Spoilt for beauty...

 My cottage cat.
Minimus

Sitting on Pond Cottage's verandah early this morning with Minimus the cat, reminding her she is spoilt for beautiful things to look at. To the right the pond, busy with bright red-hatted gnomes, all going about their gnomish business. To the left, forget-me-nots edging the grass, leading to the beautiful lilac rhododendron and two large lemon yellow roses - Banksia lutea and Fruhlinsgold. Towards the house the white Dogwood in flower and the pale pink rhododendrons. Beauty and colour at every turn of our heads...

'I could sit here for hours with you, Minimus, just gazing around' I said dreamily. Ouch! Minimus dug her claws into my lap. 'Sit still and stop wobbling' she miaowed at me.

OK. I guess that some cats don't understand garden emotion. And some cats probably find the concept of a Dogwood rather alarming, though Minimus assures me that two border collie dogs are no match for her ferocious fighting spirit.

And now, my head full of Palestrina (sang Tu Es Petrus with my choir this morning), I am about to relax with a book underneath the fragrant Wisteria with one of my tabby cats, Fred. He doesn't listen to me at all, only interested in getting the sun on his beautiful striped tummy.

I love mid-spring!

But I still talk to him. I tell him how much I Love mid-spring, whose flowering shrubs offer such a beautiful range of colours. I am so glad I had that rhododendron phase, all those years ago!

Yes - so many beautiful shrubs to enjoy and take photographs of. And the nicest thing about doing this - the flowers are usually at eye level, or higher. No time to notice the weeds below!