The cure will be the heat and humidity of summer, but for now the weather is just gorgeous and things are happy and blooming and it’s spring break and it’s really hard to sit at a computer.

If you want to attract some orioles to your yard, plant some of these.  The red passion flower vine will take over your yard if you live in a warm enough climate and if you let it.  The birds will thank you.

If you live in a warm enough place, you can also grow your own pineapples, but it takes a few years.  Above are the plants, grown from the tops of the pineapples you get at the grocery store.  They’re related to bromeliads, which means to me that they’re pretty low maintenance.

The teeth on the leaves hurt.  The little purple flowers are harmless.  Baby pineapples are adorable.

Speaking of purple flowers, I thought the thing in the background was dead, but apparently news of its demise was a bit overstated. (The foreground is a bougainvillea — those things are nasty-sharp too.)