Double Dream

This is Charlie.

My, how she has grown.

Let me tell you a bit about Charlie.

She is naughty.

She doesn't mean to be.  

She tries really hard to please me, I know.

Last fall, I finally planted daffodil bulbs.

Finally.

Every spring, I admire everyone else's daffodils while simultaneously giving myself a facepalm.

But not this year. 

This year, I have enjoyed the fruit of my labor.

So, why do I mention Charlie?

Because this winter, I looked out the kitchen window and saw her carrying something around in her mouth.

Upon further investigation, I discovered it was one of my daffodil bulbs!

I saw my spring daffodil bubble burst 

right before my eyes.

I yelled at Charlie to drop it.

Drop it now!

But she just sat there looking at me.

With the bulb in her mouth.

Drool escaping around the bulb.

My bulb!

Yesterday, while I was outside admiring my daffodils and being thankful that there were some left to admire, William said to me, "There's one of those flowers out by the garage.  It has little purple flowers around it.  

Pretty cool."

Could it be?

Could Charlie have planted the bulb as a gesture of friendship and repentance?

Could it be?

THE bulb that Charlie carried around in her slobbery mouth?

It just has to be!

Although, instead of being purposely planted by my gardener dog, I think that it may of been 

an accidental planting.

One in which the bulb fell out of Charlie's mouth and rolled down the hill out of her reach.

How can I tell?

I can still see the bulb.

Matthew couldn't help but admire the lone daffodil.

 "'Mell it Mommy!  It 'mells like 'ping."

Pride?

Confusion?

Guilt?

Apathy?

The reason we were outside in the first place...beside the fact that it was an absolutely beautiful day...was because William spotted a pair of ducks in our creek.

This is not the first time that
ducks have been seen there. 

I think that we have seen a pair of ducks almost every spring waddling in our creek.

I remember one specific time--four years ago
to be exact--that we ran out to see the ducks.

It didn't end very nicely.

I didn't get pictures of the ducks that time.

But I did this time...right before Charlie spotted them and they flew away.

My Mother's Day 2010 gift...a Cleveland Pear tree.

Josh told me yesterday that he accidentally hit it
with his frisbee.

And then very quickly, he said, "But it was so pretty!
It looked like it was snowing!"

It is a beautiful little tree.

My carpet of forsythia blossoms.

Paul and I planted a forsythia outside our bedroom window many years ago.

My dream was that someday, it would bloom all big and yellow and make my bedroom shimmer.

Some springs I have beautiful blossoms.

Some springs I have nothing.

Last fall, the forsythia was huge and overgrown.

Paul and I talked about cutting it way back.

My neighbor told me that I should do a little research to find out if it bloomed on old wood or new.

I had never heard that before!
(Thank you, Tonya!)

I googled it and found out that forsythias bloom on
old wood in the spring.

So...if I wanted blossoms, then I needed to trim it AFTER it bloomed in the spring.

Wow!

Dream come true!

I wish that my pictures could show
how my bedroom shimmers!

One morning there was nothing, and by afternoon,
it has bloomed!

I went out to Walmart and found forsythia sprigs so that I could decorate my wreath.

Can you see my daffodils in bloom out there?

Double dream come true.

Enjoying the fanciness of spring,