Spring at last

Or maybe summer. The furnace was on Friday morning, it was in the low 40s, and then the next day it was in the 80s and almost too hot. But a weekend with three days of cycling can't be too bad, especially when one of those days was tooling around with my daughter through my hometown haunts, including the first trip to Jumpin' Jack's of the season. (Funny that I really wouldn't think to drive all the way to Jumpin' Jack's, a pretty long trip from home, but I end up there on my bike several times a summer.) Got some gardening done, too. Having spent thousands to have a small forest removed from my postage-stamp lot, I lost my mind and planted a tree yesterday. Have always wanted a magnolia and last autumn's shrubicidal episode left a massive stretch of front yard unvegetated. So now there's a tender young magnolia relying on the kindness of strangers (or at least a soaker hose) baking in the sun on the corner of the lot, surrounded by a satanic star arrangement of overpriced fescue. And all the other stuff from the other gardens is getting transplanted to make room for vegetables, because there's just nothing better than fresh food from the garden. It'll be lovely, I assure you.