Have a monstrously good Earth Day!

Earth Day at The Compound: As I’ve explained many times, I’m no gardener, so the things that thrive at The Compound do so with very little assistance from me. After our crazy weather, we thought we’d lost our bougainvillea. However, it’s started putting off new growth and we did a thorough pruning so it wouldn’t be forced to waste its effort on far-reaching vines and could make an easier comeback. Our azaleas bloomed later than usual but in abundance, so they’re all right. Our lilies took a hard hit from the cold, but Tom always prunes them to the “nubbins,” as my sister might say, and they’re coming back with a vengeance so I’m sure they’ll flower this summer. We lost two or three rosebushes. One loss was particularly sad because I think it was planted by the elderly lady who lived at The Compound for decades before we came along, and my mother always took good care of it. But another rosebush donated by Amy a few years ago is showing off with many new flowers.

There were other plants I’ve been anxious about. My mother’s amaryllis didn’t bloom this year, but it doesn’t always, so I’m taking a wait-and-see approach. Our yellow jasmine bloomed for about ten minutes when it warmed up; then it beat a hasty retreat when we had another cold snap and it never returned.

Today, I received a couple of new friends–they were for my birthday from The Little Bordello in the Woods, a/k/a Marika and Dash. They took quite a journey around the planet over the last month to get here, so I’m sure they’ve been celebrating Earth Day in advance. I posed them in The Compound’s newly blooming star (or Confederate) jasmine. Tom had a sneaking suspicion during the winter that a rat was making his home in those thick vines–Pixie often thought the same. But I saw no sign of anything rodentlike, and if I had, Toralei, Daughter of the Werecat, and Elissabat, daughter of a vampire, would have been more than capable of dealing with him.

I’ve always wanted a Monster High Toralei doll and could never find one. And the other day, I pointed out Elissabat to Tom at Target and said that even though I loved her, she wasn’t in my budget. Thank you, Marika and Dash, for being the Birthday Earth Day Elves who gave me what you didn’t even realize I wanted!

Happy Earth Day to all!