Spring is springing

Well, woo HOO!  It is nice nice NICE today.  Unfortunately, we had all those nasty severe thunderstorm warnings, but not too much came of it.  At least not yet!

I did one of the best things that spring brings today- besides breaking out the sandals-

And that is firing up the GRILL!  YAY!

Nothing says spring and summer like some yummy, tasty grilled items.  It is the harbinger of summer, the taste of the outdoors, the lack of dirty pans in the dishwater, all worthy images, indeed.

However, before making that first burger, you have to clean up the grill-rack.  Yuck.  I am certainly not a person who might actually clean their grill before winter sets in!  Oh no, that would mean planning and organization, forethought and scheduling...... not my strong suit.  No, I'd rather spend 1/2 hour scrubbing off the stupid rack in the spring, when there is little time between dragging the grill out of the garage and the mad accountant coming home for lunch.  Makes life more exciting, thrilling, ...... annoying.  Well, who likes to scrub off the grill at all, might as well put it off until you need it!  He he he.

So, to kick off the grilling season I made burgers- beef for my resident carnivore, and spicy black bean for me!  Throw in some grilled onions and you have nirvana on a bun. 

Onions grilled with a dab of olive oil, in a tiny  iron skillet

Burgers and fried onions

Then top with blue cheese and mustard and you have something the angels sing about!  Now the carnivore who lives amongst would argue that mustard and blue cheese isn't about to sully HIS burger, but mmmm, even Lola agrees with me!  But then Lola really doesn't have a choice!  

Lola is glad for the sun

I reveled in the sun today, it is certainly one of my favorite things....  Here are a few more things kind of like the blue cheese and mustard!

I have lots of metal, wooden and clay suns on my deck and here is a recent gift from my darling son and d-i-l, Jon and Sarah.  I love the fact that it is both a garden ornament and that it is repurposed.  Definitely my cup of tea.

This beautiful piece of blue glass was a thank you gift from a dear pair of relatives.  I love this blue and I love this art work.  

Of course I love Lola.....

She's still begging for a companion, I am starting to formulate that in my mind- stay tuned for updates

I am enjoying my favorite summer past-time of gardening already, today I started Nicotiana and castor bean plants.

I also went out to the garden and pulled a bunch of my container gardens out of the dirt.  This one has two of my favorite plants- sedum and sempervivum.  There is still a bit of debris in this container, but it still gives me a taste of summer.

It was only a week ago, there was a snow storm going on.  We had about 3 inches of wet, slushy snow, and the daffodils were only up an inch or so.  This morning these daffs were up at least 3 - 4 inches, quite a bit considering they were frozen and hidden last Sunday!  You might be able to see where the obnoxious deer took a few bites and found the daffodil foliage NOT to their liking.  I hate deer.

This is what one of my favorite trees in the world looked like this morning.  It is sort of crazy to have a favorite tree, but hey, I talk to statues, too!  

Grand old tree in the mist

And no favorites list could be complete with out this fine guy!

Did you bring me a snack?

Of course, there are some glaring holes in this list, most obviously my lovely family, but they are left for another post.  And I bet they are excited about that!  

I suspect that many people were reveling in the warmth today, it was enough to give you spring madness.  

Until next time, be a joy giver- bring on the sun!