Your obligatory springtime flower post

I'm a lazy gardener. So lazy I don't even do it if I can help it. I do love flowers, though. Love the colors, the scent, the infinite variety. I just don't like dirt. Or sweat. Especially sweat. I'll be in my aerobics class and everyone will be like "Oh man! I love this sweat we're working up tonight, burnin' calories! Wooo!" And I'm usually just like "Actually, I kind of feel like a big sweaty slug right now. Does anyone have any cookies?" What I should say, I suppose, is that I really appreciate the effort that green thumbs expend so my eyes can experience colorful joy. So I've come to admire the good, old-fashioned, be-lazy-and-watch-them-grow weeds. Weeds have flowers, sometimes. And yes, they're invasive, and hard to get rid of, and grow like...weeds, but sometimes weeds have pretty little bits about them.

I can still remember my friends' moms yelling at them "Don't blow the dandelions! They'll go everywhere!" I'm glad my mom was always the one to encourage such adventures, and that our lawn was always a patchwork of grass and weeds so my dad didn't freak out too much about what it would do to his lawn.

 My mom would still get happy smiley if you brought her a fistful of dandelions to put in a juice glass on the window sill. And I'm pretty sure she'd say "I remember your grandfather used to love dandelion salads..."

 I love that we have large patches of clover, and these little purpley bits spring up from amongst them. I used to secretly wish my dad would mow in some crazy pattern around them to keep my 'wildflower garden' from being shorn....

 I didn't realize I had focused on the grass instead of these, but they migrated from next door. I don't know what they are, but I found them interesting.

Wanna see some real flowers? Sort of? 

 This is the white pear tree that grows next door. It is absolutely gorgeous right now, but it won't last long.

 I wish forsythia bushes would stay this color all the time. It's just a flash of sunshine, and then boring green. Well, not boring, but boring in comparison to the yellow.

 My mother and I discovered that if we leave certain annuals in place they spring back the next year, even more vibrant and full than the year before. And snapdragon seeds travel faaaaaaaar. These aren't snapdragons, it was just a fun fact for you :)  I don't remember what these are....they're a few years old now.

 Pansies are some of my favorites. Maybe because I identify with them. I wilt in the heat, too, bwahahahaha.

We've had odd weather the past few months. No snow (I'm still miffed about that), not even a need to bundle up this winter. Then temperatures in the '80s all of a sudden. Then it got cool and windy and rainy. I wore short sleeves last week, and sweaters this week. I wish Mother Nature would make up her mind, already.

But I still must say a hearty thankee to her--she made the sun come out just before sunset so I could have good lighting to take pictures of weeds for you.

This post makes me think of this quote: 

"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses."
-Allophones Karr

 I kind of want to get a tattoo of a rose simply because of those words, as a constant reminder to seek the good in people. Of course, it's a bit of a cliche sort of a tattoo...but nobody has to know what it means but me...and you.