It was 70 yesterday, so we raked the flower beds and now I can see the earliest bulbs starting to come up.

Additionally, Michael got me a macro lense for my digital camera for Christmas (that just came a few weeks ago), so I was able to really try out the lens for the first time yesterday.

What did I think? I think I’m starting to want an SLR. I really liked the pictures I got, but focusing wasn’t always the easiest thing to do.

(If you click through on any of the pictures, there are a couple additional pictures in my Flick account.)

Here’s the front bed after being raked. (For a reminder, here’s how the bed looked last July.) Michael wanted to make sure I got a picture of him working.

The first flower of spring: the pussy willows are blooming. I cut a bunch of stems and they’re now sitting in a vase by Grandmom’s chair in the living room.