April Foolin'

When I was a little kid, every single April Fool's Day my mom would wait eagerly for us to get out of bed so that she could tell us that it was snowing. We'd race to the window to see if maybe we'd be getting out of school, only to hear Mom laughing behind us. She loved it. Another of her favorites was to offer to tell us a "dirty joke" and if we took her up on it, she'd say, "a pig fell in a mud puddle!" and laugh her head off. Sometimes her goofy sense of humor is reflected in all of her children, but she was individual who took pleasure in the smallest things.As we grew up, we would all call each other on April Fool's Day and try the snow joke out. I rarely missed a chance to tell Mom it was snowing on that day. Oddly, since she died 5 years ago, it actually has snowed twice on April 1st. Last year was one of them. Yesterday was 80 degrees.
The yard has gone insane, and is in serious need of a good mowing (fortunately the kid is on her way home from college right now - heh heh), and I've already spent more time working in the gardens this month than I usually spend in the whole month of April.
Here are some pictures I took today around the house....
First there are the violets and the dandelions. It was the end of April last year when I was making violet syrup.The gooseberry bush is covered with leaves, and it looks like this year there will be berries!The mountain mint is working very hard to take over a section of the yard. I can't believe how it has gone from that tiny slip in my suitcase from Baton Rouge, to this huge patch in just a couple of years.The elderberry bushes are leafing out beautifully. They are so healthy and vibrant.And the chocolate mint is popping up in its home beside the chamomile, and it won't be long before I'm out there picking it to dry for the winter, or filling the still with the fragrant leaves.We don't even want to discuss the chickweed, ground ivy, penny cress, and red dead nettle that are growing at astounding rates.