Another lovely spring day. My willow has a few green leaves, though for the most part it still looks like a disaster. The leaves on the new maple are growing nicely. I'm in for a busy week, but had the morning off, so I got rid of six bags of clothes for Goodwill. It feels good to clean out, though I should have gotten rid of even more things. At least I put those pants I can't quite fit into on the top shelf of my closet so they don't take up valuable space within reach!Sunday, a repair man came to look at our whirlpool tub. The jets stopped working a few years ago and we hadn't bothered to fix it. I had unscrewed the panel that gives access to the motor and peered around in there with a flashlight, then replaced the panel but not screwed it in, since the repair man was due to come the next morning. Well, Varda the Curious apparently took it upon herself to knock the panel lose and explore inside. When I got home from church on Sunday, she came down the stairs with her legs and chest completely black! She is normally buff-colored. I guessed at once what had happened, which Stephan confirmed. We had to give the poor kitty a bath in the sink. She wasn't very happy, but managed not to inflict any major wounds. Afterwards, she stayed plastered to a sunny window, looking pitiful, drying her spiky fur.The other cat, Athena, has been pestering me to go out ever since the weather turned nice again. On Sunday afternoon, I drug out the hammock and lay there reading a few stories. When I got back in, Athena was clamoring to come out, so I fetched her leash and harness. Yes, leash. When Athena was a kitten and I lived in Boston, she got used to this, as the apartment was quite small but the neighborhood too busy for me to consider it safe to let her out on her own. She's been an indoor cat from the beginning, but I take her out occasionally. Now that she is old and arthritic, I could probably take her out without the leash, but she can be surprisingly fast when she wants to and is absolutely fearless - not necessarily a good trait!She sniffed around the yard for a bit, then plopped down in the grass, which is full right now with lots of blooming violets. I know they're weeds, but they're so pretty. I decorated Athena's collar and harness with violets and gave her one to smell. She promptly ate it.I'm going to be quite busy for the next two weeks, but I want to be sure I make time to notice the leaves and flowers growing, before suddenly I wake up and we are in full summer.