Inch Worms, Sidewalk Chalk and Zen Rock Gardens

Spring clean up time is here.  Yard work, mulch, soil, lawn care..

Ooohhh and flowers!

Yep, spring is certainly here, summer is on its way. I know this because next to here in Norton the DeVincent family business has flowers for sale.

Annuals, perennials, hanging plants, buckets and baskets.  I wish I could win the lottery... What is it about flowers, plants and trees that make you want to buy out the whole lot?

How I long to rake, prune, dig and weed this time of year! Each season starts off that way for me.

My hopeful spring to do list is joyfully created in February, when I’m longing for sunnier days. I  have the list adorned with all the things I never got to do last year – or the year before that -- or ever (for that matter).

With high hopes that we will actually have a minute to get to it all – I show it to my husband only to have him look at me like I am crazy --  with his baby blues over the top rim of his glasses… Sigh…

When I dreamed of being a homeowner, I would sculpt out my window flower boxes in my head. My rose bush’s were to be award winning, my lilacs aromatically gorgeous and my lawn lush ….

Not the case, here in reality-ville. The only thing sculpted about my yard is the placement of bikes, jump ropes and rollerblades along every inch of my driveway.

My grass is green – sort of – due to the moss that grows so evenly over the soil.

I have lovely lawn ornaments of Army men toys on top of sand piles – and when it rains water fills the holes dug by the kiddos in the soil transforming them into potential tranquil koi ponds?

Anyways, My yard is not the haven I had imagined it would be. There are not quite any Zen rock gardens here.  

But, you will find four amazing kids delightfully digging in the dirt, building forts and making base camps.

You will find a front porch decorated with chalk and  a small porcelain pot containing multiple inch worms on the stoop.

You will see a collection of old water bottles made into dilapidated fairy houses and random sticks planted in the ground to see if they will grow.

In the back yard beside the shed you will find a make-shift chipmunk trap and a piece of old wood that has the words, "I love Mom" scrawled across it.

There is also a homemade fire pit with six log stools surrounding it...

It may not be as pleasing to the eyes as some places, but it contains more beauty than I have even known…

And that is enough Zen for me.