Dancing Toward Spring

February has come and gone and we are nearly halfway through March. I had hopes for blogging more regularly in 2016 but somehow that just hasn’t happened. Life is good and keeping me busy! I’m going to scatter this blog post with photos as I let the words ramble from my brain to my fingers.

February is usually a month I don’t care for very much, but I honestly can’t complain about the one that just passed us by. We did have our only two snow days so far this school year (fingers crossed that we are out of the woods on those for the year – last day of school is scheduled for Friday June 17th at this point) but for the most part we have had a very mild winter this year. And well deserved after the winter we had last year. February was sprinkled with some good dog walks with friends, a couple fun get-togethers, and seeing my daughters during my February break.
Meghan turned 21 this February! Wow, I am the parent of a “legal” adult.

21st birthday gift from mom to daughter

Meghan had a ballroom competition in February that I attended. Got to see the new ballroom dress in motion and it looked fabulous! Meghan and her partners didn’t place at this competition. I thought she was robbed but I may be just a bit prejudiced.

A surprise invitation to a great show also happened in February. My friend Sherry won tickets to a performance of Lord of the Dance.

If you’re a fan of dance of any kind and you’ve never seen any incarnation of this show (it has had several versions throughout its 20 year history) you owe it to yourself to try to see a show. The power and talent of these dancers is simply amazing.

As we flowed from February into March, all of a sudden it was time for my daughters’ spring breaks from college. How nice for us that Wentworth’s and Clark’s breaks fell on the same week! On the Friday the girls finished classes, my sister and I got into my car and headed out for a bit of a road trip. First stop, Worcester MA, to collect Meghan and lots of her laundry! Second stop, MBTA train station Franklin MA to collect Sarah from her ride out of Boston. Third stop – Cape Cod to spend a weekend visiting my mother. It was chilly but a great visit celebrating Meghan’s birthday and my mother’s. We went out to lunch,

went shopping, and even had a bundled up visit to the beach.

A harbinger of spring I always look forward to is the spring bulb show at Smith College. There was a fun twist on the show this year, which added elemments from Edward Gorey’s The Evil Garden. Sprinkled among the beautiful blooms

were striped-socked legs poking from behind rocks, big hairy bugs, frogs spitting muddy water,

and “peaches, apples, plums and pears, guarded by ferocious bears”

It is the ending Saturday night of spring break as I write this post. My girls are each with their boyfriends this evening, and both will return to school for the final push of the school year tomorrow. Wonderful days are on their way – the official start of spring and more. Hopefully it won’t take me another month and a half to post again about that more!

If We Were Having Coffee

Many times I have admired Robin’s “If We Were Having Coffee” posts, and thought I should give it a try myself.

If we were having coffee, I’d brew you a cup from my handy Keurig and suggest that we go sit out on the deck to enjoy it. It is summer afterall, so I could even make you iced coffee if you’d like.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I saw this image on Facebook this week and really loved it. The words are so very true. I’ve had a bit of each recently: sweat from exercising, gardening and mowing the lawn, tears when I think about both my girls being off to college in a few short weeks, and the sea on a recent quick visit to Cape Cod to visit my mother, as well as spending some time with my sister on her vacation in Maine.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I spent a lovely day with my daughters this week. I “bribed” them to come with me to Smith College in Northampton so I could take pictures of flowers on the grounds in exchange for lunch in the fabulous town of Northampton and a visit to the Williamsburg (MA) General Store where trinkets and gadgets and baked goods abound. I might stick out my foot and ask what you think of the cute little trinket I purchased for myself for only $5.

If we were having coffee, I would rave about the lunch the girls and I had at Filos Greek Taverna. I had gyro meat for the first time and was questioning why I’d never had it before! The truffle oil french fries were a decadent treat.

If we were having coffee, I probably couldn’t help but lament about how quickly the summer seems to be passing by.

That would be part of the reason I roused my girls from their late morning sleeping to get up and go with me to Northampton in the first place. The days of summer whiz by in a blur, all three of us often guilty of not knowing what day of the week it is.

If we were having coffee, I’m sure I’d mention the weather. Here in New England winter was slow to let go its icy grip, spring didn’t warm up as quickly as I would’ve liked it to, and even here in July, there have been few truly hot and humid days.

According to weather.com, however, that is about to change. Starting Tuesday this week on the 10 Day Forecast, temperatures look to be in the 90’s for a good string of at least 5 days – our first real “heat wave” of the summer.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you this coming week I will be getting ready for Sarah’s 18th birthday. My baby girl will officially be an adult come next Sunday. Since we just had a big party for her high school graduation, we are keeping things low key for the birthday celebration. A few close friends are invited to come hang out at our pool on Saturday, then my family will come for a cookout on Sunday afternoon, her actual birthday.

If we were having coffee, of course I’d want to know all about what you’ve been up to as well! Will you tell me in the comments?

I must give credit where credit is due; although I read and was inspired by Robin’s Coffee posts, the original idea goes back to another blog called Part Time Monster.

Stepping Back In

Hello Blogging friends. It has been well over a month since I’ve posted. Time for me to try jumping back in again. I recently commented to Robin and to Carol that I’ve been having trouble getting back into the swing of things even though I am out of school for the summer and have much more time on my hands. Where should I begin? Which stories and photos are worth sharing? I started scrolling back through the shots on my memory card when I remembered that way back in May, Dawn invited me to do the Five Photos, Five Days challenge.

I continued my scrolling, now with a purpose. Which five shots could I tell a story about?

Now, as you may recall, I’m not one for sticking strictly to the “rules” when it comes to blog challenges. I often like to find a way to make something my own. If I remember correctly the “rules” for this one were only to post a photo 5 days in a row with a story, fiction or nonfiction, to go along with it and to invite another blogger to join in each post. Well, here I am making my own so-called rules.

First of all, I think the Five Photos, Five Days challenge was out and about long enough ago that any of you who are regular visitors to my blog who might enjoy this sort of thing have probably already participated. Honestly I’m wondering if I will still have regular readers after this blogging break – I guess I will find out! If you are that soul who hasn’t been invited but would like to participate, consider yourself invited!

Secondly, I found 6 photos that I have inklings of stories to tell in my head at this time. Right now, it is my plan to do Six Photos, Six Days.

And third, regarding the fiction vs nonfiction aspect of the stories, I feel like I could possibly create a bit of a whimsical story to go with each of the photos I’ve chosen, or at least maybe the beginning of a whimsical story, but that I’d also like to give you the real story behind the photo. I think these shots can help “catch me up” a bit with what I’ve been up to.

So that’s my plan. Whether it really works out that way, I don’t know. I haven’t written the posts yet, so I guess we will see over the next few days.

In case you were wondering about the flowers meandering through this post, they are flowers you would’ve seen had you had the chance to meander about my yard at various times throughout the spring and early summer. Many are in the ground, and long since passed by, while some are in containers around my deck and still blooming.

These were all taken with that 85mm lens that I was so thrilled to have purchased this past March. The shots are all SOOC, completely unmessed about with in editing programs. I’m still extremely happy with it and it is becoming my “go-to” lens unless I need telephoto or wide-angle.

Post number one should be up tomorrow… and away we go….

Spring Changes

This quote is so true in so many ways. I’m here to focus on the beautiful this morning, despite the fact that today’s weather is less than beautiful.

Spring has been very slow to arrive in the northeast this year, but we have finally been experiencing some days of warmth and sunshine. Last Sunday was warm and breezy, and I took a little time just to sit outside and appreciate.

I haven’t lifted a rake or anything else to begin spring cleaning, but I’ll get to it soon enough. Chives are poking through last year’s dead ones to make a new appearance this year!

It is school vacation week here in Massachusetts. Today is Patriot’s Day and Boston Marathon Day. A blogger that I read, Amy of “Plain Mama” is running this year. Best of luck Amy!

I got to kick off my vacation week in one of my favorite ways. Jennifer, Renae and I headed up to Pickity Place once again. Saturday’s weather was lovely and sunny and warm, and flowers were popping out all over, despite Pickity’s New Hampshire location. We figured they must have started some of these plants in their protected greenhouse and then brought them out.

These were not from the greenhouse of course:

I’m not sure what these are; they reminded me of a purple version of forsythia.

And I always share a picture of the beautiful dessert presentation too:

What beautiful changes are you experiencing this time of year?

Cape Cod Days

For days 38, 39, and 40 of summer, my girls and I visited my mom on Cape Cod. We were hoping the weather forecast would improve, but it remained overcast with occasional showers until the day we needed to come home. But we made our own fun.

We started on Sunday with a lunch that definitely doesn’t fit into my fitness plans, lol:

That’s a split dog with bacon and cheese from the The Dog House in Dennisport.

I spotted some beautiful lilies across the street while we ate our lunch.

Visits to the Christmas Tree Shops are always a part of our trips to the Cape. Sarah has a tradition of finding the silliest hats she can while we are there and trying them on.

Of course we never miss a visit to the candy store either!

The Yarmouth Sand Sculptures were back again this year, although they did not seem as expansive as I’ve seen in the past.

We found a unique window box at the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans, where we stopped for afternoon treats.

An afternoon walk along a small boardwalk at Grey’s Beach in Yarmouth turned up a personalized board that I had to take a photo of –
We
I hope Daphne does not take offense!

A little visitor stopped by at my mother’s house when we had returned from our day’s adventures.

In an attempt to enjoy a little warm, sunny beach time before we had to head home, we enjoyed a treat from Dunkin Donuts Tuesday morning.

I’m very appreciative of this time I got to spend with my family. Excellent treats, excellent times!

Drear and Cheer

Blog posts are starting to stack up on me here! I have photos to share for both days of the weekend but I think putting them all in one post might be a little much. Here’s my post for Saturday, day 30 of summer. I’ll write another for Sunday.

The day was overcast and a bit dreary. Motivation was low. Late in the afternoon I decided to take my unmotivated self for a walk around the yard, and I’m glad I did. Things had changed since the last time I really took a look. Different flowers and such were in bloom.

These are what originally drew my attention outside. I saw a blur of purple that I hadn’t seen yet this year so I went to investigate. If I remember correctly, these are delphinium, part of my perennial garden in the front yard.

From that little garden, I walked along the side of my house to where my neighbor has an interesting variety of plantings. These lilies face my side of our properties.

I’m not sure what kind these are but I found their color to be warm and inviting.

As you continue along the side of my yard and through the gate into the backyard, you’ll find my crazy concord grape vines. They’ve spread, with the help of birds I’m sure, from a little trellis they started on, up my house into the rain gutters and across into a bordering pine tree. At this point in the year, it is looking like it will be a plentiful grape season come September, if the birds don’t get them all first.

Another flash of color caught my eye as I continued into the backyard. Do you remember when I planted bee balm for the hummingbirds a couple years ago? I was starting to wonder if that plant was yet another victim of this past harsh winter, but a few small blooms have survived.

It is the time of the year for day lilies too. The bright orange of these flowers can be cheerful on the dreariest of days.

Well, I’ve finished my morning coffee, visited new blog posts from many of you, and enjoyed editing these flower photos in my Lightroom program. They seemed like the perfect shots for playing around with editing. I’ve got more to post about with Sunday’s little adventures – I’ll return later today with that post.

Summer Morning

Today’s theme, for Summer Day 5, is “Appreciating Morning”. I’m generally the first one up in my house, and I have come to appreciate that morning time as my quiet time to myself. When in school, I was up each school day at 5:45 am. Now that I can get up when I feel like it, I am still usually up no later than 7:00. Today was a gloriously beautiful morning – about 70 degrees and a cloudless sky -and my deck was just begging me to head outside with a cup of coffee, so I did.

While I soaked up some vitamin D and enjoyed my java, I took notice of the pretty light and that the flower containers I planted this year were actually looking pretty nice.

I even liked the way my newly painted purple toenails looked in the morning light!

Promised Peonies…. and a little more

My other favorite flower that I grow in the beds around my home are peonies.  I don’t get tons of them on my humble little bushes, but I get enough to enjoy.  Last Friday for school I even pressed one into service as a hair accessory; it was “Tropical Day” so a hot pink peony got to help me complete my look.  I didn’t think to take a selfie for y’all, but here are some photos from the following morning of some rain-kissed beauties in my yard.

After I took the peony photos, I decided to take a little wander around the yard to see what else might be blooming. I was glad I did. I reminded myself, quite literally, to stop and smell the roses.

I just loved the big ol’ water droplet hanging out on the petal here.

Some of the new perennials that I planted in my perennial bed last year are blooming too. Forgive me, I can’t remember their names.

And of course I can’t forget the crazy poppy:

How is your whimsical hunting coming along? Things have been busy around here lately and my own search for whimsy is not doing well. I’m considering extending the deadline a bit. I don’t think that would bother anyone would it?

They’re here!

I love that song, though I’m not sure why it is called “Iris”. However, I thought it an appropriate intro to today’s post!

They are blooming like gangbusters right now and I just love them. One of my favorite flowers, bearded irises.

And I think, my favorite shot from the bunch:

Peonies coming soon!

Hey Bud!

I mentioned in this post how bummed I was that I had barely any lilacs this spring. While that is still true, it appears as though my bearded irises are planning to make up for the lilac lack!

I’ve got lots of iris buds. I counted over 50 when I took these pictures!

I’m thrilled with the abundance of buds. They should be opening any day now. This blog will likely be flooded with their photos in the near future.

The peonies are budding too – and the ants have definitely found their way to that sweet scent.

I guess you can’t call them buds, but the vegetable garden is under way as well. Despite a minor injury to my ankle that I suffered at Zumba class Saturday morning, with some help and some bribery of the teenagers in my life it is all planted. I got my girls’ and daughter’s boyfriend to do the clearing away of last year’s garden debris. Then I was able to comfortably scoot around and do the actual planting.

This year I’ve planted 2 types of tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, jalepenos, cayennes, zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli and eggplant. I’ve never had a heck of a lot of luck with eggplant or bell peppers, but I decided to give them another try. Some little critter has already nibbled the leaves of the of one of the eggplant seedlings, so we’ll see what happens there.

I did plant all those annual flowers I showed you in my last post too. Those were mostly for containers, so that was easy, pleasant work.

I’ve been contemplating some kind of photo challenge too. As I told you at the beginning of the year (or technically at the end of last year) I’ve been trying to focus on the simple joys this year. There have been some rather trying events for both me and someone very close to me over the last couple weeks that, while I cannot discuss them here, have affected me deeply. They have left me feeling bereft of joy at times and attempting to seek it out wherever possible. I’d like to have a joy-themed photo hunt for June. It wouldn’t be a Karma kind of hunt if I just left it at that, though, would it? You awesome bloggers so often inspire me. Would you do me the favor of leaving some joyful comments or ideas or links? I think I could come up with just the thing with a little help from my friends!