Totoro Gets a Bath

This is the candytuft plant that Olga used to wipe her face on after eating every night. Pretty much her whole body, in fact. This spring it's looking unusually lush and blooming up a storm, not having been mauled recently by a dog.

This is one benefit of being petless -- the garden plants are unmolested. As much as Olga loved the garden, she did inflict some damage, wandering through the borders and creating a shady bed beneath the peonies. Not a reason to avoid getting another dog, though I'm still leaning toward waiting until after we return from our summer holidays.

before                                                                                                        after

I could definitely get used to this retirement thing! Just about the most urgent activity I performed yesterday was giving Totoro his semi-annual bath (above).

I also puttered around the house -- thereby proving that puttering can indeed be done indoors as well as in the garden. I vacuumed, did a load of laundry and finished "The Haves and the Have-Yachts." I've had a Waterstones gift card hanging around for months, I think since Christmas -- I can't even remember who gave it to me. So in the afternoon I walked down to Waterstones and bought Patrick Radden Keefe's new book, "London Falling," which I've heard is very good. The cashier at the bookstore was generous with her praise -- she said it was more about human nature than just a true-crime story. I'm looking forward to reading it. I loved his book about the IRA, "Say Nothing."

Here's some of what's blooming in our garden at the moment -- the aquilegia (above), which has some little insects in the center of the flower...

...the azaleas...

...and the African daisies, which seem to love that sunny spot on the patio.

I was unamused to find mating scarlet lily beetles near our lilies. I can't bring myself to kill them -- they're so pretty and jewel-like -- but they'll gnaw the lilies to nothing if I leave them alone. So I'm not sure what to do. Last night I threw a couple of them over the garden wall -- our neighbor is having her house renovated and she's gone, so she won't care -- but that's the coward's way out and I'm sure they'll return. I really should just be merciless.

Finally, here's the tulip bouquet Dave gave me for retirement. Since I blogged my other flowers I felt I should show these off too. See the foam flower outside the window? It's going gangbusters as well.

This really is the best time of year to retire. I love having these spring days free and open, with so much to enjoy in the garden.