when i bought my place almost 5 years ago, i also inherited the perennial garden in the backyard. the woman who owned the place a decade ago, she must've been a horticulturist because the things she'd planted still continues to amaze me. even in such a small space she managed to cram a lot of shady flowering plants. lilies-of-the-valley, trilliums, wood poppies, wild gingers, hostas, bleeding hearts, bloodroot, irises, hydrangeas, rue anemones, asiatic dayflowers, and many more. most of them seem to be native new england species, and none require any special care, my kind of garden, the kind that pops up every year without an effort on my part.

so it finally stopped raining for a change, although a little too late since the weekend is practically over. some of the aquariums looked a bit dirty so i decided to do water changes on both guppy tanks. the fries growng in the 5 gallon minibow are starting to show color; soon i'll be able to tell the boys from the girls and then they'll need to be separated. at this time however i don't have the tank space, so i'll need to get another (used) aquarium soon. here's what i'm thinking: convert my current 10 gallon into a male guppy tank, and get another 10 gallon and make that the female tank. this will give everyone plenty of space to swim (unlike the conditions now, which is more vertical than horizontal). the 5 gallon minibow will just be a spare tank, if i ever decide to breed more guppies (the answer right now is a resounding "never"). i dumped out the dirty aquarium water in the backyard and while i was at it i took some flower photos.

my parents and sister came over for dinner tonight. i provided the venue, they provided the food.