My Back Yard

Image shot in "warporama"—three captures from my laptop's camera stitched together in Photoshop

   Minnesota nice. Sure we suffer in the Winter, but when Summer comes rolling in it is so worth it. After a couple of days rain everything has been "washed" sparkly clean. The air is fresh with a mild breeze and, from the shelter of my bower, I am the master of all I survey. In the thirty years we've lived here, the back yard has undergone some revisions.

   The flower bed in the center of the picture was where the old garage sat, an under-built wreck which had actually been hit by lightning and had caught fire. The previous owners just patched the bad spots, several charred two by fours were still part of the framing. Where the new garage now sits used to be a sea of crumbling blacktop, with a rotting telephone pole (for a ham radio antenna) serving as a centerpiece.

   Now the garden is watched over by our sprite, April, surrounded by Hosta in her own raised bed. She is flanked by shrubs and the Norfolk Pine (normally a house plant) has been transplanted for the summer and is thriving. The gray compost bin guards the entrance to the waste bin storage area.

   The Rhubarb (on the right) wasn't harmed by the rain.

Sun shine all over me
I'm feeling so happy
Summer, it's summer now
And it's warm outside and I'm smiling all day long
Happiness I will always send
I hope this summer will never end.

        ~Jófriður Ákadóttir