Azaleas In Bloom

The azaleas are in full bloom and my world is filled with pink, purple, white, fuchsia, and red flowers. I never had azalea bushes in my yard before; living in the desert soutwest, I was used to bougainvillea (evil!), cacti, and sage. Now that I have dirt in my lawn instead of sand, I have a new group of plants to play with. Azaleas are nondescript shrubs most of the year but now, in the spring... they're filled to bursting with lovely flowers. The picture above is just a corner of one of the 20 or so bushes in my yard. The best thing about azaleas is that they don't take much care or watering--my kind of plant!

Now for the humiliating story of the day. I happened to be driving out in town, going through a residential neighborhood. There is one house on my route that has spectacular azalea bushes. They must be 6 feet high and just as wide. All colors, each bush more beautiful than the next. Anyway, I as I drove past, I saw a little old lady out weeding next to a screaming pink azalea bush. I had to express my admiration for her gardening skills, so I pulled over and shouted, "Your bush is beautiful!" She smiled and nodded. Unfortunately for me, the high school bus had just dropped off its juvenile passengers up the street, and a gaggle of boys on their way home overheard my comment. They burst into laughter and started shouting, "What about MY bush?" all the while pointing to their groins. Great. Just great. I was totally red in the face. Pay no attention to the crazy lady, kiddies.

The dogwoods are also in bloom and they are just as beautiful. Stay tuned for my next blog. It has it all: nosy neighbors, dogwoods, and Jesus Christ. What more could you ask for?