cage match

Ack!  I am behind schedule on everything right now, but wanted to make an effort to put out something this week.  

April Fools!  This pizza...

...is actually a big cookie, with frosting "sauce" (I ran out of red food coloring so it wasn't super convincing) and frozen/grated white chocolate for the cheese.  It was delicious!

Todd was also surprised by Nicolas Cage in our car back-up camera...

...courtesy of a small photo taped in front of the lens.  :)

Easter!  I made a really tasty carrot cake with a really easy frosting method.  Squiggles I can do.

Spring ephemerals!  They are going crazy right now.  Todd and I  have been so busy that I'm not even sure we'll get in our spring ephemeral hike this year, but I've seen so many on our regular trails...

yellow trout lily

virginia bluebells

celadine poppy

dwarf larkspur

dutchmans breeches

prairie trillium

And when the mayapples get tall...

Morels come out!

I gathered some and fried them up for supper this week.

Oh, redbuds are here and almost gone!

Ferns...

Trees...

spicebush 

norway maple

Bushes...

burning bush

Everywhere we go...

...we see life returning to the forest.  And some unwanted life, despite our cold winter...

Ticks have been insane this spring.  Even though Pepita is on a flea/tick preventative, she has had multiple ticks, and brought multiple ticks into the house.  Todd has found two ticks crawling on his body this week too.  Now we rub her down every single time she returns from being outside, with extra checks during the day.  So far so good!

Everyone is enjoying the sunshine.

We're going to have a lot more of it soon...we're running full-tilt into late spring...somehow!  Lots to do before the spring ends.  More soon!

life and death

This past week was our annual spring ephemerals hike...and it might've been our most successful one ever!  So many flowers...

spring beauty

star chickweed

celadine poppy

dwarf larkspur

Virginia bluebells

nodding trillium

jack in the pulpit

rue anemone

But my very favorite...at least on this hike...was the wild blue phlox.  

It grew en masse along the hiking trail...

...and everywhere else!

It was absolutely magical!  Of course, we saw a lot of interesting non-flowers too...a lot of beautiful green grown.  Spring chartreuse is my favorite!

solomon's seal

wild ginger

So many different types of ferns, too!

rattlesnake fern

maidenhair fern

broad beech fern

both are christmas ferns

It was perfect!  However, we had some nature-related sadness this week, too.  Eastern tent caterpillars were spotted along our daily walking path...

...and, at home, I kept seeing a white-tailed deer in our front barn yard.  I was surprised it was alone and that it didn't run away...

...until I saw its front hoof/ankle, swollen to many times its normal size.

A little searching told me that this was likely hoof rot, an infection that can happen when a cut becomes infiltrated by bacteria.  At this late phase, it's probably fatal.  I emailed our local DNR contact, who sent me a list of county resources, cautioning that it was likely that I would need to let nature take its course.  As I suspected, not one local organization handled deer.  

Two days ago, the deer spent most of the day lying in the shade...today, it's gone.  I hate to see any animal suffer...and yesterday, we caught a coyote on our trail cam...missing a back foot!

It's heartbreaking.  There's no way that this guy can probably survive, and we have no way of helping him...or the infected deer, for that matter.  We just have to, as the DNR contact suggested, let nature take its course.   

Try to focus on other things, like new life.

It's not easy, but I'm trying to just look forward.

Have a great week!

moss boss

May and June are the prettiest time in the garden.  It's still early, but I love seeing things come up that I planted years ago.  

Front garden, which had a few desultory daffodils when we moved in

I'm especially glad that I planted "cemetery moss" - the color is so vibrant and it spreads like crazy!

Side "rose garden" is starting to fill in, all perennials

I'm waiting for the peonies to start...they're so beautiful with the purple of the false baptisia and the yellow of the irises.  Total accident!

I've had a little trouble up here, though.  The deer, which have never bothered this garden in the past, have been mowing down my bee balm.

En route, they're stepping on and crushing the little seedlings I've planted around it.  I'm going to have to replace about a fourth of what I've planted.  

Our front red maple has filled in quickly.  I'd never noticed one before we moved here, but I love it so much.  A few more weeks until it's totally lush!  

I've been doing some work in the garden, but I have to pace myself.  I have so many other projects, and my regular job as well.  One really pleasurable project is this pair of bedroom side tables that I found at a thrift store for $14 each...on half-off day.  That's right, I got the pair for $14!  I knew they were good quality...solid wood...and checking inside, I saw that they were Ethan Allen.  When I did a price check, I discovered that they're selling for hundreds of dollars online.  Score!

They were a little beat up, though, and I didn't like the orangey stain.  I'm in the process of sanding them...

...to give them a really natural finish.  I'm about halfway done!

I'm continuing to spot spring ephemerals on our walks...

celadine poppy

trillium flexipes

dwarf larkspur

jack-in-the-pulpit

white baneberry

...and lazy kittens while working at home.

We're loving this time before the dread humidity and heat of summer sets in.  As long as it's not too bad, I'm going to try to continue to take short reading breaks on the porch swing.  It's so peaceful, especially with the garden filling in around it!

Have a great week!