The Smell of Wet Dirt

After several weekends of thinking about doing yard work, I finally bit the bullet and did it Monday. I always think I hate working in the yard, but when I slide my orange gloves on, and plunk down on my beat up lime green knee pad, I realize it's not that bad. It's actually quite nice, especially in the springtime. I think Monday's task was made a little easier than usual though. Before I got my hands dirty, I stopped at a local family-run nursery for some seeds and some photo opportunities. I shot a bunch of Polaroids I'm in love with (but plan to use them for an upcoming post on Common Places if I can hold out that long), an entire roll through my Diana (that I've recently fallen in love with again), and half a roll through my K1000. I wandered around for over an hour, taking in the sunshine and the smell of wet dirt, and ended up bringing home zucchini, zinnia and poppy seeds, a forsythia and a lilac bush, and these four little planters. Two French lavender, one rosemary, and one hyssop. I'm potting them this weekend, but need some pots and soil first.

I spent most of the afternoon weeding and clearing out leaves left over from fall, and after dinner, dug holes for the forsythia and lilac bushes. As I was removing a few random blades of grass for the forsythia, I noticed a pile of deer scat. I was thrilled! Deer! I've had squirrels and quail before, but never deer. I hope they don't eat my plants. After planting my two new bushes, I shot these two Polaroids on my beloved deck just as the sun set, and I got really excited for the coming warm weather and dinners and weekend breakfasts outside, firing up the grill, backyard get-togethers, fresh strawberry margaritas, and warm zucchini bread.

One other note: We saw Adventureland Saturday night (and loved it) and on our way out, we spotted a photobooth. Trav offered to get cash and stand in line to get our pictures taken because "I know it's on your list." This is sappy to say, but it made my heart melt. He's that sweet.