Outside my window

I wrote this morning. (Eight (8!) pages--yayyy!!!) And when I wasn't actually putting words on paper (freakish longhand writer, remember?), I was staring out the window in front of my desk. (look a few photos down)

(The blue sage in the picture is actually out back, next to the driveway--I can't see it from my window--but it's pretty, isn't it?)

It's spring, and the birds are out in full force. There's a blue jay nesting somewhere in the vicinity, because a jay flies down and chases off all the other birds periodically. But the robin keeps coming back. Because I've been digging the stinkin' Bermuda grass out of the flowerbed in front of my south-facing window, there's lots of stems and strands of dried grass lying around, and apparently those strands are just the sort needed for robin nests. He's very picky about just which grass stem he uses to build his nest, picking up and discarding several in a row before finding one that suits him. Still, it's obvious I'd rather watch Mr. Robin than write.

The other window, the one that faces east, looks out under a big pine tree and is shaded most of the day. Nothing grows too well under that tree, or the two tall junipers beside it on that side of the house, and finally, in our second year of living here, the fella has decided to listen when I told him the best thing to do under these nice, shady evergreens is to just Pave It. So we've been plotting out a meandering path from the driveway in the back around to the front sidewalk, and a little patio for a reading chair under the trees, and maybe even a hedge to create a private little room (though it would make the shade even deeper...). We shall see if this patio and path come into being, but it's nice to look out at the shade and think about it...

Now if I can just get all that stinkin' grass dug up! All the petunias are planted. 24 verbena yet to go--plus the 16 roses I'm trying to order...

Thursday: 8 pages
For the week: 24 pages