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Posts Tagged ‘spring’

Sunshine and Shadows

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This morning as my almost-three-year-old grandson was “fixing” the downspout with a pair of pliers, I passed along what I like about spring.

You don’t have to put on coats and scarves and boots and hats and mittens every time you go out. It’s warm and sunny. There are lots of flowers. The flowers smell good.

He didn’t say much, probably because he had already gotten me to smell a large, red tulip, and he was focused on his work.

Here are some spring pictures. Look closely to see the mural of a rabbit in the shadows at Olga’s, where our one-year-old grandson escorted us for brunch.

Help me identify the sprays of flowery branches? The only one I can say  for sure is the yellow forsythia. For the others, I will have to upload the photos at the website of the almost-three-year-old’s dad to get a crowd-sourced identification, Mister Smarty Plants. Do you think the pink spray is quince?

rabbit on wall at Olga's

brunch at Olga's

spray of white at bank

forsythia

could it be quince?

shadows on back door

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First May Day, Then Mother’s Day

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 17, 2013| 2 Comments »

Today’s mild weather reminds me that May Day and Mother’s Day aren’t far off. Mother’s Day is a highlight of the year at Luna & Stella, Suzanne’s lovely birthstone jewelry company, for which Suzanne’s Mom blogs.

I hope you know about May Day, too. I’d like to see it revived, the ancient custom of leaving flowers at people’s doors in honor of spring. (I don’t begrudge the workers of the world their version of May Day, but they shouldn’t hog the whole thing.)

Why don’t Girl Scout troops do May Day? Why don’t florists? It mystifies me.

I still remember a May basket I made as a kid from a punch-out book. I thought it was a thing of beauty and kept asking my mother to get me another book like that. But they stopped making them.

Now I work from scratch if I have time. Last year I blogged about one kind of a homemade basket, here.

It’s always a surprise to see what flowers are available on May 1 any given year. Since these are in my yard now, I suspect there will be different ones by  May.

small rhodadendron

blue scylla

andromeda

forsythia

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Maple Sugaring in the Suburbs

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on March 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

You know that spring is coming when there’s still daylight at Porter Square as the evening train arrives, when the chickadee changes its call from “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” to “hear me ” (listen), and when neighbors’ trees sprout sap-collecting cans.

My mother tried maple sugaring one year, but spent too much on stove gas to cook it down slowly.

Asakiyume, are you making maple syrup this year?

I will be looking for other signs of spring soon: motorcycles, lawnmowers, people washing cars in driveways, neighbors talking more, and the first crocus. But I already saw bluebirds. In the dead of winter, believe it or not. They were cleaning off the berries from the deciduous holly bushes. Astonishing!

maple sugaring in the burbs

maple sugaring

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Flowering

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on April 21, 2012| 12 Comments »

Today in Providence: spring, new growth. A nap with the scent of lilacs through the window is in order for us all.

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Weather

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on April 1, 2012| 4 Comments »

First it was 80 degrees, then it was 20.

Some flowering trees seemed to be OK with that. Others, not so much.

I was pretty confused myself. If all the spring flowers were going to bloom in March, what would be left for a May basket? I do like May baskets.

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