Walking Iten's Acres: A Tulip Walk April 21, 2017

What's spring without a tulip walk?  Tip-toe through the tulips . . .

Walking Iten's Acres: A Mid-April Gallery

A mid-April walk seems in order:

Walking Iten's Acres: The Daffodil Walk April 14, 2017

A Good Friday walk through The Acres:  A daffodil walk--

Walking Iten's Acres: The Loves of Springtime April 12, 2017

Things I love about The Acres in springtime:
1. Walks in a soft rain
2. The harmonious cacophony of bird song
3. Hundreds and hundreds of daffodils trumpeting and dancing around the pond, in the wildest of the wild area, on the fringes of the trees, and along the margins of the meadow--yellows, reds, pinks, oranges, whites rejoicing in sunlight or shade.
4. The grape hyacinth--even the non-grape colored ones. They start out with only a single bloom, and then year-by-year grow into beautiful bouqets.
5. Walking in a slow circle around the pond enjoying the antics of the goldfish, turtles, and their fussy protectors the red-winged blackbirds.
6. Surprises--new Lenten roses showing up in the woods, the resurrection of a scarlet crab apple, tulips blooming where the squirrels transplanted them. Forgotten and lost by the tree rats, they perform their lustreous duty and beautify their new place.
7. The anticipation of iris time
8. Shadow following me everywhere, rubbing against my leg if I pause in my journey; Psycho following at a distance curious but too afraid to trust the human up close. The Boss watching everything from the doorwindow preparing her lecture for when I return inside.
9. The physical labor and its glorious tiredness
10. Sitting in the chair by the doorwindow watching the day fade into twilight and then darkness. Or watching the darkness succumb to the light of a new day.
11. Honey bees
12. Memories--Mom in her hat sitting on the patio, granddaughters ringing the bell, family and friends stopping by to visit and walk--the invisible is always so visible at The Acres
13. Sitting on the green--now faded--throne at the top of the hill watching life filling up The Wild Area.
14. Goldfinch colorizing
15. Accidental visits--red-headed woodpeckers, yellow warblers, indigo buntings, Baltimor orioles, mallard ducks
16. The return of the hummers
17. The wind moaning to announce the arrival of a new spring thunderstorm
18. Planting the future
19. Clouds racing furiously or meandering almost imperceptibly across a bright blue sky
20. The inescapable heart of gratitude for the gift of such a place on earth for a chubby old bald guy to enjoy near the end of his journey Home.

Today at Iten's Acres: Day Last April 2, 2017

Day Last is here.  Tomorrow I will be blessed with the presence of the Seniors.  Yes, I will have a little bit of The Acres withdrawal. The Homesteader will have to get use to not being able to boss me all day long. The Posse and my Feathered Friends will only get a morning glimpse. This morning was a struggle physically, but by four this afternoon, I felt strong enough to do a little "work." Therapeutic. And, trust me, just a little. Three surprises today--the Asian lily seemed unimpressed by the frost; a Louisiana iris that i thought was just a memory is coming up; and the big one--when I moved here there was a gorgeous deep red crab apple up by the house. A vine choked it out, it was cut down. Guess what sent up a shoot of life this spring? Yep, if I live to be eighty, the beauty will be back. Well, it will be back either way, but, Lord willing, I may get to see it bloom again. My Gardening Angels are the best.
A baseball note: if the Cards win tonight I'll be happy; if the Cubs win tonight, Brad will be happy. It's a win-win for the old man..

Today at Iten's Acres: Day Eight April 1, 2017

Day Eight: Two days and I'm back with the kids. Hope they are ready for the final stretch!
I finished my big project--so that feels good. Still tons of things to do. Could still use a chain saw expert/weed whacker expert. Anyone need a little part-time work? It was wet today--the pond keeps getting deeper. I wonder if goldfish like rain? They weren't very active today. Psycho was the humor for the day--sitting on the side of the pond trying to decide if those little red things were edible and worth getting wet for. I think he/she wimped out.
I have a few more flower shots for you from the second half of the week--more hyacinth and daffodils primarily. Most things are running a week to ten days behind last year's bloom time. No rush. I can wait! I can be patient once in awhile.