One Word Sunday…protrude

Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth…pufferbelly

This week’s theme is “Growth”.  Although Jen’s lovely shot of spring makes me happy, real happiness at this time of year would be temperatures above zero degrees Fahrenheit, both the actual temperature and with wind chill!  As I said to her, “Simple joys!”  I think our furnace would rejoice as well.

A strange phenomenon is winter is the growth in the circumference of birds.  As you can see, this fellow has puffed up much larger than his original self, just trying to keep warm. His expression says it all:  “I’m SO ready for spring.”  🙂

Wordless Wednesday…awakening

Friends

Pruning

I mentioned to Bill one day that our three lilac bushes needed pruning, then forgot about it.  One memorable day not long after, I drove home and saw that he had pruned them (was, in fact, just finishing)–to about a third of the original size.  I was appalled.  But fortunately, the lilacs came back strong and every spring we see dark purple, lilac, and white blooms, one large bush of each. 

Destruction, reclaimation, and growth

With all the traveling I’ve been doing, my garden has consisted mostly of flowers with some herbs and peppers interspersed.  It’s too difficult to get someone reliable to keep a real garden watered while I’m back and forth and seeing a potentially abundant garden wither and the ground crack is heart-breaking, to say nothing of a waste of time and money.