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More ingredients! They don't even look real, do they? Utterly perfect and almost glowing.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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Heart's desire.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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Dean has been eager to do some of his own gardening, and got under way by filling two large outdoor containers and claiming a section of the hill out back.


A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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My peony out front is so happy, and so utterly prolific, that I can easily bring in a stem or two to enjoy without feeling that I'm sacrificing how it looks outside. This is luxury to me.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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I've never tried pressing azalea blossoms before; big plans for these. Apparently it's *not that difficult* to make your own ink out of natural materials so I'm drying a bunch of plant materials, saving little jars, and trying to remember to stop at a thrift shop for a big old pot


A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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We have this little side yard out back (the main backyard area is up those stairs on the left, and a gate to the right leads out to the driveway and the front of the house); Ken and I have put daylilies along the white fence that are just coming up and that's a flowering tree in the corner, but otherwise it's a rough patch of weeds. Dean has plans to make this into a mixed flower and vegetable garden (it's shady now, at the end of the day, but it does get a full day's worth of sun), and Ken envisions a couple of winding pathways; it's going to take another season or two to really get this going, but I love that they are all in.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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Recording the wine so he can find it again.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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Rhododendrons are ubiquitous here in New England; when they are happy where they are planted they can grow to be huge, and even when they aren't ideally situated they will hang in for years and bloom every spring. It's a delight to see them in this just-about-to-bloom phase because they look so much more tropical and exotic to me.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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They are collectors. Well, to be fair, we all are, but they are both definitely in more active phases these days of collecting. The pleasure of the hunt, the find, the envelope in the mailbox, and then the joy of holding and sharing and putting into place -- ahhhh.

A photo a day over at Chicken Blog, too.

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Actually enough sun today to want to try to get out of it.

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A movie, and an early dinner out, and a big hanging basket of flowers that will keep me company all summer long. Other than the fact that I really shouldn't have gotten the calamari AND the fish & chips (really Jennifer, all that fried food -- what were you thinking?!?), it was an awesome Mother's Day.

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I should probably just keep the panini grill on the counter all the time.

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Whenever I see baby corn, I think of Tom Hanks in Big. It's enough to make me put a couple extra pieces in the bowl.

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Enough light for a walk after dinner, enough of a break in the clouds and wet weather to be out.

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We've got the band back together, and he's so happy to be home. Stories, plans, unpacking in all the literal and figurative ways.

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Half way there.

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Audience.

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We got up and drove into Boston early this morning, so that we could get a parking spot on the street where Dean's dorm is. He got up early, too, and met us for breakfast, then helped load up my car with a first round of stuff to come home. His last exam is on Tuesday morning, and he'll come home Tuesday evening.  I don't think I've done very well this year; I have not remotely figured out the empty nest. Now I know that this next stage of home life will be its own different thing, but this I can do.

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A student at the high school where I work needed help with a portrait photography class she was taking; she needed people willing to represent some idea about themselves that they don't typically share. A little Emily Dickinson, a coat borrowed from the theater department, and lovely work by Gracie.

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Every night when he gets home from work, Ken gets changed and then heads out front to do dandelion battle. I don't object to them the way he does; in fact, I love them. But to him they signal neglect and defeat and ugliness. Luckily the violets don't bother him, or we'd barely have a lawn.

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Every once in a while, I get caught taking a photo like this. The person usually asks me if I've dropped something, or they'll be curious to know what "it" is -- assuming that I'm looking at and photographing something other than the curb, because who would be taking a picture of that? At least this time it was someone I knew, so I could email the photo by way of explanation....

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