A beautiful May Day

We've had another cool Spring so far, but on Sunday the weather turned warm and perfect: high 70's, soft breeze, no clouds. Every flower that had been timidly blooming in the unseasonal 50 degree temperatures sprung into life with a brilliance of color and a blast of pollen.

I've been sneezing my head off ever since, but I don't mind. It's just too beautiful around here.

Queen Teen and I harvested the mint to make room for the new garden space.

We had planted a huge patch of mint when we moved here, 8 years ago, but when we decided to expand the garden we had to dig them all up because they were hogging the sun. 

Once the harvest was finished, Rick spent all of Sunday creating the new garden area: building an 8 x 8 frame, hauling in dirt, mixing in compost, and putting down wire to keep the gophers out. Here it is, already christened with our Princess Scarecrow:

Unfortunately, the sudden warm weather woke up more than just the flowers.

Guess what this is....

Aphids, aphids everywhere and not a stem to see

After I blasted them off the rose bush with a the hose, I squirted the stems with dish soap, but I'm not sure I got them all. This is a large rose bush (more like a tree) and there must be a million aphids on it. We've had aphids before, but never like this! 

But I didn't let the aphid invasion ruin my day. Once I finished working in the yard, Queen Teen and I went for a stroll in the neighborhood and walked under this tree:

The bees were humming as we passed, and Queen Teen sang at the top of her little lungs, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!"

Happy May Day