s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

So we’ve set the clocks forward — another lurch forward on the somewhat desultory march into Spring. (Then of course forgot to actually set the alarm last night, so I’m late to work this morning — oops.)
It’s certainly felt spring-like the last week — all warm and sunny. The steadily growing trickle of backpackers headed for the morning ferry sailings are another clue. We’ve been to the Botanic Gardens twice in the last few days, once on the way to A&S, to see the big tulip display (somewhat late this year, like Spring). More impressive even than the tulips was the avenue of Japanese magnolias leading down to it. I’d gotten used to these trees being the scale of the little one in the front yard of our old Atlanta house (or the spindly one we’ve just discovered in amongst the rhododendrons out back), but these were huge and spreading, with aestheticly gnarled and twisting branches as thick as your thigh (or possibly torso, if you are skinny — anyway, Impressive).

The second trip to the Gardens wasn’t actually *to* to Gardens, but they happened to be across the street from the Asian Missionary Something or Other where they were having the Chinese Bazaar, and they had the Dragon Dance on the lawn in front of Gardens’ little clamshell. The Bazaar launched us even further into Spring — one of the tables there was selling seedlings for $1 each, so we loaded up. This got us off our butts to finally dig in the garden on the sunny terrace out back. There’s more topsoil up there than we were expecting — a pleasant surprise, mitigated by a layer of the toughest grass thatch I think I’ve ever encountered (Stephen jumping up and down on the shovel only just managed to cut through it) — but we dug in yet more topsoil from the garden center, plus some healthy bucketsful of yummy old horse poop, and now we have a garden. Yay !

Speaking of the rhododendrons, and discoveries therein, we found another hose that disappears into them; we’ll have to figure out where that goes at some point, ad where it come from. Many of the rhodies are blooming now, including one which is *yellow* (I didn’t know rhododendrons *came* in yellow). In addition to the Japanese magnolia, I found two little rimu trees up there, and another huge camellia, to go with the one at the back of the patio-to-be. Definitely looking forward to banging that all into shape.