How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude! ~Emily Dickinson

Early this morning Dad went outside to apply his personal touch and detail to the yard. The last couple of weeks he's been fighting the battle of the dandelions. He has crawled around the yard with his trusty dandelion digging tool. Extracting the foul weed by its roots, unleashing with vigor his spring energy on the offending growth. Then followed up with a good dose of liquid poison on the newly emerged blooms through the week. Albert Gentry may be a mild mannered grandpa by day but with the unfolding of a fresh Saturday morning dawns my fearless sweetheart "Dandelion Man".
I love to hear the sounds as he works, the whhhirrlll of the weed wacker as he gives all the borders a proper trim. Bringing all the edges of lawn and flower beds back into order. Then he wheels the yard waste can out for easy access during the mowing. The sound of the lawn mower being started and then the drone of the motor as he works his way from the front yard, along the south side of the house, across the back then finishing on the north side by our bedroom window is as beautiful a sound to me as any symphony. I may not have been outside this morning, but I've been an eye witness to this routine enough over the years that I can close my eyes and picture the process just by listening.
Then as if he's placing icing on a freshly baked cake, the sprinkler system comes to life and the yard received a well deserved drink. A "toast" to the freshness of a new spring day.
Whether I'm in the yard or just sitting in my bed listening to the sounds of the outdoors, I'm sincerely grateful for this life, my husband, our children, the song of a bird, warmth of sunshine, kindness of friends, and the eternal perspective that gives meaning to all of these blessings.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. ~John Muir