Yesterday was gorgeous. Today was a bit too chilly for short sleeves, with the sun in and out all day. I made a wonderful discovery though. The azaleas will bloom after all. Over the winter the deer gave them a 6" haircut, so I thought all was lost. It won't be a spectacular bloom the way it is most years, but there are buds on them.

Everything's really late this year. Last weekend, there were no sign of my lilies of the valley. Suddenly, they're everywhere, getting ready to bloom. The rabbit-gnawed Spanish bluebells are getting ready to bloom as well, as are the columbines.

I have a patch of catnip growing in a raised rosebed. It must have seeded itself there, since I always grew the stuff in pots. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a depression on one side of it. There's a cat that looks like mine, about the same size, that a neighbor lets out. Mine's an indoor cat. I assume the roaming cat slept and rolled in it. The plant recovered, and was fine yesterday. This morning, there was another telltale cat-sized indentation on the other side of the patch. My visitor had returned.

Ah, Spring.