May 5, 2008. Bethesda, Maryland. Weekend.

The drive to the farm on Friday was as pretty a drive as you could find anywhere. The dogwood trees were in bloom as were the azalea bushes. As we had lunch in Potomac, we drove on the back roads all the way to the farm. We never drive the back roads up to the farm, just the way back, so the look of the roads in the opposite direction is different. These old roads have been in place for many many years, as are the houses along side of the roads, so the mature lilac trees are huge and beautiful, all the way to the farm. It was a lovely drive. The Alleycat Creamery is open for the summer, just outside the Road Kill Cafe, so when we stopped for milk we ate a dish of our favorite ice cream. One scoop costs $2.25, and the scoops are huge. We would like to have a dish every day, but we limit ourselves to once a weekend. The dogwood trees are in bloom in our woods too. They are ephemeral in their wispy kind of way. Other than these few weeks, I never remember we have so many dogwood trees in our woods. The XM radio played lots of brass pieces. So our journey was delightful.

The Goose is on her nest by the pond, and she has stayed there all day and all night. Soon we have goslings, we hope. This is the fourth year the geese have nested in the same spot. We hope for better results this year. A Killdeer couple has built a nest in the driveway by our hill house. They take turns sitting on their four eggs. They are very brave birds. If you approach the nest, they run right at you, screaming at the top on their lungs. If you get closer than six feet, they start the wounded wing trick, pretending to be injured to lure you away from the nest. But we put a board in front and behind the nest, so no one would drive over the nest. They are such pretty birds. I hope they hatch next weekend.