I would post about our very green St. Patrick's day, but I can't figure out how to post the pictures, and Dan's not around.

I was googling and image of a certain flower tonight, and that got me looking at other flower images, and pretty soon I was engulfed in gardening websites and photos of spectacular flowers.  It was so...fun.  I love that spring weather is already here.  

I got a handfull of daffodil bulbs from freecycle.  Another is giving away lamb's ear.  I'm thinking I may be able to put together a pretty nice perinneal garden...for free!  I love perennials.

I was thrilled to get daffodils.  I like them more than tulips, but for some reason we have tulips growing in the front around the tree, and have since we've been here.  I'm glad to finally have daffodils.

As I was dreamily looking at all these gardening websites, I made kinda the same revelation I do every spring.  I'm a gardener. I love to garden.  And silly and simple as that sounds, it gives me the same little thrill each year, as if I rediscover something I've always known.

I think it's because all my life growing up, we rented, and were told we couldn't do anything to the property.  My most memorable year 'gardening' was, I think, my senior year of high school.  I went to Wal-mart and bought a bunch of annuals and put them all in pots.  They were all on the front porch, on the cute wrought iron tables that had glass tops (from Grandma Lange).  I loved it.  I loved watering them, and seeing the cute, colorful blooms.  I had a hanging basket of Lobelia, still one of my favorite flowers.  Fond memories.

Fast forward a dozen years, and here we are with this house.  And the beautiful brick-edged flower bed in front, and the ring of flowers around the tree, and an sweet herb garden in the back, and a vegetable garden (that's a whole 'nother story!)  I feel like I'm dreaming!  I never thought I'd have so much space to work with, to plant pretty flowers!  

And to get really crazy about it, it's so neat to be able to say, 'I love to garden', simply because I get to join the swarms of people also claiming that same thing.  I feel that sense of belonging to be on the inside of this huge green thumb world, instead of just peering in and wishing and hoping someday...

So that's all that, behind that smile and joy I get at perusing seed catalogs, greenhouses, freecycle for my next find to beautify our little corner of the the earth.