Catch up

Yes we are back from Italy but I haven't organized my Florence pictures and movies yet. As usual I've taken way too many photos and movies and now it all seems like so much work. I still haven't done a page for our trip to Warsaw Poland which was last year! Anyways, I hope to do something soon if I would just stop procrastinating. However I have not been lazy in the garden, been planting lots of things and cleaning up the beds, plus mowing the grass which just grows like crazy this time of year. Also cleaning up the powerboat - we hadn't checked on it in the storage yard for about 6 months, and sure enough, recent rains caused the tarp to cave in and we had a small swimming pool in the front of the boat. We bailed that out and then lifted the tarp, and yuck - the interior cushions were all black with mold. So we brought it to the driveway and I went to work cleaning. Luckily because the mold had been kept in a damp environment and not allowed to dry in the sun due to the tarp, all the mold came up really easily using extra strength Fantastic. What a relief. The only permanent damage was to the small embroidered emblem on the front cushion - its stitching couldn't survive being under water with mold. But it is not that bad so overall I'd say we dodged a big bullet. Hopefully this teaches us to be more diligent in the future.
The spring garden is at its height of bloom and looking great. In the front yard by the mailbox, I finally have some blooms on the 'raspberry blush' iris I planted two years ago. But now after all that waiting, I am not sure if I like where I've planted it. Loser! After working all day in a cube with no natural light and only the hum of machines as background noise, it is wonderful to come home, crack a beer, walk down to the dock with the cats and sit on the camping chairs, listening to nature. Yesterday was a nice warm day - my first day wearing shorts - yeah, summer is coming! There must be at least 5 species of frogs living here, but I can't identify them. It is going to be pretty buggy down here in the summer if the lake levels don't come back but the birds, frogs, and bats will love it.