OOh, long time no see!

 The dogwood trees are in bloom, except for mine. It's a hybrid of some kind and we put it in last year and so far no blooms. I can't wait to see what it'll look like once it does have some, in who knows how many years. It's kind of sad looking now. This lovely bloom is on the tree in N & J's front yard.

 We're so happy spring is here. I love all the little flowers that are popping up.

 What are these? Are they primrose? They're in my back garden but I have no idea what they are. I do like them, however.

 Passover was a busy week for us. M arrived from the north and C and L arrived from the west.

 We had a terrific time, with lots of cooking and eating involved. We even "invented" a dessert using chocolate covered matzah. We came up with Matzahmisu, get it? Like Tiramisu! The recipe is HERE on my recipe blog.

We were so sad when everyone left to return home. It was such fun!

 The annual Monument Avenue Easter Parade was perfect this year. The weather was sunny but not too hot. People dressed up or not, and strolled up one side and down the other of Monument Avenue. I caught this mother-daughter duo from behind. They were so colorful and the little girl was so cute with her very tall Easter chapeau.

There were food and beverage tents, crafts, and hats for sale, and games for the kids.

 At each end of the parade there was live music.

The crowd was estimated at 25,000 people!  And it felt like that at times.

Dogs, rabbits, and even a pig, wore bonnets. Not sure any of them like it, but it was cute to see. There was a person dressed as a bunny giving out candy and posing for photos. It was a happy looking bunny so the children weren't freaked out.

Someone set up this darling bunny tea party on their tiny front lawn.
Across the street, a couple of children set up a lemonade and cupcake stand and were doing a brisk business.

A lovely start to spring. Yay!

Mail Art for Passover, today #139 series.

 Happy Passover to those who observe it, Happy Easter to those who observe it, and happy spring for all of us.

Some more spring and more.

Here are some cell phone photos of flowers, the daffodils around the corner, the Iris in my alley, the azalea in my back garden...the flowers are flowering! The trees are leafing and are depositing a green dusting on everything, as is their way during spring. We come back from walking and feel like WE're covered in green dust.
the two pups in the door way were watching us the other night as we were leaving a restuarant, getting into our car. They were so puffy cute.
I've included the empty space because it's so odd for me to see this. In all the years I've lived here, there's been a huge bus "barn" filled with all the city buses. They've moved out to a new location and left these big empty buildings. So odd to see this. We don't know what will be built there, we're hoping for an urban Target (small department type store like MonoPrix in France)but probably it'll be condos! Oh well. NO one asked my opinion. I'm off to Los Angeles, again, to give my sister a brief break from Mom caregiving. More L.A. images to come.

Spring came and went.....

We had spring (meaning warmer temps) for a few days then a storm came through, not a torrential rain, but rather a light spring rain. However, it brought colder temperatures with it. I took a walk with my old dog around a few streets and alleyways. Flowering trees are flowering. Here are a few images from my walk. Plus, the tree in our back yard/garden is full of pink blossoms this year, many of which have fallen because of the wind, carpeting our yard with petals. This is lovely to see for awhile, then they become slippery and difficult to rake up. We think our neighbors aren't so enamored of our tree, since they, too, end up with a carpet of pink. During the snow and freezing temperatures, the cement of our bottom step turned to sand. We were able to have it repaired during one of our mild days. Right now it's drying under plastic wrap to keep the drizzle off of it. My honey took advantage of the warmer temps to water the front rock garden. Look how well the rocks are doing! And the plants, of course.
Happily, warm weather is on it's way again, in fact, very warm weather. Next weekend, when we gather to celebrate Passover and walk the local Easter promenade, it'll be 80F/28C. Bring out the sundresses and shorts and Easter bonnets!

Spring time & Elflog update

I'm in love with spring-time. This year seems especially flowery to me. Did I miss this last year? In any case, I'm enjoying walking in my neighborhood and seeing all of the flowering trees and tulips. The shelf was adorned with a flower, too. The pink and white dogwood trees are in abundance, as are azaleas. One nearby yard had lots of new bushes in the front yard, white blossoms with a hint of pink. At some point, the yard will be one big mound of blossoms. I can't wait to see that!

Spring in Richmond

My dog and I enjoyed seeing all the flowers on our walk the other day. Huge purple irises planted by an apartment building, a single yellow tulip in my neighbors' yard, big pink blooms on the...oops, forgot the name of the flower, on the bush at the end of the alley, my deep fuschia azalea bush in the back yard, which I trimmed back a lot last fall and now has bigger blossoms, though I'm not sure I did the pruning correctly. It's raining really hard today, with thunder and lightening earlier, I think the blossoms will either be very bruised or even better looking next time I'm out on a walk.