April showers bring...damp

April is the time of year that the trees leaf out and spread their pollen.  Doesn't sound like much of a big whoop unless you a) have allergies, b) like to breathe or c) value the paint job on your car.  My black PT Cruiser is currently wearing a yellow coat of tree pollen about an eighth of an inch thick.  Very attractive. 

April is the time of year when vegetation literally LEAPS from the ground.  I think it's because of the showers.  I left for San Francisco, where all was cool and damp and gloomy, and less than two weeks later returned to Tennessee Flora on Speed.  There are buds on my peonies.  My monster hosta, feared killed by the yard dudes, has returned from the dead with a vengeance.  Only my sorry azaleas continue wan and mopey.  They need to be transplanted- to San Francisco, where they will fit right in.

April is the month when we open our pool.  Yes, you sad Northern readers, it is true.  We open our pools in April down here in the South.  Of course, we spend most of April and May fishing pollen and seeds out of the pool... but nah-nah anyway.

There is no place on Earth more beautiful than Tennessee in the spring.  Spring may be a short season, caroming into summer all too soon, but while it lasts, it is glorious.