blue and yellow

Saturday's pure blue sky was a treat! While I tend to like a sky painted with interesting clouds, I love this uncluttered blue (sky) background highlighting the bright yellow of forsythia in bloom.

subtle clouds

After the morning's rain the sky was painted in clouds, providing a perfect canvas for reflections.

a beautiful day

What a beautiful day! There was a bit of a chill in the morning. That quickly disappeared to bring on a bit of warmth. It was a good day for walking and for wandering to find flowers.

peeking out

A tiny flower in pink peeks out from behind a blade of grass.

hands

As I was heading to the Stevens-Coolidge Place yesterday morning I passed a home that had a display of paper hands on sticks colored in shades of purple.

Do they mean something? Did someone plant these odd "flowers" as a gift? They definitely caught my eye; I headed back there later in the day to capture a memory.

first tulips

While most of the garden is still wearing only tiny early-spring flowers, tulips have just started to pop.

These are the first tulips of the many I expect I will see this spring.

bare skin

There was warmth in the air today. It was a good first "bare skin" day of the season; I was very comfortable walking wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

The day felt like spring edging into summer. Happy...

pretty in pink

An afternoon walk at Maudslay State Park gave me an early view of azalea in bloom.

While most of the azalea I walked by were not close to blooming there were several that shouted "I'm pretty in pink".

tiny

Only the tiniest flowers are in bloom in gardens near me.

I just wandered through a photo gallery of flowers from last spring; by this day last April there were tulips standing tall. This year's snowy March and cold April seems to have delayed the larger flowers. Gardens are currently showing crocus, chionodoxa, snowdrops, snowflakes, and scilla, all hugging the ground.

The low-lying color is wonderful; it appears we need to wait longer for the taller flowers.

chionodoxa, also know as glory of the snow

Oh

As I wandered around some of the old mill buildings in Lawrence I came upon an entry wearing a painted sign. The word "Oh" doesn't provide even a small clue to me.

I wonder what is inside...

chill air

There was a chill in the air and the wind was howling, but there was also blue in the sky.

It was a pretty day, with the forecast calling for warmer days ahead.

inland along the NH coast, near Rye Harbor

in the wind

Wind sweeps across the ground creating movement in a field of crocus.

purple

Only the tiniest flowers are in bloom right now. After yesterday's heavy rain I was somewhat surprised to see crocus still standing today.

Purple is the color of the day.

wet

Today's forecast called for heavy rain, and rain it did!

I hoped to get in a decent exercise walk after my pilates class this morning but a combination of heavy rain, wind, and temperatures still hovering in the 30s convinced me to stay in.

I read.
I watched some of the elite and wheelchair finishers in the Boston Marathon.
I made a big pot of soup.
I listened to the rain hitting the windows.
I relaxed.

When the sound of wind and rain diminished at around 5 PM I looked outside. The rain had changed from heavy to light and I was itching for some outside time. I quickly donned my exercise gear and headed out. The rain was light, then it stopped for a bit. It changed, the rain becoming heavy and the wind howling. Home again... my running shoes are stuffed with newspaper, clothing layers are hanging to dry. Everything should be ready when I need my shoes and layers tomorrow morning.

It was a good day.

spring snowflake

Yesterday I walked at Maudslay State Park with a goal of finding flowers in bloom. There was a hillside behind one of the garden walls that was covered with tiny white flowers tipped in yellow. According to Wikipedia these flowers are in the Amaryllis family and are known as snowflakes.

I think I like this kind of snow!

old word, current world

An article in yesterday's Washington Post caught my eye this morning. The title: "Kakistocracy, a 374-year-old word that means ‘government by the worst,’ just broke the dictionary".

Hmm... It's an old word, one I don't remember hearing before. The "run" on the word started with a tweet by former CIA director John O. Brennan directed at the president. According to Meriam-Webster:

"Kakistocracy was among our top lookups on April 13th, 2018, rising 13,700% after its appearance in a tweet by former CIA Director John O. Brennan."

The definitions of kakistocracy that I found were variations on a theme.

Merriam-Webster: "government by the worst people"

Wikipedia: "A kakistocracy is a system of government which is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens. The word was coined as early as the 17th century."

The word fits.

dreamy

A crocus in purple paints a dreamy picture.

a beach owned by birds

With the temperature edging into the 50s it felt like a good day to head to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. The entire beach in the refuge closed on April 1st for the piping plover nesting season but there are plenty of places to wander on the inland side of the island.

My first stop was the Stage Island Trail, a good walk on a trail that was opened last summer.

Feeling the need for a beach walk, I headed to the Sandy Point State Reservation at the tip of the island. While piping plovers nest at Sandy Point as well as in the wildlife refuge, people are allowed to walk in the state park during nesting season.

As I walked onto the beach I saw very large warning signs at the southern edge of the refuge.

In spite of the signs I saw a man, a woman, and a child walking the beach in the refuge. Not happy seeing their intrusion into the bird's space, I called to them, telling them that the beach was closed. The man and child immediately walked out of the restricted area. The woman turned around but continued her wanders in the restricted space, slowly walking toward the refuge boundary. She eventually said that she heard me and that she forgot that the beach was closed. Interesting. In order to get on the beach she had to walk by these very large signs. Forgot? I don't think so!

I headed south into Sandy Point, walking through a rock-strewn section of the beach before emerging onto smooth sand for a calming walk.

early

With continued cold temperatures only the tiniest flowers are showing their colors. These chionodoxa (also known as glory-of-the-snow) provide a nice splash of light violet.

blue sky

The air is still chilly and the sky was clear. I headed to Harold Parker State Forest this afternoon to check the state of the trails. As expected, there were large pools of water in place, some in the woods, some across the trails.

I managed a short wander with dry feet.

two gardens

Quick visits to Chanticleer and Jenkins Arboretum last week allowed me to enjoy some early blooming flowers. The location 300+ miles to the southwest from my home in Massachusetts has a slightly earlier entry to spring, as seen in the colors splashed through the gardens.

More flowers can be seen in the gallery two gardens :: 2018.

crocus

Fingers crossed, I headed to the Stevens-Coolidge Place this morning to see if any tiny flowers are in bloom. There is a field under the spreading branches of a large tree that often houses crocus in early spring. When I checked a week and a half ago the field was still covered in snow. Today there were a few crocus popping up.

mirrored

Clear water in a pond at Jenkins Arboretum serves as a perfect mirror.

curves

The curving petals of a flower create a portrait in purple.

a taste of spring

This morning it felt right to go look for spring flowers so I headed to Chanticleer to see what was in bloom. Color spread across the grass, patches of tiny flowers in purples and pinks brightening the landscape.

In addition to the tiny ground flowers I saw daffodils - some open, some not - and miniature iris and tulips. Most of the flowers were in the ground but some were planted in hanging gardens.

Today was a flower day; tomorrow may bring snow.