Maintain What You Have

In between guests, housekeeping and gardening there was time to wander through one of the local garden shops. I stumbled into the 'pond/water' feature area. Words written explained; 'Only takes a minute to install' or 'minimal cleaning involved'. For a very loooong minute, I actually flirted with the idea to purchase a water feature. Are you flippin' mad? I have been taught to 'Maintain what you have then move on to the new'. With an acre of property, plants waiting to be fed/watered, ivy growing faster than I can remove it, pruning etc. What are you thinking! With a click of my heals, I whirled around and vanished. Honestly, the idea of a frog spewing water is not the kind of yard-art I wish to maintain anyhow.

This is a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. They frequent us often and they are the biggest and showiest of all. It has taken me 8 years to snap a photo like this. They don't often rest long enough for me to dash for the the camera.