The smell of dirt on a cool, clear, fresh day.

Is there anything as intoxicating as a day like this?

This has been simmering in my mind for weeks. I have been rather obsessed with my backyard and vegetable garden over the last five years. But lately, I've been giving some thought to making my public yard more in tune with what I want my house to be which is a cottage. It's well on its way to becoming that but the front yard...just too "suburban lawn" for me. I've been drawing sketches and finding them all over the house. In fact, today I wanted to jot down a note and found 3 separate post-its each with garden diagrams. I was inspired by my daughter's new neighborhood in Minneapolis. It is just one lush front yard after another and TINY LAWNS!! OK, I have a huge lot and the Minneapolis lots are tiny but this is a start. I've been picking up loads of cheap perennials over the last week or so and I have two slender silver maples hiding in my back yard. Don't really know what to do this those yet. (How could I resist a tree for $7.49!) I dug a soft right angle that I will plump up over the next year or so with additional plants. Just shoot me! Why can't I just sit and read a book or something!