First wasp sting of the season yesterday - on my sandaled foot as I walked out to water the hollyhocks.

O cruel nature, red in tooth and claw.

I'd had two close calls already that morning - the beasts are everywhere, setting up shop under the eaves, even starting a nest in Sylvia trailer near where I work and sleep! So it was off to the hardware store to buy a pair of wasp traps. Hope to heaven they work.

***

Ongoing health questions use up all my attentions and the Project languishes at the almost-done phase. Meanwhile I've outlined a more straightforward piece on my experience of starting a used-book shop though Asperger's.

The yard - well, much of it - got its first mow yesterday evening. Dragged the trusty mower out from under its eight-month winter tarps, gassed it up, checked the oil, gave it a squirt of starter fluid, and we were off to the races on the very first pull. Things are looking pretty neat and trim.

And the goldfishes in the trough are fat and happy, our first water-lily leaves unfurling at the surface.

Spring comes late to the high desert, and then in a heartbeat it's summer.

All the more precious, then.

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Look at the time! Off to mail Mother's Day cards. love