The first of the garden garter snakes has come out. He was coiled up in the leftover sage sunning himself. Spring has progressed. Perky red & yellow tulips, white tulips, and one pink & white tulip has shown up in the tulip garden in the back down below the deck. Everything smells especially fragrant this morning because we had several rounds of thunderstorms through the night. The moat in the backyard has showed up again as a result.

The bush with the salmon-colored flowers has sprouted by the fence. The fringe trees are showing a robustness that wasn't there a week ago. And the box elder by my window has long lacy strands of yellowish-green fiber hanging from each small cluster of barely sprouted leaves. The maple trees in the front yard are inch-by-inch displaying their new leaves now. The starkness of bare branches against a blue sky is quickly becoming history as the green fills out the treetops. And the grass is the most lush vibrant green color that it will ever be dotted with the ever present brilliance of the yellow dandelions.

I definitely feel that it is spring when Easter comes around. I love the bunny and the eggs and the candy aspect. How bunnies got to deliver the eggs is beyond me--oh, yeh, they all represent fertility which is what the word Easter means. We'll color eggs this year so we can introduce the 2-year-old to this fun tradition. Then we'll hide eggs around the house for her to find. Hope she's feeling better so that she'll enjoy doing this. Her mum has a bad, bad case of bronchitis and Addy has come down with a bit of it, too, it looks like. The Kipster will arrive this afternoon late. He's having his dad bring him down since he's getting leery about driving his Jeep the distance. Last time he came down, a month ago, his radiator went out. He made it home without burning out the engine but ole momma here had to foot the bill to get it fixed since he is still a poor struggling student. He will repay me but there's not too many times that I'm going to be able to bail him out. Our money only stretches so far, too.

So, I sit here by my window contemplating Easter dinners and know that I've got to go to the grocery store to stock up on supplies for said dinner. Every year I want to make some kind of braided Easter bread and every year I never get around to it. Doesn't look like I'll do it this year either. I've been having to watch Addy from 12:30 till 9:00 while her dad is at work and Amy's sick. Todd has to work today and then he'll be off the next two days to be able to take over full-time care of the sickies. And, hopefully, they'll be better by Tuesday when Todd goes back to work again.

I finally got downstairs and got a picture of one of the cats enjoying the little catwalk that Bill added onto the cat enclosure. This gets them out under the sky instead of under the deck and a better view of the yard and all the critter treats that they'd like to get their paws on. They've used it all year but with spring here it is getting much more use. They still can't get to the grass but maybe we'll remedy that and put some sod in the bottom of their enclosure. I'll tell ya, what we won't do for our cats.