We’ve been spending most of our free time tending the garden: weeding, watching and watering. Each day we walk with EM and explore the grounds. Our front yard has a huge, springy lawn edged by an explosion of flowering plants, shrubs and trees. EM shrieks and laughs at each new bud: “Look mama. Look — it’s getting ready to come out. It’s blooming.” And, “Mama, what’s that called?”

Recent discoveries include: three pumpkin colored poppies the size of small dessert plates; a tall, majestic iris; yet another papery peony, and chaotic rows of bachelor buttons, bluebells and forget-me-nots. Our Gary Oak, we’ve recently discovered, is home to a family of faeries who “go to work.”

EM brings offerings of daisies, twigs and small green leaves.