Pansies and Tulip Trees

Saturday was a beautiful day

And with the mild spring

our pansies lasted a lot longer

than most years.

I bought a couple of flats of summer annuals

And said goodbye to the pansies

But first . . .

I clipped the flowers

for an annual ritual

of candying pansy blossoms

to decorate winter cakes and cupcakes

Eggwhite, granulated sugar and a parchment lined baking sheet

With classical music on the stereo,

I painted and dipped

Until I had a tray of pansies

Perfectly coated sugared morsels of delight!

Severe storms moved in early this morning,

We awoke to this . . .

Big branches of the tulip tree down in the back garden

There were some casualties --

the planter is broken

And some of the roses received broken branches

And under all of the tree branches

is a hydrangea -- or rather now a half a hydrangea

Those branches broke the plant in two!

As those branches fell, it hit the roof of the breakfast room

But all seems well with the roof.