Our weekend was a two-night road trip south to Iowa for softball. My niece plays for the Baker University Wildcats (from Baldwin, Kansas) and they were playing games in Dubuque and Cedar Rapids; a perfect excuse for a beautiful spring weekend escape from the north. Today’s games were against the Mount Mercy Mustangs of Cedar Rapids. With excitement in both games, the Wildcats won the first game and the home-town Mustangs won the second game. But the weekend also gave us a chance to explore some areas of Wisconsin and Iowa we hadn’t seen before, and also the chance to catch up with family. A whirlwind trip, but so very worth it!
spring
Pasque flowers on the prairie
Yesterday I drove south from the Twin Cities with a photographer friend in search of pasque flowers. The weather was unusually warm, the sunshine was bright, and it was good to catch up with my friend. We arrived at this gravel prairie area and were at first disappointed thinking the flowers were not in bloom yet. But as we looked more closely we could see peeks of flowers amidst the dry prairie grasses. The pasque flowers are only three to four inches tall, so they can easily hide. They start out as little fuzz balls (of which we saw many) and gradually open their petals to the warmth of the sun. Although there will be a larger and showier display with more flowers blooming in the days ahead, it was a delightful evening and a reminder of all the good things that come with spring.
Tulip time!
It’s tulip time – perhaps in the temperate Skagit Valley of Washington, or in the states to the south of me. But in Minnesota the ground has just thawed and there hasn’t been enough warmth for any bulbs to force through the still cool soil. Yet with the help of a nearby florist, we can enjoy the scents and colors of the spring to come. These tulips have brightened my world every day this past week and given me the promise of spring – perhaps just around the corner.
Hope
Webster’s dictionary defines hope as wanting something to happen or be true. So it is with spring this year. We “hope” for sunshine, warmer temperatures, the bright colors of flowers. We “hope” that the passing days bring longer hours of sunshine. And yet Mother Nature has alternative plans. This week we rode a roller coaster through snow and strong winds, rain, and the promise of warmer air. Through it all we strive to embrace what it is, just as these runners ran through a deserted Como Park having the trails and snow to themselves in this once-again wintry landscape.
A quick fix for winter’s doldrums
We’re languishing still in winter – short days, colder than normal temperatures, gray skies, brown ground. This beautiful splash of purple iris caught my eye at the store last week. Flowers! Color! Spring! – all in one compact bouquet. It was an instant “shot” of what I needed. The promise of spring is still ahead; yes, there will be blue skies, sunshine, the scents of spring, and the colors of flowers – somewhere ahead of the snow expected later today.
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