Baugh!!! Winter damage to garden....

Here in New England, as elsewhere, this winter was the worst in a long time; it really has been a trial in many ways. It finally looks like the coast is pretty clear for Spring to slide in....but, this weekend, when I was able to walk around my garden again, I found three seriously damaged or destroyed plantings that really put me over the edge. The heavy snow and ice has damaged my calycanthus BUT worse still has destroyed (!!) my climbing hydrangea as well as my much loved Japanese maple, the centerpiece of my primary garden. One more big check mark on the "Reasons to Move to a Warmer Climate" list......

(no: I have not had the heart to take any pictures)

Unravelling - A Spring Journey

Just started an online course called Unravelling that is run by British artist Susannah Conway. The assignments are a combination of writing and taking photos. This week's photo assignment was "feet." The class, 160 people from all around the world, has a common flickr photo stream where we can upload as many as 4 photos per week. It is amazing the variety of ways people interpreted the prompt. Here are the 3 that I uploaded: (1) inspecting my water garden -- still frozen! (2) sitting out back waiting for Spring, and (3) playing fetch with Mia