We’ve just returned from a full week of traveling, bookmarked on each end with a graduation; one nephew’s college graduation and another nephew’s high school graduation (congrats to them both – I couldn’t be more proud!). The first part of the week found us in southern Missouri, south of Branson. With all the rain that has fallen (including while we were there), everything is a beautiful and lush green. The Ozark mountains were in their prime, and waterfalls were running full and fast. In other areas, flowers were in full bloom – iris and peonies, foxglove and phlox. We truly couldn’t have picked a better time for our trip. It was a great time to explore the area with its natural beauty – a wonderful relaxing time.
spring
Scent of lilacs
Not only has spring blossomed into our visual senses, but it has now spread its delightful scents throughout the air. With a few days of warming temperatures the lilacs quickly burst into bloom. How wonderful to be stopped in my tracks when their scent was being carried by the light breeze across the yard! To me, that is the true sign of spring’s arrival and the dismissal of the dark of winter.
The return of spring
Finally! The colors of spring have returned to our Minnesota landscape. The white of winter gave way to the brown, prior to the green of spring. And now the flowers have burst into bloom, adding their yellows and pinks. Not only has the landscape brightened, but peoples’ moods have been buoyed by the bright colors too. A bed of daffodils was showcased in front of a showy field of tulips — the best of spring all in one spot, and all blooming at the same time. When I was a child, we would make “baskets” out of colored construction paper, put flowers in them, and hang them on the doors of our neighbors to celebrate May Day. I’m intending this post as the present-day equivalent to my readers. Happy May and spring!
Spring’s light
In my longing for the colors of spring, I wandered into the McNeely Conservatory at Como Park. My spirits rose as I took in the colors and smells of our long-awaited season of spring – an array of lilies, tulips, ranunculus, and daffodils. Flowers the colors of the sun — the light of spring that we crave so much after the cold and white of winter. From underneath these tulips the light from above made them glow and shimmer – an ephemeral hint at their fragility and short-lived life in the transition between winter and summer.
Wind and ice
We made a day trip south to Faribault Minnesota yesterday. The day dawned with a dusting of snow, and a front moving through, prompting strong northerly winds up to 45 mph. Not a problem for driving south….As we were following along the southern shore of Cannon Lake, I was amazed at the whitecaps rolling across the water. I have never seen that much wind blowing over the open water. But then my eye caught the southern shoreline where the wind-blown waves were crashing. Because of the cold temperatures, the water was freezing along the trees and bushes. Everything was coated in ice, and even some of the icicles were leaning towards the south because of the incessant winds. As cold and windy as yesterday was, the pendulum of spring swung the other way today and we enjoyed sunshine and 60’s, with no signs of ice.
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