Green with Envy (read the blog and you'll get it)

My yard is better than your yard.

Not to brag or anything...but I'm pretty sure mine is better. The grass is as green as a St. Patty's Day leprechaun. The landscaping is a cheery riot of floral perfection. There are three small fruit trees (I think one is cherry, and one is a crab apple, but am unsure of the third just yet) and three raised beds. Inside one of the beds is a wildly growing crop of strawberries. The second has some fragrant herbs spilling over the sides. The third is vacant as of today, but we bought some tasty vegetable seeds to plant.

I have a beautiful, inlaid patio with fire pit. I have a pergola with an attached bench. I have a gurgling stone fountain, turned on and off, conveniently, by a light switch on my spacious deck.

It's a wonder...honestly. And the biggest wonder of all is how we ended up with something so nice. You see...Brian and I lack creative imagination in the home-landscaping area. Granted, we've always lived in base housing prior to this, but there were only postage-sized yards to work with there. Our prior accomplishments include the removal of ugly, red, lava-rocks from our Hawaii yard, and replacing them with (the creative choice) some nondescript grey and white rocks. I've been known to lay down a sassy Welcome mat and maybe even pot a seasonal flower or two. And Brian, well, lets just say our previous yards had to have grass tall enough to lose a small child in before he'd find the motivation to rev up the lawnmower.

So, here we are. We have a yard that could honestly garner a few "oohh's! and aaahh's!!", and we haven't the slightest idea how to deal with it. Brian has cut the grass several times already, and in his defense, he is much more interested in doing yard work now that we own the property. I've had the girls outside pulling weeds from the numerous beds. I've yanked out a hefty bunch of dead stuff and made a pile with it.

In the meantime, the strawberries are growing taller by the day, and the first delicate white blooms popped out this week. The grass stays green, as do the trees and flowering bushes, due to the pre-installed sprinkler system. Right now, we are enjoying this beauty of a yard with minimal effort. We are just sort of adopting the "nature knows what to do" philosophy this year. Maybe next year, we'll bust out the gardening gloves, and really make it our own.

Brian and I know we are very lucky to have purchased a place with all the stuff you'd "like to do if you had the money" already done for us. We thank the green thumbed couple that owned the house before us. But this year, we'll just brag a little, and smile a lot, and enjoy what we've got here in our own backyard.