Ah, spring

This dogwood tree really makes me happy..several times
a day, too.

Spring is no nice here.. it is very hard to miss anything about China when you walk outside and see a gorgeous pink dogwood tree staring you in the face, as I do every morning. I can’t tell you how happy that tree makes me…

Or how happy just cruising around town and seeing the dogwoods, cherry trees and God know what else in full bloom everywhere. It is really beautiful and peaceful. A riot of colors.. red, pink, white and green, green, green everywhere you look. A deep, only-in-spring, vibrant, almost technicolor green. In the last few weeks all the trees have blossomed and it is looking like a rain forest around here.

Our lawn suddenly started growing rapid fire as well, of course. It became covered in dandelions – much to the kids’ delight. They love them, think they’re beautiful, love nothing more than blowing the dried out seeds and watching them scatter. And whose to say they’re wrong, really? I think they’re pretty, too.

Along with the buttercups that have taken over much of our backyard and the gorgeous little purple flowers growing on some weedy intruder on our front lawn. They’re all colorful and pretty. Why throw down a bunch of poisonous herbicide to kill them and create a perfect suburban lawn?

Still, I feel a little guilty about that, especially with fastidious lawn tenders on either side. The boys were skipping around playing and I said, “I have to mow this lawn.” They were horrified.

Jacob: “Why? The flowers are beautiful. And the bees love them.,. and all the other bugs. They don’t want a lawn like that…”

He pointed next door.

“The lawn guru’s lawn doesn’t look nearly as pretty.” He pointed over at their deep green, weed-free expanse. I sort of agreed and yet…

I’d really like to go au natural, turn our lawn into a native species prairie or whatever would happen, but it would really cause a stir around here. I saw some of them in Ann Arbor but not around here, despite it being such a liberal community.

Finally, I took out the mower on Sunday and Eli was horrified. “What are you doing?” he screeched. “You’ll kill all the flowers!”

I pushed on but they are swaying me. And I was proud of Jacob for coming up with “lawn gurus” on his own.

Our dandelion strewn lawn before I cut it the other day.
Unfortunately, you can’t see the beautiful little purple flowers.

“The grass gurus.”

Carrie Wells walk way.