The Happiest Day of My Life (lately)

Around 6:45 this afternoon:

Across the room, my wife of 41 years 

My cat on my lap

Kaleidoscope on the iPad; I had listened to it in high school, more than 50 years ago

Useful information on Xitter, confirming I happened onto the right answer to something years ago

Homemade chocolate pudding for dessert

And then I went outside, and in our back yard I saw two rabbits.  I wanted to remember them, and make a note of all the good things of that moment.  Like the man said, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

Not dead yet

Our next-door neighbors have a dogwood tree on their property, so I'll guess that this volunteer in our yard came from there.  It picked a good location, too, just inside the landscaping without interfering with any of the other greenery.  Something happened about five years ago that was a shock to its system, but it survived and each spring the blossoms appear as shown above.  

Almost, but not quite

I always thought trees were supposed to live on and on.  That's not been our experience at this house.  Some trees have thrived.  The township, or the developer, or someone authorized the planting of two maple trees in everyone's front yard back in 1998, shortly after we bought the house.  In 2026, both trees are still alive and well.

Landscapers planted other trees in the yard that are no longer alive.  The Bradford pear was the victim of a freak snowstorm in October 2011 that overloaded the leafy branches and broke them off at the trunk.  The red maple in the back yard just died for some reason, about 20 years after it was planted.  The cherry tree in front of the storm door leaked sap for a few years before dying.  Don't know whether any of this had to do with the invasive spotted lanternflies or some disease.

This weeping cherry tree got sick around 2022 and two or three full-size limbs stopped producing leaves, but a couple of others have survived every winter since then.  For a few days in spring, the blossoms appear just like always, and I take pictures because I think it's going to be the final year for the tree.  

Lucky timing

We've lived here for decades, and I can count on one hand the times I've seen a snake.  Here's the one I saw today while appreciating the wildflowers and tree blossoms in the back yard.  

Wildflowers along a stream

April 10, 2026, Ringoes, NJ 

New appearance

Yesterday, this wasn't in our back yard.  Today, a few clumps of verbena appeared near the stump of a red maple.  I found images of the same kind of flower in the same area and dated July 2025, so if it's not a perennial, it self-seeded.

 

Only one

The back yard has a growing number of dandelions, to go with the speedwell and the violets.  Today, this yellow flower appeared for the first time, and was the only one of its kind in the yard.  A quick search reveals it to be mock strawberry, and likely more of its kind will follow throughout the spring and summer.