Stop and smell the flowers

This was not the best week. Monday started off to the sound of chainsaws and a woodchipper. Our neighbor across the street was removing the large front tree in their yard (apparently the root system was beginning to interfere with the foundation of the house), but in order to bring the tree down safely it had to be removed piece by piece. It's always sad to see a big tree coming down, and it doesn't help when chainsaws always seem to start buzzing right when it's supposed to be naptime...


The chainsaw days were followed up with the car getting broken into in the Target parking lot. They stole the stereo and, as if to add insult to injury, they also took a big grocery bag filled with a bunch of Asian sauces we'd purchased over the weekend in Chinatown and I hadn't yet gotten around to bringing into the house. Fortunately nothing else was taken and no damage was done to the car in the process, but it just seemed so random and pointless. I was upset about losing the stereo and groceries, but more than the stuff it's that feeling of having your space violated that is so distressing. 


So between the tree, the no naps, the car break-in and a few other things that don't require further detail here, mid-week found me feeling very glum and wondering what I had done to so offend the universe this week. One afternoon Cassidy and I were hanging laundry and playing out in the backyard (rather she was playing and I was lost in my own pity-party) when she broken my train of thought by suddenly announcing "La! La!" "La" is her word for flower (I think it comes from the way you say the "lo" in the word flower). I looked to where she was pointing and was surprised to realize one whole wall of our garden was in bloom. There have been some flowers here and there that I had noticed, but now it seemed like everything was out and announcing that spring is really here. I noted azaleas, bleeding hearts, peonies, and more I couldn't identify (and actually I'm not totally solid on the peonies either). But it shifted my perspective right there to stand for a moment and soak in the beauty of all these springtime flowers, right in my own backyard. I ran back inside for the camera to capture these moments of spring. I continually have Cassidy to thank for reminding me to notice everything that's good.