. . . *in the "bleak" midwinter . . .

. . . just kidding . . .

. . . today's weather

could not

have been more perfect . . .

. . . and good thing . . .

. . . because i spent eight hours

out in its gloriousness . . .

. . . i was grounded today . . .

. . . kind of self-imposed grounding . . .

. . . but grounding nonetheless . . .

. . . i was carless . . .

. . . tangent: does your bishop pick up your car

in the morning

and deliver it back to you

at the end of the day . . .

. . . with a new stereo system installed? . . .

. . . mine does . . .

. . . thanks, bishop! . . .

{so that's what cds sound like when they don't skip every two seconds ~ awesome!}

. . . anyway . . .

. . . neglecting one's yard

for a couple of months

will get you this . . .

{except for that one pom pom i'd already pruned.

good grief.

you'd think i'd never blogged before!}

. . . it'll get you hairy topiaries . . .

. . . stray clumps of rye grass . . .

. . . fallen leaves . . .

. . . and geraniums

in desperate need of deadheading . . .

. . . eight hours later, though . . .

{and what feels like the equivalent of 2000 squats}

. . . hello civilization! . . .

. . . goodbye h.o.a. threats . . .

. . . just kidding again . . .

. . . we don't have an h.o.a. . . .

. . . but if we did,

they'd be a lot happier

with me now . . .

. . . i came thisclose to completely filling

the green barrel . . .

. . . and managed to sustain only one injury . . .

{there's a blister under all that dirt}

. . . next up ~~ a manicure ~~ tomorrow . . .

. . . after i hang out with brad tonight . . .

{*title of one of my all-time favorite tracks by james taylor}