Our warm sunny weather turned to mist and clouds yesterday morning, reminding me of my days living in the Pacific Northwest. The dampness of the mist and rain held all the wonderful scents of late spring in the air. I wandered our yard, enjoying the smells of the peonies and roses. As I rounded a corner, I got a hint of orange. Our mock orange bush has been flush with blossoms and is nearing the end of its bloom. Although its colors aren’t as bright and showy as the peonies and roses, the white glimmered amidst the spring green under the gray skies. Its delicate petals will fall for a few more days, and the green leaves will remain until next spring when we can once again marvel at its short burst of white blossoms and delicate smell.
spring
White lilacs
We’re fortunate to have both purple and white lilacs surrounding our yard. With some recent rain and higher humidity levels the air has been heavy with the sweet smell of the lilacs. Knowing how short-lived their blossoms are, I cut some and brought into the house. This old pink hobnail glass pitcher that had been my mother’s seems the perfect vessel to hold them and let them release their fragrance throughout the house.
Another sighting of spring
Spring has blossomed quickly in the Twin Cities. Leaves have budded and opened, the grass is green, tulips are in bloom, people are out and about working in their yards and soaking up the sunshine. We even have been serenaded by the returning sound of lawn mowers. I happened upon another spring sighting yesterday when I saw a mother duck with her nine ducklings at a small pond. As she sat on the shoreline, a couple of the ducklings ventured far and wide in the pond, darting right and then left, snapping up bugs wherever they found them. Their erratic behavior made them a photographic challenge, but I found myself smiling and enjoying their playfulness and energy.
Ladies weekend
A sure cure for stress is a weekend trip to a lake up north. Add in a group of wonderful friends and a cabin on a lake and everyone comes away in better spirits. It was ladies weekend on Lake Mary, south of Alexandria. We got out of our cars on Friday night, walked into the cabin and left our stress behind. From then on it was relaxing, laughing, resting, and sharing — it was decompression of the best kind. Throw in a beautiful sunset with the slightest of water ripple near the shore, a sky full of twinkling stars, a deck overlooking the lake with the warmth of the sun on our backs, and wonderful conversation; five friends found it hard to pull ourselves away today to return to the cities and our upcoming Monday.
Pasque flowers
Snow last Thursday, followed by 65 degrees and sunshine — it all provided moisture and then warmth for the early blooming wildflowers in Minnesota. Amidst a gravel prairie about 50 miles from the Twin Cities is a place where pasque flowers are abundant. And if your timing is good, the entire prairie is filled with these small diminutive flowers. Only two to five inches tall, they are hard to notice from a distance, but it becomes quite magical when you see an entire hillside covered by these flowers. With the warmth of the spring sun, and the golden colors of the late evening, we spent a wonderful few hours amongst the pasque flowers.
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