3-17-22 SHORT HILLS: We are definitely into spring, things are happening, the parade of flowers has started, there will be bad weather, but hopefully not too much.

The elm tree and the red maples are flowering, forsythia bids are growing, viburnums are showing small leaves, vinca minor has flowers, Andromeda has flowers.

We were in the city a few nights ago for a birthday dinner with Lily at Minetta Tavern, a few blocks south of Washington Square Park. The park has thousands of people hustling one thing or another—chess games, music, selling art, selling legal marijuana, seeds, edibles, skate boarders were in the waterless fountain, lots of bikers, the doggie playground was busy. The beds had crocus and daffodils open. The dinner was great.

Last night we had dinner with Lynn and Bill at a mediocre Italian restaurant in Madison. Yesterday afternoon I planted a red oak tree that we had bought at the Farm earlier in the day. I dug the hole while the delivery guys were enroute. The root ball was massive. The hole was just the right size, if a little too deep, but easily back-filled a bit. The delivery guys wheeled it to the site and rolled the root ball in place. I filled the space around the root ball. Today, if the rain stops, I’ll top off the planting with some potting soil after cutting off some of the burlap and ropes. The trunk and branches are about twelve feet tall, but 95% of the mass is in the ground.

Big news here on the dog front—Blanca has passed her test for Creature Comfort Pet Therapy and gets her test visit tomorrow for first grade readers.

New blooms: elm tree, red maple tree, Andromeda, vinca minor.

The newest therapist, Judy's seventh.

Andromeda is our earliest bloomimg shrub.

Vinca minor, creeping myrtle is another pacesetter.

Here's a fuzzy surprise, pussy willow, technically not a flower but welcome none-the-less.

Red maple. I knew it was open before I saw it. My sneezing told me.

At Washington Square, a tiny dancer loved the drums and guitar.

'Have piano, Will travel.' This guy wheels in for a pre-dinner concert. I don't know why they are lying underneath. I wonder if the piano resents it.

Minetta Tavern diners.