Another 10 Minute Writing attempt

The screen door banged shut when I came in from the back yard. I don't know why I was out there, perhaps to look at the magnolia tree. I noticed today that the top buds were looking purplish, instead of the fuzzy green of the earliest spring. It is exciting to think that the new growing season is upon us. There are tulips in the front yard again, and the very first blooms have already disappeared. In fact, they disappeared rather quickly, and without fading, so I wonder whether someone admired them a little much and removed them when I wasn't looking. That wouldn't be hard to do, as I rarely even look out the front of the house. The windows on that side are all covered by sheers, and whenever I touch them I think of my mother telling me not to touch the sheers, as they will get dirty and they are a pain to wash. It is too hard to see anything through them, and so I look out into the back yard instead, which currently is in the early spring flood stage. At least so far this year, we've not had ducks swimming in the flooded yard. The first year we were here, I looked out back and there were two or three of them swimming on the lawn. We really need to unplug that drain Jim says is back there.

I love to see the flowers but I don't do much for them. I have noticed that there is new growth on my rose bushes, and I am excited to see what they will do this year. Last spring I trimmed them back before they started to come to life, and this year I didn't; it will be interesting to see if they do better or worse than last year. The fact is, I am a garden numbskull. I don't know what the flowers need or don't need, and I don't really make the effort to find out. I don't even know what I have. I mean, there are some tulips out there, and last year I thought I had a few... stalled out, can't think what they are... buttercups? I think that is the name. Yeah, I'm going with it. No buttercups popped up this year, or at least they haven't bloomed yet. Which is odd, I think, because don't the buttercups usually open up first?

My first little flower looked like a lovely short purple tulip, and soon a second bud opened near the first. There was a tiny little yellow flower a couple of feet away from the purple flower, and all three are now gone. It is odd that they just vanished. There are still leaves from the purple one so maybe it will grow back next year. I didn't plant any of these things, so they are all bonus flowers to me. I didn't earn any of them.

The magnolia tree is definitely the crown of the yard. I love it when it blooms. Katie's bedroom has the only upstairs window that looks out over the back yard, so I call it her magnolia tree. It has the loveliest purple and lavender blooms, and the groundhogs like to eat any of them that grow low enough for them to reach. The tree is so pretty when the blooms are out, and then the leaves come on before all the flowers are gone, and it is even prettier. It seems that it blooms again in the fall, which I find particularly nice.