a welcome home greeting

This delightful little bouquet arrived on our doorstep Saturday afternoon as a "Welcome Home" gift from Alex, Andrew and Em.  Welcome home indeed, and it's mighty good to be here.  Even though I am surrounded by unopened boxes and bags, I can't find anything (our tenants rearranged my entire household!), and I wake at 5 AM thinking I have to get in the car and press on down the road, I am glad that long trip is over.  Now it's like being on a treasure hunt; where in the world will I find the clay bowl that sat on the counter to hold onions and garlic?  Where might my good sewing shears be hiding?  How about the pots and pans?  Those drawers were empty.  Oh well, all in good time.

It's always a pleasure to come home at this time of year, too.  When we leave in December the trees are bare, the gardens are all dead, no color.  Now, spring is springing all over town.  Trees have leafed out in the most deliciously delicate green shade, flowers are full of buds just waiting to burst open, there are still a few blossoms left on our wisteria ~ Tim did a masterful job of pruning and shaping the vines.  The coreopsis, that pesky, invasive flower, is miraculously under control right now but in another month it will be blooming all over the garden and dropping it's insistent seeds everywhere.  We tried growing it in our Mexican garden and that's probably the only place on the planet it doesn't like.  My neighbor's rose garden is gorgeous, in full bloom.   She brought this beautiful bunch to us on Saturday.

Please note the jar of peanut butter in the lower left of the photo.  Mr. C's first supermarket purchase upon his return.

The weather here in the valley is warm and sunny with a bit of a breeze breezy.  Funny, the weather's the same as at the beach but I can't hear the surf.