in the yard....

 

The butterflies are here!

 

The true sign of Spring - the pollen on my car....

 

I got part of my garden planted this year.  I got my tomatoes in, but not much else.

Here's what's left of my winter garden.  I'm still getting peas, but my lettuce is done....

 

Happy Easter!