A Springtime Ramble

Those of us who inhabit the frozen north don't get too optimistic about spring.

Those April showers can turn to something solid at the blink of an eye.

Then Easter comes around we start to think maybe winter might actually be over, which is a pretty good reason to party. Fortunately, there are individuals around who are always cheerful and ready to celebrate anything, anytime. A belated Happy Easter to those of you who observed it.

Thanks to a creative farmer at our local Saturday market we have Easter Eggs all year round. The colors are interesting enough and no messy dyes to clean up. I'd love to see their flock someday.

 A few days ago, on a dark and stormy night complete with lightning and buckets of rain, we thought, "it's pouring down, let's go out for dinner."

Anytime it's not snowing is reason enough to leave the house. 

This photo was supposed to capture the rain dramatically falling on the river but it just ended up looking like a wet street. I was reminded of Nighthawks, a painting by Edward Hopper, which has always seemed a little forlorn to me. Maybe it's those empty, mid-century tables against the dark night that are giving off such a lonely vibe? In reality, they were about to be pushed together and taken over by a raucus group fresh from happy hour. Not a sad story unless your were seated next to them.

The following morning our backyard was flooded but compared to nearby towns, we were really lucky not to need a boat. Somehow, the tulips and daffodils survived and so did all the bunnies. 

Burt was ready to do some gardening but that didn't seem wise under the circumstances.

Since there was no way those pansies were getting planted in the swamp, they ended up in the springoween decorations.

 

Who can't use a little extra color this time of the year?

Eventually, what goes up must come down . . .

and spooky spring has to be swapped out for Halfway to Halloween . . .

. . .  because spring has actually arrived and so have the Halloween decorations at Lowes.

It was a huge relief when our magnolia started blooming a couple weeks ago. During the street work last summer, it lost three big limbs to sloppy digger operators and worst of all, a lot of its root system. We are cautiously optimistic. So far it's acting like nothing happened but that seems too good to be true. At least the neon X is fading.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and a wonderful spring!

and . . .

a Happy Birthday to Laura!

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon.