Yesterday was a bright and beautiful day. The spring temperature was a warm 75 degrees. The birds were singing as if they had no care. The warm breeze was gently blowing. The water in the little pond by the front door was flowing freely once more. The John Deere tractors were up and down the road reminding me that the fields were ready to be worked. Life is bursting forth once more. It is spring. The other side of that was what I saw as I drove in my driveway. Sticks everywhere. Tiny pieces of paper caught in little thickets around trees and shrubs. Gardens full of last years yuk. I couldn't wait to change into some garden clothes and go out to change my world. It was amazing how out of shape I felt. I worked about an hour and got two huge barrels of sticks put into the burn pile. I found more garbage than I would have imagined and dumped that in the can for the garbage pick up. Surprisingly, the area on which I worked looked so much better. I decided to quit before I had worn myself out beyond that line of no return. There is a time between warmer weather and beautiful foliage that is pretty ugly. Those faithful perrenials will soon come up and block out any old leaves I've left in the gardens, but until then.....maybe I can get them cleaned out. Retirement is more and more attractive. It's about time I have the time to garden.......