'TIS THE SEASON: WEEDS!

There seems to have been a weed explosion in my beds while I was gone, so I guess it's time to "hoe, hoe, hoe!" You know what they say -- "a weed in time, saves nine." They don't say that, you say? Well, maybe not, but it's true nonetheless. You gotta catch those suckers before they go to seed and produce a million babies! The trick, however, is figuring out which ones are weeds, and which ones are keepers -- babies from some of your favorite plants.

For example, see the tiny slash of bright green flowing through the middle of all that brown in the picture above? Well, though we didn't get any wildflowers at all last year, I do seem to to remember that a couple of years ago, when we had our last rainy season, we had a veritable river of violet verbena flowing across our property in that very same spot. I'm thinking we just might be blessed with another one this year. Cross your fingers! That was the year of a million poppies too, which look like the ugliest of weeds when they first come up. How sad if I had yanked them all out, before they ever had a chance to bloom!

I was planning to get out there bright and early this morning, to start hoeing the flower beds, but woke to the sound of pouring rain. Perhaps I'll be forced to stay inside and read all day, instead. Not only do I have a big basketful of books passed on to me by friends, still waiting to be read. There's also a stack on the coffee table, a couple of library books, and three more that are winging their way to me from Amazon! Now, some of you might consider an entire day spent reading to be the ultimate form of decadence, but I look upon it as part of my job. After all, they say that the very best way to learn how to be a good writer is to read lots and lots of really good books. Now, I don't remember exactly who said that, but, on this one, I'm absolutely positive that someone did! So, which one shall I indulge in, um, work on, next? I'm thinking perhaps The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain - yet another book centered upon the Midnight in Paris characters and era. Have any of you read it yet? If so, what did you think?