May 1 - John has always heard that it is safe to plant in the Overland Park, KS area after May 6th. There were a couple of times in April when john and joyce had to bring plants close to the house overnight to prevent them from being frostbitten. Hopefully now, that is over. Last year, over Easter, there was a hard freeze in the area which took out many of the Japanese Maple trees. john and joyce were lucky. Their Japanese Maples made it, albeit greatly reduced in size. It will take several years before they can grow back to their former size. john and joyce did lose one Japanese Maple, which they replaced with a Boulvard Cypress. It too died this winter, and has been replaced by an Austrian Pine.

May 2 - Kansas City was hit by bad storms yesterday afternoon and evening. There were 7 tornados total, hail the size of baseballs, and winds equal to an F1 hurricane. The damage was shown on all TV networks all morning, including CNN. zenpond was not harmed at all.

john is still working on "Bass Harbor Light" (Acadia National Park, Maine). Here is the latest version. There is still some more work to be done on it, but it seems to be getting better.

May 19th - john has been working on the above painting, and has toned down the light in the lighthouse alot. A new photo of the painting will be posted soon. john plans to frame the painting in a hand-rubbed Rosewood box frame that he will make.

In addition, john is already making compositional studies of his next portrait painting. He has taken several photos of his 7 year old gran-niece, Olivia, playing her half-sized violin. She has long blond hair and very blue eyes. Here is the photo john will be working from:

Much work is being done on zenpond. john and joyce will go to a nearby nursery today and purchase some additional annuals for the garden. In addition, another nursery is deliverying 7 cubic yards of mulch tomorrow morning.