Spring is Trying

Hey Robin, look what I found today under the melting snow!

Maybe they won’t be as late as I thought! 🙂
Lots of snow melted around here yesterday with the 60 degree day. It isn’t quite as warm today and it’s rather blustery, but still above 40. Looks like temps are going to stay that way over the next week, so maybe the last of the cursed white stuff will finally be gone.

Happy Easter tomorrow, if you celebrate it. It is a get-together with my sister’s family and eat some good food day for me. Enjoy your day however you spend it!

Springtime, Lovely Springtime!

I love this time of year. This part of the world is coming alive with green grass and leaves and the bloomers of spring. We’ve had a string of 17 days in a row with no rain, and while I know we need the rain (coming soon according to the local forecast), I’ve even thoroughly been enjoying my rides to work in the morning: the sunshine at that time of day is gentle and beautiful and lights the flowering trees and greening lawns in a way that makes me remember to breathe deep and appreciate the moment.

When I walk out to my car, the air is perfumed with these:

Lilacs – mmmmm, is there a better spring time smell? And I’m going to have an abundant amount of blooms this year. The tops of my trees all look like this:

They haven’t quite opened yet, that’s why the dark color, but they are beginning.

During all this lovely weather, I’ve been outside when time allows (mostly weekends) working on my yard. I did a lot of cleaning up and pruning during the April break from school. In addition to all the usual work, I made a decision to rip out a perennial bed that had not been looking overly healthy for the past few years:

I kept only what remains of my bearded irises, – they are yet to bloom this year and I don’t know how many blooms I will get – the bleeding heart
and my “crazy poppy”- click here for the story of that moniker.

On Saturday morning, I made a visit to my favorite local garden center, 16 Acres Gardens. (They are called that because they are in a part of Springfield known as “16 Acres” not because there are 16 acres of gardens)

It is still just a little too early around here for planting tender annuals and vegetables (unless you’re a bit of a daredevil and willing to watch the weather each night for frost warnings!) but I was more than ready to go spend the generous gift card I received from my dad for my birthday to replant that perennial bed. I came home with 9 new perennials of varying sizes and heights ranging in colors from pinks to purple to purplish-blue and planted them that afternoon:

(I’m rather proud of myself for installing that new border around the bed too, even if it is a less than perfect circle!)

My latest-to-bloom-in-the-neighborhood daffodils are in full bloom now:

as well as the giant rhodo-azalea:

I’ve seen two butterflies in the past few days – can the hummingbirds be far behind? I’m excited to hang up two new, unique hummingbird feeders I received for my birthday – I haven’t taken pictures of those yet but I’m sure I will do that soon.

I finally cleaned the vegetable garden patch of last year’s debris and removed the decrepit fence surrounding it. Next outdoor projects: put up a new fence and mulch my perennial bed. I’m also trying to grow some new grass in an area the dogs have ruined. There’s so much going on in the yard! But I do love this time of year!

A Week of Ups and Downs

I’ve been away from the blogosphere a bit again this week and there’s a blog post inside me just bursting to get out.  This post may be a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, like my week has been, so strap in for a bumpy ride!

Ah, my boys from Boston!  Their week mirrors mine somewhat.  The Boston Red Sox are off to a rocky start again this year.  Current win-loss record is 2-5.  But what a win today was!  They were back home in Boston for the first game at Fenway Park this season.

(my archival photo from a game I attended in 2010)

They trampled the Tampa Bay Rays 12-2.  I know you don’t come here to read about sports, but I’m just making a connection here, so stick with me if you can.  They won only one game on their road trip, and we fans were feeling pretty low.  They returned home to Boston today and pulled off a colossal win against a big rival.  I may be speaking for myself here, but I’m feeling much better about my favorite team’s chances.

I began my week with my regular Monday blues.  This week at work was probably going to feel like a long one with the promise of our spring break upcoming.  As the week progressed, I started feeling more hopeful.  Then yesterday, SLAM! I had one of the worst days at work I’ve ever had.  But I got up and faced the day again today and was rewarded with assurances.  I came home to an awesome baseball game, and the knowledge that our big vacation is only days away.

I also came home to some new blooms I’d like to share with you.
More daffs:

The rhodo-azalea that had seemed locked in mid-bud is starting to come around:

And would you believe the bleeding hearts are beginning to bloom?

I only have these white ones so far, there’s no sign of buds on the pink yet.  I’m sure these were a case of plants being fooled by the abnormally warm weather last month.

Another new arrival in my yard:

Can you tell what that is?  I apologize for the poor focus, but I had to work pretty hard to bring you this picture.  We’ve got baby bunnies again!  That fuzzy oval in the top third of the shot is a bunny ear.  My daughter made the actual discovery a few days ago when she noticed the large pile of mama-bunny fur (the blurry pile in the foreground of that picture) well ensconced in the center of our raspberry bushes.  The little buns are burrowed fairly deep in the ground, so getting a recognizable shot was nearly impossible.  We had a frost last night, so I’m sure mama bunny knew what she was doing tucking them in that way.  From what I could see of those adorable little ears moving around, I think there are three little ones.

Those bunnies reminded me that I yet again I missed my blogoversary.  Those of you who have been reading from the beginning may remember that baby bunnies were the subject of my first few posts back when I started this blog in April of 2010.  April 6th was the actual blogoversary.  For those who may be interested in such things, I’ve had 28,623 views since my blog began, and my busiest day was February 28, 2012 with 201 views.  That was the day I posted the February Photo Hunt Wrap-Up.  My most commented upon post was the October Photo Hunt announcement. That was the “idiomatic” photo hunt that folks really seemed to enjoy.

I can tell you that I’ve really enjoyed bringing you my photos and stories for the last two years, and I’m so happy to have become part of a blog community.  As you can see from my blog’s numbers, I’m no super power blogger, but I’m really grateful for you, my faithful readers.

So this up-and-down week ends on a high note: a big Red Sox win, the end of the work week, and our cruise only days away!  We are off on another college visit tomorrow, and I have packing to do, so I don’t know how much time I’ll be spending in the blogosphere this weekend, but please know I’ll be thinking of you and hoping to do some blog-catching up in my spare time.  If we are friends on Facebook, I’ll probably post some pictures from my phone from the cruise while we are still in American waters.  Think I’ll be going a little photo-crazy this coming week?

Oh, and don’t forget to be working on this month’s photo hunt too! Show me your favorites – and maybe one of mine! 😉

Poking Around

It happened today!  My first daffy bloomed!

My lastest-blooming-in-the-neighborhood daffodils started to bloom today.  There’s yet more proof of the crazy mild winter we had.

I found myself in the unusual position of having an unrushed period of time to myself this afternoon.  There’s no school tomorrow, the girls were at their respective activities, the temperature was relatively mild, and the sun was shining at a lovely angle in the sky.  I finally poked around my yard and neighborhood, camera in hand.  Here’s some of what I found, in addition to the daffodil:

Lilac buds

The “rhodo-azalea” still waiting to bloom

The neighbor’s forsythia, alight in the sunshine

I’m not sure what type of flowering tree this is (dogwood maybe?) but I loved the way the blooms looked against the blue sky:

To avoid being too photo-heavy in one post, I narrowed down to 7 shots from the 38 that I took this afternoon!  It felt really nice to be outside with some of my favorite subjects again.

We are off on an adventure in Boston on our day off from school tomorrow.  I hope to have some fun pictures to share with you this weekend.  I hope you’ll be enjoying a long weekend too!

Bereft of Daffs

The daffodils have been busting out all over due to the crazy warm weather we had for the previous few weeks, except for here in my yard.  My daffodils are planted on the north side of my house, in the shadow of the house for most of the day, therefore they are the last daffodils in all of agricultural zone 5 to bloom I believe!

These are not my  daffodils.  In a “normal” spring, most folks’ daffies in this region begin to bloom in the beginning of April.  Mine are literal “late bloomers” generally popping out mid-to-late April.  I’ve been longing to photograph and share them – although at this point, they will seem  rather boring, I’m sure, since you’ve all been seeing them for a while now.  I couldn’t help myself, however, when I was at the Cape last weekend visiting my mother.

After we had lunch at Captain Parker’s Pub ,(I had some of their famous, award-winning clam chowder -mmmm!) I couldn’t help but take pictures of the flowers surrounding the restaurant.  My mom, daughters and sister waited patiently in the car while I grabbed a few shots.  There was even hyacinth:

Back at home, I’m still waiting for my daffies.  I had hyacinths too, but some underground critter helped itself to a meal of the bulbs a few years ago.

The forsythias in the neighborhood are blooming like crazy and I’ve really been wanting to photograph some, but I don’t have any on my property.  Same goes for dogwood and magnolia trees.  I’ve been trying to decide if there’s a place that I could take pictures of someone else’s and not look too creepy doing it, LOL.

My hybrid rhododendron azaleas have traditionally been early bloomers as far as rhododendrons go, but to have them budding in March I think is a record for them.  The buds on it are in various stages right now.

Some of the buds that were a little further ahead aren’t faring so well in the return to more normal March temps.  We had some nights this past week that went down to the 20’s.  I’m sure that was a bit of a shock to flowers that had experienced 70’s and 80’s just a short time ago.

I looked back in my archives, and found this photo from April 30th last year:

That makes these blooms almost a month ahead this year.

Hubby and I are headed to a wedding later today.  I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the bride.  After almost two weeks of above normal temperatures and sunny skies, today’s forecast is for a high of 48° and on and off drizzling rain and wet snow.  I guess that’s the chance one takes planning a March 31st wedding.

I’m hoping to get April’s photo hunt list posted tomorrow.  I’m still trying to come up with ideas for the list.  If you  have any suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Baseball & Blooms

I had a busy and enjoyable weekend, and I just thought I’d share a bit.

I went to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game today.  Game time temperature was forcast for 55° and in the shade of the grandstand, it felt much cooler.  Jennifer and I bundled up and enjoyed an exciting 3-2 Red Sox win. By the way, Jennifer’s site is all spiffed up and self-hosted now, so head over and have a peek sometime.  Here’s our view from our homeplate grandstand seats, taken with my iPod:

Yesterday, I managed to get some much needed yardwork done after I finished being distracted by taking photos of the additional blooms that have recently opened.  The rest of my daffies are now blooming:

The earlier of my rhododendrons has also completely opened up:

I hope you made the best of your weekend too!  Happy May!

Finally!

Okay so I’ve been whining quite a bit that I seem to be the only blogger of this cool blogging community who didn’t have any daffodils in bloom.  They finally decided to show their beautiful selves today.

I was lucky enough to have a gorgeous, sunny and warm afternoon to shoot these pictures too.

Yep, that was the temperature today and I was loving it!  I got my reclining chair chair out

 and enjoyed a complimentary iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts, courtesy of their Dunkin Perks program.  When I finished my coffee, I stalked the yard for more signs of spring.  I was reminded of Robin’s lovely post with maple tree buds, when I saw these in my yard:

These are all over a red maple that unfortunately partially broke and is bent over in the yard.  We haven’t quite decided what the best thing to do about it is.  As I meandered past the broken tree toward the back of the yard, a robin curiously decided to hang out on the fence rather than fly away as I approached.  It kept peeking back at me, perhaps to see if I’d gone away, but stayed long enough for me to take a few pictures.  I seem to be having better luck with bird pictures so far this year.

Speaking of better luck with bird pictures, wouldn’t it be wonderful if this is the year I finally get my hummingbird shot?  My husband claimed to have seen one a couple days ago, so I went ahead and hung my pretty new hummingbird feeder:

($5 at the Christmas Tree Shops!  Don’t you just love a bargain?)

I’m sure our 80 degree days will be short lived for now – high in the low 70’s expected for tomorrow, but I will take it!  Tomorrow I will also take you on a tour of all the Scavenger Hunt participants in case you haven’t made the rounds just yet.  See you tomorrow!

Awesome Weekend, Part 2

As promised, this is the Cape Cod edition of my Awesome Weekend.  After our delicious luncheon  and an afternoon chatting with our BFF Renae, my girls, my sister, my mother and I made the trip to Mom’s place on Cape Cod.  We arrived late evening Saturday, so my photos that I have to share with you are from Sunday which turned out to be a sunny but windy day.  The seagulls were drifting…

… and the windsurfers were surfing!

As I said, it was a sunny day, but it wasn’t that warm!  Check out my “crew” at the beach at Bass River:

Left to right: Sarah, Jennifer, Mom, Meghan

After our windy beach visit, the sun was still lovely and warm, so I requested a little walk around Mom’s neighborhood to see what might be in bloom on the Cape.  I found some pretty sights.  These were growing in the backyard, and I found out over at Barbara’s blog that they are called chionodoxa.

Daffodils are in bloom just about every where you look down at the Cape (still not in my front yard though, hmmpph!)

These grew in a large carpet at the front of someone’s property.  We wondered if it could be heather.  Any ideas?

A sweet little pair of ducks was swimming in a little swampy pond in the neighborhood and I couldn’t  help taking some snaps of the cuties in the late afternoon sun:

Our weekend, in addition to the beach visit and sight-seeing, of course included shopping and good eats, with a very healthy dose of laughter.  Pretty awesome weekend, wouldn’t you say?

Where did Karma go?

So, where did I go today?

Was it the jungle?

How about the desert?

Or perhaps the tropics?

I didn’t actually go to any of those places of course, but I did go to a place that can make you feel as though you’ve travelled to these diverse locations.  My sister and I went to Northampton, MA, home to Smith College and their amazing annual Spring Bulb Show.  In addition to strolling through two packed-solid greenhouse rooms of forced-bulb flowers, other rooms of the Lyman Conservatory are also available for viewing, representing many different climates and their flora.

I hope you’ll enjoy my slideshow of one of my favorite signs of spring in this area:

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I took 124 photos today, so expect a few more flower posts in the next few days!