Flowers and Faucet

Here's some more of what's blooming in the garden right now! The foamflower (Tiarella) above is having a good spring...

...and one of our feathery parrot tulips has appeared. It's ironic these are called parrot tulips, because often either birds or squirrels behead the flowers before they can fully open. This one is hanging on pretty well so this year we've been lucky (so far).

This is Lamium, a type of dead nettle, packed with flowers and buds.

And this is our broom plant, not quite the usual bright yellow variety but a more subtle hybrid. I've learned that gorse, which looks similar, has spines, while broom does not -- in case anyone ever asks you the difference in a trivia competition.

I got interviewed by a First Grade class yesterday, which was fun. It was sort of a bookend to the interviews I did when I first started this job -- though this time I wasn't teaching them about how to interview, I was just answering their questions. First graders ask funny questions, mostly focused on favorite things. I was asked my favorite food, my favorite candy, my favorite color, my favorite animal and my favorite bird. I must say, I have never stopped to contemplate my favorite bird. I told them I like the parakeets that visit our garden.

We also got a new kitchen faucet yesterday, kind of out of the blue. Last week our management company did another inspection of our flat, following the redecorating that was done several months ago, and the inspector noticed that our kitchen faucet dripped. It has dripped for ages. Almost three years ago, I had a handyman come in to fix it, but he said it would have to be replaced and we just never got around to it. Well, now it's done, and it's a nice improvement. The little things make a difference.