"a poem lovely as a tree"

Moving right along, leaving the shrew behind....

When the bill came I wondered what you'd have to pay me to climb a tree some 20-degree day, and, with nothing more than a leather strap between me and a broken back, start trimming.  Probably a bit more than these arborists who did a good job.  Trees really enhance life and are poetic to people who like Kilmer's poem, one of the few that I memorized.  It's short and rhymes.

more landscape

There's the lamp post. Beside it a shrub. Another detail of what I see when I walk from the car to the house. My nomenclature is behind the times. It shall for now have to be the shrub that is what it is. If you don't mind a reference to Genesis. And we shall not touch the shrub reference to the White House.

sea of mulch

Yesterday the landscape crew finished the work. Our house floats on an island in a sea of mulch.

More than mulch: they added a spirea and a hydrangea.

Decision almost final--no sheep this summer. But I'm open to another animal.

more of that snow

Snow makes Monterey look better. I couldn't resist another shot I got.

Look at the dark barn door to see some flakes.

Foreground shows the new plantings from the flagstone walk landscaping. Expensive flagstones just disappeared.

After Thanksgiving

All the big things--the wedding and Thanksgiving--are over. Now time to take a break.

How to kick back and relax a day? Go to the big, bustling city. Find the Renoir exhibit. The sign's big enough.

The museum itself is some kind of work of art. It must have just been scrubbed. The Renoir pieces were all landscapes, his earlier work. So beautiful while we are living in an autumnal picture of yellow and red trees.

On the way home we can't miss a stop at Ikea for an office storage unit and a Swedish meatball.