This is the current view out of the back bedroom on the third floor (which will one day be the baby’s room), and while I should appreciate those feathery tufts of color, I absolutely cannot stand our neighbors’ tree. Search around for a few moments on the web for mimosa trees and you will find people absolutely gush over the things – but I find them to be very annoying. They grow like crazy, even after we spend time cutting off the branches that hang over into our yard and our power lines. The seeds that this tree drops sprout new little minature trees and if you don’t pull them right out of your flower beds you’ll find yourself with another batch of little trees along your fence line. The flowers look like little feather dusters and remain a beautiful shade of hot pink… for a brief while. Then they plummet to the earth where they immediately turn brown and attach themselves like glue to your patio, your plants and your condensors and no broom or rake can sweep them away. When I saw them start to flower this week I let out a huge sigh, and then tried to spend a moment upstairs appreciating the color and the shade, rather than focusing on the brown carpet that is to come. I’ll let you know when that line of thinking starts working.