There seems to -- finally! -- be green starting on almost every tree and bush. It's been a looong winter and I was starting to have my doubts, despite spring flowers being blooming and having seen a snowy egret last week in the Scarborough (Maine) marsh. We also just leaped from temperatures in the 40s (F.) to 80s. That's even warmer than the last warm teaser a couple weeks ago.

Yes, Maggie. Antique (meaning it was built in the 1700s or 1800s) Cape Cod-style house. In New England, we just refer to that style as "cape" -- there's a lot of them ranging from the 1700s to contemporary. Center chimney, regular roofline -- by "lopsided" are you referring to a saltbox where the rear roof is a shed roof going to the first floor? (Just googled "antique cape cod house" and one of the photos has a saltbox roof; most don't. Saltbox roof is more often seen on antique center door colonials.)

Did some raking earlier, but the slight breeze was proving problematic. Stopped working in that part of the interior of the turnaround and moved some branches and raked (with my hand) some of the succulents on the bank (the rockery). I'm going to go back out now and do a little bit of other raking and bring the rest of the groceries in from the car.

Linn