View From My Porch: The flowers have been planted and are in full bloom. A cricket serenade can be heard from the front porch rockers and the hammock in the back. Arnold Palmer's flow freely (lemonade and ice tea mixed) all the day long. Soaking in the sunshine is food for the soul.

Photos: Hanging basket attached to front porch; Mountain views, Miss Holly (my dawg), Jake (my grandson).

That hubby of mine is a go getter. Since he retired and arrived safely to our new home, we have been busy puttering and organizing our garage. Mostly he is doing the organizing, while I just empty a few boxes of my stuff that have been sitting for over a year waiting for him to tell me to get to it ;) ... if it were not necessary to make the bed each day and do inside chores, I think my entire day would be spent outside weeding, planting, and sowing seeds here and there. We have four seed type and two humming bird feeders attached to some of the forest trees and binoculars all over the house to bird watch. Today was sunny in the morning and light showers in the afternoon.

Tutti Fruity One side our our front yard consists of a long dirt berm. This was mainly formed when the good topsoil was pushed aside at the time our lot was leveled prior to building. Area is quite fertile with rich humus and receives sunshine all day long. Said berm is approximately 100+ feet in length and probably 25 feet wide. In the hopes of growing more food at home, I have planted two apple trees and one sour cherry tree. The apples are dependent on each other for pollination ... and the cherry is self pollinating. This area also is planted with different types of berries: raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc. Hence, I've dubbed it "Fruit Cocktail Hill." I have two table grape vines to also plant but first need to make a trellis for support. My back patio has two strawberry pots each holding about 11 plants. Last year I transplanted some wild strawberries amongst the rock retaining wall and now have large wild berry plants ... wild strawberries are very strong in flavor but are rather small ... delicious none the less.