Lovliest of Trees

I went outside to do some yard work and saw the fruit trees were blossoming. I thoroughly enjoy the blossoming of trees each year. This year it made me feel poetic. So poetic I thought about one of my favorite A E Housman poems:

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

Cinco de Mayo

I really love Mexican food. I also love eating it. So I decided that we needed to have a Cinco de Mayo potluck at work. I decided a make-your-own-burrito-bar would be more El Fantastico than any Mexican Soap Opera could ever hope to be (and it was). I had always wanted to have a Cinco de Mayo party, but May 5th is my Mom's birthday, so as a child we celebrated her natal day instead. (Way to ruin everything, Mom.)
One of the photographers in my office has a bazillion decorations, so she came with all of her Mexican stuff. It was way more fun than working.



Laird (one of my many co-workers) knows how to rock a sombrero.

'El Gostoso Black Beans'

2 tbsp Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 can pinto or black beans (15 oz), drained
1 tsp ground cumin

Just el cook them. Sometimes I leave out the cumin, because black beans are that good.