Walk With Me

I've read that cats are very in attached to where they live, so much so that if you move and don't keep your cat inside for a few weeks for him to become accustomed to their new "territory" they will try to make their way back to their old home. It's thought to have something to do with the magnetic fields of the earth, but to me it sounds like cats just have a very sophisticated internal GPS that drives them to return to where they consider "home".

Although I enjoy traveling to different places, I am very cat-like in that my absolute favorite place on earth is the little 5000 square foot piece of the earth that is ours. I love our home and yard better than any place else on earth. Yes, waterfront mansions are impressive with their views and floor plans that are as big as our entire property, but if push came to shove I'd pick our little house and gardens any day.

Technically it is spring, but you'd never know it by walking around the yard, which is what I did this morning with my camera. If you drive or walk down our street and stop in front of our house this is what you'll see:

Because the garage is underneath

the house, one of our cars is always in the driveway. I always

thought it was strange to have a garage where there should be basement, but have found that it's nice in the winter; our garage and basement aren't heated, but unless the temperature goes well below zero outside, it stays above freezing in the garage. So much nicer to get into a 40 degree car than a 12 degree one!

To the right of the driveway and big oak tree

with the climbing hydrangea on it, there is a pathway that leads up to the side kitchen door. If you walk around the stairs, you'll follow a wood-chipped path that will take you to the back yard.

Along the side foundation there are various perennials, a rhodie, birdbath and a few herbs.

A few crocus that have escaped the hungry squirrels. They even had the audacity to leave a few chewed purple leaves and saffron tassels in the birdbath. Have they no shame?!

Further down the path is a lilac that just last year produced its first fragrant blooms. The white fence was trash-picked (I prefer the term "up-cycled") and installed to hide the compost bins. Although they do good work, they aren't very pretty.

The lowly bins and other various gardening paraphernalia.

The tour will continue with the rest of the back yard tomorrow. Please stay tuned.