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On Saturday, we visited the Northern Dutchess Botanical Gardens to buy a few plants for the garden.

We got the essentials: peppers (bell and poblano); lettuce (oak leaf, red sails, and red romaine); arugula; peas (snow and sugar-snap); soybeans; broccoli; strawberries (everbearing, Junebearing and all-star); herbs (green and purple basil, Italian parsley, and lemon verbena); flowers (coneflowers in pink and white, some kind of giant pink impatiens that Sarah picked out, disco red marigolds (another Sarah selection), foxglove (strawberry), and poppies in crimson, orange, and oxblood).

And, of course, we got tomatoes: Brandywine (in red, yellow, and black); Black Krim; Green Zebra; Cherokee Purple; Speckled Roman Paste; Pineapple Hawaiian; Jet Set; Sungold; and Juliet (an elongated cherry grape).

While there, Sarah was at least as interested in the fauna as in the flora.  Here she is with a large, yet-to-be-identified polyphemus moth, a type of giant silk moth.

And here she is trying to summon the carp.

Back at home, Jen continued work on her secret garden, with the help of her new lawn mower.

She finished her planting there with a flourish: a yellow peony.

Meanwhile, our house painting project spiraled out of control as the planned replacement of the Bilco door turned into the unplanned replacement of the sides that hold up that door.

It was a major project by our painter and jack of all trades Chuck (right) and his father in law Frank (left).

Fortunately, Chuck brought two of his five bull mastiffs (Dexter (left) and Draxis (right)), which thrilled Sarah.

On Saturday, Sarah played first base in her first softball game, against Red Hook.

Rhinebeck could have fielded 15 players, but the Red Hook coaches — rather churlishly, in my opinion — allowed only nine of them on the field at a time.

Some of the Red Hook girls seemed quite a bit older.

In her only at-bat, Sarah walked.

She eventually scored.  Here she is after steaming into third base.

Here is a dogwood tree at night.

And here is the new garden that Jen has been working on.  This isn’t exactly a “before” picture, but it still has a ways to go.  Can you guess where it is?

We had a great Mothers’ Day weekend at the farm, with lots of lilacs starting to bloom, and plenty of gardening by Jen.

If the house appears a little odd …

… it’s because we’re having it painted, and it looks a bit naked without its shutters.

In addition to lilacs, we gathered lots of apple blossoms, which made the house smell great.

On Sunday, Sarah and I served Jen breakfast in bed.  Sarah gave her the silver and gold painted clay ring dish she had made at school, and also a card that gave Jen a few tears.

For my part, I made another attempt at the living gift — this year, a vibernum for the garden Jen has been working on.

My record with this kind of gift is unblemished by success.  Above is the redbud tree I got her for Mothers’ Day in 2009.  It is the Charlie Brown redbud, but we continue to look after it.

Sarah also had softball practice this weekend.  Here she is getting a big hit.

And, in our continuing effort to improve, for our tiny audience, the multi-media experience that is RhinebeckFarm.com, here is an audio file of the barn swallows that I made this morning.  You can hear the fluttering of wings as one of the swallows flies out of the barn.

We had plenty of sunshine this weekend, enjoyed by what we can only hope is a large proportion of our pond’s turtles.

The squirrels — all of whom are as fat as house cats — checked out the new growth.

The birds also seemed to enjoy the fine spring weather.  Here is a mourning dove.

And, while the early bird may get the worm, he also may have to defend it.

In a cloudier moment, two herons flew over the pond.

The flowers, of course, also thrive in the sunshine.  Jen planted lots of daffodils in the fall, and they are coming up all over.

Bravely, she also planted tulips, which she keeps from the deer through the liberal application of Bobbex.

Saturday was Sarah’s first day on the softball team.  She showed impressive form, and, sticking with it, got her first hit.

There were more signs of spring this weekend, including this robin.  Today also marked the return of the barn swallows.  Since 2007, the barn swallows have arrived as early as April 22 and as late as April 28 — an impressively tight range.

A less fortunate sign of spring is this capacious front door that Herman, the muskrat, has dug for himself.

I am taking matters into my own hands.  But somehow I doubt that Herman is particularly nervous.

We were saddened to hear this weekend of the death of Herb Schwartz, a great friend of my parents, here pictured with the wooden Indian in front of the Rhinebeck Smoke Shop.

Some deer seem to have made it through the winter.

This heron stopped by the pond, although, by taking its picture, I scared off scaups, mallards and, less regrettably, Canada geese.

Sarah was mostly too cool for scootering.

But she was willing to help her mom clear out the old berry canes, making room for this year’s crop.

Sarah and her friend Michaela played with sticks before heading out to Kids’ Night Out at Bard.

Herman the muskrat prowled about, looking for material for his lodge.

He is far more photogenic in the water than out of it.

A mallard sits pondside, watching the sun set.

We returned to the farm after a month away to find many harbingers of spring.

Uncharacteristically negligent deer left us a single crocus, which is enjoying a visit from a bee.

We had a visit from some scaups, as well as a pair of mallards (not pictured).

We found wild hyacinths …

… and a bluebird, harbinging like a pro.

Even though we had to do a little spring cleaning …

… it was great to be out of doors.

We saw this fellow on Monday while we were kayaking on Commodore Creek, off Tarpon Bay, Florida.

We should be back at the farm next weekend!

Last year, we were surveying the damage from one of our annual 30-year ice storms.

This year, however, we are leaving for Florida.  Sarah is very excited — she woke me up at 5:30 this morning to ask why it was still dark.

It looks like we’ll have pretty good weather!