I am staying here.

When Wendy moved in four years ago, what surrounded this 1830’s cottage was lawn.

Okay… moving on from extreme garden envy…..

We visited her friend, Jane, who raises champion Sussex chickens.

I’m told that proper Sussex don’t tear up lawns. It must be true. Jane’s birds are raised outside on grass. Look at this pen.

I’m also told that proper Speckled Sussex look like these hens. Don’t tell Lulu!

I’m flying to England tomorrow!

I’ll be met at the airport by Wendy. You know a person is a good friend when they’re willing to brave the traffic to Heathrow, and then wait in the craziness outside of security for you. Wendy is a gardener, chicken keeper, artist, rose pruner, tortoise maid and blogger. No surprise what we’ll be doing – visiting gardens and chickens, and vintage shops and stopping for tea. This is one of the properties we’ll see.

After four days, Wendy will hand me off to Celia at a rendezvous in London. The city will provide Turkish food and galleries, and then I’ll be off to Celia’s beloved Suffolk. Celia is also a gardener, artist, chicken keeper and blogger. She doesn’t have a tortoise, but she does have a couple of studio assistants who might get off their beds to greet me. Or not. Celia is going to take me to galleries and ancient British towns. I only have two days with her before she and her husband drive me back to London (are these good friends, or what?!)

Both Wendy and Celia drink gin and tonics. I never have. They each have a favorite gin and a favorite tonic. I will be doing a taste comparison.

If all goes right with my electronic gear, I’ll be able to blog and post photos. Then again, I might just relax with those gin and tonics and catch up with you when I get home.

My goats are short and tubby. Depending on the time of day their bellies will be round or rounder. If they’ve just eaten, their left sides (where the first of their four stomachs is) will stick out further than the right. My goats, being Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats, are beautiful, but not exactly svelte and agile. See what I mean?

We all know that superheroes have have meek daytime selves. Who’d have thought that geeky Clark Kent could fly and have x-ray vision?

My goats have superpowers. They can squeeze through anything. Of course, like any good superhero, you never actually see them doing it. You never see Clark Kent in his undies while he’s changing, do you?

On Saturday Steve noticed that Caper was grazing on the lawn. Pip was still in the paddock.

Notice that the gate is closed.

Look closely, though, and you’ll see that Caper had lifted the chain on the bottom off it’s hook. That’s not a superpower act – that’s simply being a clever goat.

Still, it takes superpowers to squeeze through that gap. Caper, the main superhero goat, had gone first. His sidekick, Pip was all set to follow.

But, Steve was now watching. So, Pip looked all innocent and bleated to be let out. A superhero never gives up his secret.

The plants in the perennial bed are only beginning to emerge and take shape. Leaves are unfurling on branches. Take a quick glance at my backyard and you’ll see browns and greens.

But, look closely in the meadow. Take a moment. Focus your eyes on the small and you’ll see violets.

There are flowers on the rock wall, too.

There are subtle blooms in the shade garden. The white bleeding hearts are an ephemeral spring beauty.

Some blooms are promises of things to come.

Delicate white blossoms will become blueberries,

and these beauties will fruit into peaches.

The drama of the summer garden is yet to come, but after a long, white, icy winter, I am loving this gradual transition. There’s a sudden burst of color underfoot where yesterday there was none. A tree is a haze of pink where yesterday it was bare twigs. I’m in no hurry for summer.

Living in a cardboard box is boring. Even little chicks need to have new things to explore and challenges to overcome. I was digging up dandelions yesterday (no roundup here!) and decided that a few clumps of dirt and greens (and maybe a bug or two) was just the thing to liven up the chicks’ days.

It was scary.

But the boldest chick, a little yellow one, made the first move.

I don’t know what breed she is – the yellow ones all look look generic yet. Whatever the breed, I’m betting she’ll remain the flock leader.

Soon, her cousins all joined in.

It’s good for the chicks to learn to look for food and be adventurous about what they eat. It’s also good for them to get grit into their gizzards. I want them to have strong immune systems, and so introducing them, slowly, to the world of dirt and germs, will help them to host the good bugs in their guts, and to develop resistance to pathogens.

Besides, they had a lot of fun. I’m not anthropomorphizing. Ever since they arrived the chicks have been noisily peeping. There’s a distress peep when they’re scared, and there’s general chit-chat peeps. But, for the first time yesterday, I heard the cheerful melodic chirp that chicks make when they find food.

Candy likes the dandelions, too. I have plenty of weeds for everyone.