spring break so far

I'm having an amazing week. Saturday night, J and I went to stay at the Red Roof Inn in Pigeon Forge. I chose the hotel because they had a 24-hour swimming pool. The hotel was clean and well-run. My only complaint is that too many other people wanted to use the pool, too. It felt great to hang out in the super-hot whirlpool and feel my muscles unwind. Just breathing the warm humid air brought summer back. We also went out to eat a couple times, went shopping, bought some fudge, saw painted hermit crabs, walked through a shark's mouth, drove up to Ober Gatlinburg, and walked a nature trail at Sugarlands Visitor Center. It was an awesome mini-break.

When we got back, it had miraculously turned warm. Yesterday and today, I worked in the yard. I cleaned up the dogwood garden, removing honeysuckle and other stray plants and recreating the rock border. I also raked and fertlized the front lawn. J cleared out leaves from the corner garden so that the daffodils will look very nice when they bloom. My next steps in the front yard are to put down mulch, get some dirt to fill holes, level the ground under the birdbath, and trim the holly bushes. But I probably won't work on it any more this week. Rain, plus I need to start doing some work to prepare for the rest of the month.