Spring has Sprung

Hello Again, I'm back after almost a month of not posting. Bad Blogger! Bad! I really am going to try to post more often. In my own defense I have been a fairly busy man lately. You see here in Richmond-by-God Virginia it's Springtime. This is when Richmond really comes into it's own. Gone is the dreary winter, long cold early Spring. It rained down here for the entire month of March, or it felt like it anyway.

The best thing about Spring in Richmond is our yard. Piney Manor sits majestically on a nice little piece of property. Just up hill from the mighty James River on the South Side of town. I took some pictures today to start off my renewed dedication to blogging. I guess I will dedicate this photo blog entry to my Sister Sarah she of the quite excellent blog SpruceHill fame. I realize that a full 89.4% of the people who visit here are related to me and therefor SpruceHill readers as well, but if you have not you should drop by and read her blog. It is full of amazing photography. I encourage you to read some of her archives and see what a real fighter my 'Little Big Sister' is...she is a recent cancer survivor and an all around swell gal.

But enough of this drivel...time for some pictures of palatial Piney Manor.


This is a of the house from my back yard. Two things of note. 1) The hammock. I love me the hammock and sit out there on the early spring days and quite a bit in the late fall. Not so much in the middle of summer becuase of all of the mosquito's that infest our area. 2) The sunporch. We added this because of the merciless mosquitos that adore to feed upon my blood.* I spend most evenings from April to October on the porch, listening to music, reading, imbibing delicious adult malt beverages and yes - sometimes blogging.

Here is the side view of the porch, highlighting some of the many azalia bushes on the property. I love azalias for the month or so they bloom. When they are not in bloom they are kind of ugly and brittle...but are worth the pain when they are in season.

See the pretty flowers below? If I want to get the readers that Sister Sarah gets I need to put lots of close up pictures of pretty flowers!





Bluebells!














Close up of Azalia blossoms.









My lovely bride and I had our reception in the back yard. We had two big tents, three smaller ones, lots of bocce, baggo, and croquet. A good time was had by all. One of the best gifts we got that week end was from my nieces. They gave us the stepping stones below. I have them in our herb garden, and I use them every time I'm out in the yard (they are in the high traffic area between our two sheds). I think of the girls every time I use them.**









*Can anyone tell that I loath mosquitos?
** A special shout out to anyone who can tell which of the stepping stones is my favorite and why.