Today I was a lumberjack!

At least that's how it felt as I wrapped my gloved hands around some twisty vines that had grown up and nearly choked out a huge lilac bush in our back yard. The vines were running past the tall bush to intertwine with some boughs on a large walnut tree behind it. I yanked on those vines with all my might and between pulling and cutting entire strands off of the separate vines, I pretty much got them all down today. I worked outside with the kids running around playing with the hose. We must have been out there for 4 hours. I weeded a huge section behind our deck. With our house being over 100 years old, there is SO much growth in our backyard areas. If we don't tame it in the spring it really begins to resemble a jungle out there.

So I really felt proud of how "nature-y" I was today. I am not really that close to nature. I mean, I don't relish long hikes, or yearn to ride a bike through a great trail. I do love the beauty of it though. I love great mountain views, artistically planned landscaping, lots of colorful flowers.

I prefer symmetry though so my favorite landscapes and gardens are more frenchy than the English ones. Someday I would LOVE to have beautifully carved bushes that arch symmetrically and maybe even one of those hedge mazes! I love that totally impractical and obsessively manicured gardens that only the French seem to really do effortlessly.

Anyway... the kids helped do some weeding and then we stopped for a bit to play "Red light- Green light" and "Charades". Dane really liked the fact that for Charades he got to lay on his belly on the dirt and pretend to be a cat. He used all 3 of his turns to do this. He doesn't get to lay on the ground and get really dirty very often. It must have been a thrill. Lena's best charade was a "Komoto Dragon". It was such a shock that I couldn't guess what she was as she sat still and flicked her tongue at us. I chose easy ones like chicken and turkey. I was in a poultry mood I guess.

Anyway, I am hoping to cultivate some pretty summer flowers so maybe in a month or so I will have some pretty pictures to post.