DUTCH-BROTHERS-AND-A-NURSERY DATE

As the years keep ticking by, neither Debra nor I seem to have the energy anymore to go out on a Friday night date after a long week at work. We're just too tired. So, lately, we have been spending Friday nights at home watching television programs or rented movies. Just like old people do.

But we still date regularly. These days, however, our dates usually involve a Saturday or Sunday afternoon at a coffee shop. Sometimes we stop at a Dutch Brothers drive-through, purchase some fancy caffeinated beverage, and then run errands or go shopping together.

Today we decided to visit a local nursery and fill some empty flower beds with some bright, spring colors. We left the house at about 9:00 a.m. and enjoyed a warm, sunny Dutch-Brothers-and-a-nursery date together.

This flower bed beside the back patio and beneath the blue spruce tree needed some help.

A different angle verifies the need for some life and color in this dirt-filled box.

Part of the same flower box, and another flower box beyond the lounges, both need flowers.

A closer view of the empty box beyond the lounges.

The grass is nice and green, but the flower box needs color.

As we get ready to leave the house, I open the door for my date.

Just a few blocks from our home, we pass the first Dutch Brothers on the way to the nursery. We decided to wait for awhile and drive through another Dutch Brothers further down the road, because neither Debra nor I really care much for the taste of coffee mixed with fresh, minty toothpaste.

So we drive on by this one and head for the nursery.

Nearing the nursery, we pass our second Dutch Brothers of the morning and decide this is the one we will drive through after we pick up some shrubs and flowers.

We arrive at Flowerland Nursery and park the pickup.

We browse through the nursery, ready to invest some money in life and color.

Debra investigates the possibilities.

The options are endless.

We eventually decide which plants we will place in the flower beds at home.

I pull our wagon toward the checkout booth.

After completing the transaction, I load the plants into the pickup, secure them with bungee cords, then we return home.

On the way home, we spot that second Dutch Brothers we saw on the way to the nursery.

Our palates begin to yearn for something cold, something blended, something with a straw in the lid.

Finally, equipped with my 24-ounce Dutch Freeze, and Debra with her 16-ounce Dutch Mocha, we return to our empty flower beds with the stash in the back of our pickup.

Not too colorful yet, this flower bed will soon erupt into shades of yellow and purple.

And the flower box beside the lounges will burst forth with bright reds and purples.