Yaller

I have never let my rhubarb go to seed, as I was under the suspicion that one should not let one's rhubarb go to seed. This year with the rain and all, I just didn't pay attention to it. So this is what rhubarb looks like when it is allowed to fulfill its genetic destiny:

That is one thing that is going on in the backyard. In the front of the house, the Lemony Lace Elderberry is going to town. Over the winter, it looked dead, dead, dead, with only a few sad looking branches. Once spring (and spring rains) hit, it took off, now overwhelming the mugo pine.

I was recently diagnosed with severe arthritis in one hip, which explains the pain there. I'm talking a prescription strength NSAID now, and wow, do I feel better! I didn't realize how much all over discomfort I was living with until it was gone. Yesterday I went to town with the trimmer, and today my biceps hurt. But it's a good kind of hurt, from labor, not from age. The yardening seems less daunting now.