… greets you from their campfire along a lake in the Pennsylvania woods. UD, her sisters, and Mr UD (looking chiseled below) have been roughing it (as rough as ‘thesdans get) up north, and Les UDs are

now back home, recovering.

… yesterday, at a local cafe.

THE MANGY FOX

The mangy fox
From out the wood
Enters my garden.

‘Hardened in heart,’
I note his naked tail
His agony face

‘Like a devil’s sick of sin’

And I say to him

Oh you have outfoxed!
You slink raw grief
Into my garden

And I cannot be hardened.

… the town of Garrett Park (which is an arboretum) goes in as we speak.

It’s a Siebold magnolia, variety Colossus.

… Catoctin Wildlife Preserve. Camp David is down the street.

… embraces her cousin while waiting to chomp down on mazurek.

Photo Joanna Soltan.

… already in early April. In UD‘s garden.

… at UD’s sister’s place.

… but the Latin for “The person who plants, preserves” – which is the Roosevelt family motto – appears above the door of the building leading to Pope Farm Nursery, which supplies plantings for parks around UD‘s Montgomery County. UD and her sister visited Pope today – an insanely beautiful clear-full-blue sky day – and gazed at rows of green shoots in little green buckets.

If it’s UD’s Garrett Park, it means that yesterday morning there’s a knock at the door by a man identifying himself as “the town arborist.” Of course UD knows Phil Normandy, who leads regular town walks where he updates GPers on newly planted trees, dead and dying trees, rare and exotic finds, etc.

“Margaret, letting you know the town’s planting two trees in front of your house.” The town right of way extends fifteen feet into what you might call our front yard. It’s up to the town what it does with it, and what it’s doing with it is planting — free of charge to Les UDs, of course — two very beautiful trees for us to gaze at from our front windows:

1. American Fringe tree, female (with blue berries!)
2. Siebold Magnolia, variety Colossus.

… in one of UD’s birdbaths.