Okay, a couple of weeks may not qualify as a “blink” to some people, but no matter. The idea is that things can change so quickly when you aren’t looking, and then when you do look… Hey?! When did that happen?!
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I haven’t been home much during daylight hours (or really at all) for the past couple of weeks. I coach a competitive academic team at my school, and our regional competition was Saturday. The practice schedule really gets ramped up the closer we get to competition, so my time at school gets longer and longer. In fact on the Thursday and Friday before the Big Day, I didn’t leave school until 10 pm. Then Saturday I left the house at 6:30 am. Got home after the competition at 8 pm. Whew… some long days, indeed.
Sunday morning was my first chance in several days to actually wander about the yard and bask in the sunshine, amazingly blue skies, and *brrrr* cold temps. Hey!! Who put those specks of color in my garden??
In just a couple of weeks, so much has happened. Fruit trees have started to blossom, bees are braving the cooler temperatures to feast on lavender blooms that, seriously, were not there a moment ago. My pomegranate was glowing with flecks of red from new leaves beginning to show.
Now that our competition is over and the days are getting longer, I will have a little more time to wander the garden during the week. My classroom feels a bit too quiet and empty now that the kids aren’t gathering after school, but by the time next August rolls around we’ll be right back to it!
Mostly Greek 
Since your blog is ‘Mostly Greek’, I am wondering if you happen to grow quince. I do not remember if it is popular in Greek culture as well. Mine is Portuguese I think. I sort of hope it is. It came from an old Portuguese family from Sunnyvale. It is the only quince I grow. It is big and round, and can be cut in half and baked with sugar on it like an apple pie about the size of a small pot pie. It also makes good applesauce if flavored with cinnamon. Because it has a mild flavor, I use it for pectin to make jam with other fruits. I also can it like spiced quince, but it is not as flavorful as the Mexican quinces. Although I am aware that quinces were introduced through Greece a very long time ago, I never hear about Greek quinces now.
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I don’t grow one myself (yet!), but I know it is a popular fruit in Greece. My biggest concern is fire blight. I have a multi-budded apple, as well as a multi-budded pear, and I already have occasional problems with blight, so I’m a little hesitant to compound the problem. We have a ton of the ornamental pear trees in town that all became diseased due to stress during the drought. I know of at least three or four trees of my neighborhood all close by that are diseased and the owners have not yet removed them!
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Oh, yes, that would be a concern. It has been a problem here too, after being rather docile for decades. There were always a few trees that got it bad, but only a few. Now, most have it to some extent.
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