MAY IS GONE ALREADY

The apple blossoms on my regular apple tree and the crab apple are gone by, and the blooms on the ornamentals are fading rapidly, but what a display I had this year.

The wind and rain yesterday whipped lots of the petals off, but I was out before the storm taking pictures and enjoying the sweet smell of the blossoms.

I'm waiting for my peonies to bloom and the iris; there should be a good display of lupiens, especially along the roadside where Fred reluctantly goes along with me and doesn't mow there until they've gone by.

I haven't dared put out things like geraniums in my planters yet; Harry Chandler, owner of Chandler's Greenhouses in St. Johnsbury years ago told me "don't put anything outside until after June 10th". And he was right. More than once I've seen the thermometer drop to levels were tender plants would be killed. I was going to wait another week to get planters out, but the unusually warm weather this year has given me the courage to get them out now. I see how the lilies-of-the-valley have taken over from the daffodils, and the bleeding heart and pansies are doing well, and my old lilac bush is ready to bloom. All seems right this spring.

I know the folks in Danville got their property appraisal change notice in the mail this week. Oddly enough, today I had an e-mail from a reporter on The Wall Street Journal asking me if I could tell her of any people here at Joe's Pond who, because of high taxes, have had to give up their treasured vacation homes. I don't think that has happened . . . not yet, anyway, so I told her I really couldn't help her. I hope I'm not wrong about that, but if you know someone in that situation, perhaps they'd like to contact the reporter, Elizabeth.Bernstein@wsj.com.