Sad Farewell And a Hopeful Sign

 This morning's walk yielded the beautiful moon.  Managed to get a not-too-bad picture through the trees.  We kept watching the pretty moon play peek-a-boo throughout our walk.  Really lovely.

I've had this orchid plant for years and years.  It's bloomed faithfully for me every year.  And the blooms are so fun, they last for a couple months.  This year has been sad.  This is the best the flowers have looked.  I've fertilized and fussed over it, but I think it's just weary and done.  So it's buried.  (In the trash.) I confess I have much guilt over tossing something living like that.  It has beautified our home for a long time.  But it pains me every time I see these sad looking flowers.  So, it's gone.  And I'm not diving into the garbage can to retrieve it.   I'm down now to one lone orchid.  Feels kind of odd, but frankly, I'm good with that.  Plants can sometimes feel too needy.  I'm just ready for a bit of a break.

When we moved into our house 22 years ago, we set about putting in the yard.  One of the first things was planting trees.  We love trees (even though they can be an expensive pain) and wanted some shade.  Two tri-color beeches went into the outside stairwell.  Several years ago, we'd had a wet spring that killed one of them.  They don't like wet "feet".   Ever since then, I anxiously watch the surviving tree each spring, hoping it'll leaf out and be pretty.  It finally started leafing out, though in the picture you can see that the uppermost branches (and this tree has more than doubled in height since planting) the buds are tightly closed still.  Now, I'll be anxiously watching to see if the pink leaves do their thing, or if there'll be little color.  I just never know from year to year what will happen.  Even so, I love the graceful shape of that tree.  So far, so good.

Grateful today for some good things to do this week, even though they might not be what I'd choose to do first.  And for the sunshine and cooler temps. Already dreading the summer.  Or did I say that already?  And grateful for a small decrease in the amount and severity of this dang cough.  So grateful for improvement.