I want to improve

There's so many things I want to be better at:  blogging for example.  I would love to post weekly or even more frequently, take fantastic photos (and make and do fantastic stuff to take photos of). 

I also want to be a better housekeeper.  My place suffers from a distinct lack of attention.  It'd be great to not be embarrassed when visitors arrive unexpectedly!

 I'd also like to be better at sight-reading music.  I'm moderately competent but would like to improve to extremely competent;  I would love to sit down to the piano and be able to play a piece of music through to tempo.  Right now I can usually do it if the tempo is Andante or slower.  Trouble is, I love fast and loud music, like Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody and Chopin's Revolutionary Study.

On the other hand, something I feel quite satisfied in:  my gardening.  I'm no expert, but I feel experienced and confident in my skills.  I put in enough work to make the outcome worthwhile.  One of my neighbors commented about my many weeds;  I told him it was a wildlife garden.  He didn't believe me, but it really is the truth!  I don't actually mind most of my weeds--they're banished from the main parts, but are allowed around the edges.  Side note:  our new chickens are brilliant at weeding.

I also feel pretty happy about my family and my relationships with Partner and Franklin.  I feel we make a good team and we have many more fun days than we do difficult days.  Perhaps I'll post a bit more about our fun family days in the future. 

Chickens, sister, spring harvest

We have chickens!  But no photos.  Must remedy.  Even though they've lived in cages all their lives, the four have learned how to do all sorts of chicken-y things in the past five days.  They can drink from a bowl of water, scratch the ground, perch on a roost, eat slugs, and--up until yesterday--fly.  I clipped their wings however, when I realized they'd begun experimenting with this new ability.
I think between them they've laid around two or three eggs per day since they've come to us (don't panic--that's candle wax in the egg carton).   Partner's begun naming them, and Franklin calls them "bok-boks."

My middle sister is over for a visit and Franklin loves her.  I've never seen him like this with anyone.  I may have to take advantage of her good nature and get her to babysit one night for us.  I think it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity--he never willingly spends time with strangers, even when I'm present.  And he was friends with her the very first day!

In the garden, I've harvested broccoli for the past few weeks.  When I go to it, I pick all spears close to flowering--encouraging it to continue producing.  Sometimes there's more than we can eat, so I freeze the excess.  Another new crop:  baby spinach.  And so far, one asparagus spear.  I had such high hopes when I planted them five years ago.  Franklin and I shared it between us, raw.  After all, one's better than none.

Pictured: a random forget-me-not.  It somehow insinuated itself into my turnip patch.