It Happens Just Once Each Year

Christmas comes but once a year, and generally we anticipate it from one December till the next. It's an annual happening to look forward to.
I look forward to planning and planting the garden each year too. But not so much with one annual task that always comes in the spring: mulching the flower beds.
This year I'm not doing as much as some years. But nevertheless, this weekend I've bought 19 bags of Scott's Nature Scape black mulch, and last night and today, I opened and spread 18 of 'em. My back is sore. My hands are stained black. The front flower beds look pretty nice, and the side one by the air conditioner too.
We ate dinner with Bill and Verna Weber at Bronte Bistro at Joseph-Beth this evening; they wanted to get together before Verna leaves for New Zealand tomorrow for a 17-day trip. (This is to make up for the trip she aborted earlier this year when her mom went to the hospital while Verna was en route to LAX on the first leg of her journey.) So I was racing against the clock to reach my goals today, and I did pretty well. Even got the pots on the patio planted. I'll see what I think of them when I look again in the morning.
It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but Evelyn borrowed the neighbor's power washer for us to use to clean the garage. Happy Mother's Day!

I bought this beautiful caladium this week when I was Garden Galloping with the group from church. (Read all about it here.) I've put it in a hanging basket outside our dining room window under the birch clump in the front of the house. We'll enjoy watching it grow in the shade.