Mother's Day Flowers

Easter on Bainbridge Island

Mount Rainier, yesterday on the ferry en route to Bainbridge.  I would love to take credit but the Sweetie took this one.  For scale, there is a tiny, tiny sailboat in the foreground.

It was a stunning day today.  Warm.  For the first time this year I didn't need a jacket to go outside.  And sunny.

Looking over to Seattle.

Low tide

See the bee?  No rest for him today.

Not everything is in bloom

Flowering Quince

I love the lacy effect of lichen in the Northwest

 This is why we put up with months of rain.  Happy Easter everyone!

New Spring PJ's

Sometimes, in the spring I get the urge for new jammies. 

This is a pattern from Butterick (3314) I have used many times in the past.

I found a super cute fabric at the store, and some grosgrain ribbon.  Seriously, isn't it cute.

And I added some really cute trim on the bottom of each leg.

 And ta dah!  A pair of spring jammies.  So, even though we were still getting snow flurries last week, I have something bright and flowery to let me know spring and summer are right around the corner.  Really.

Abortetum

The Sweetie and I played hookie yesterday afternoon and went to the Arboretum.  I didn't really play hookie.  I have this week off work.

It was a glorious afternoon.  It was still in the 50's but there was a hint of warmth in the air that led me to believe we might not be wearing a winter coat and scarf in July.  The sun was out, there was more blue sky than clouds.  The clouds were white and fluffy, not grey and heavy with rain.  The sky was soo blue.  It seems such a long time since we have seen so much blue.

Here are some pics from our afternoon.

The Sweetie took this one.  Even the weeds are charming.

Spring Magic

For me there are several signs to indicate spring is on the way.

When the garden starts so show signs of life.  This includes when the witch hazel blooms.  But that's so early that I don't really consider it spring.  It's just heralding that winter may be on it's way out - in six weeks or so.  But when the forsythia blooms, now that's a sign that spring is on its way here in the Northwest.  The shot of bright yellow on a mature bush covered in blooms, feels like sunshine on even the most gray and rainy days.  I even saw two evergreen clematis in bloom yesterday - their creamy white flowers gracefully draping a fence.  Gorgeous.

When you can begin to smell things again.  I grew up in the Midwest.  C O L D winters.  I noticed outside smells disappear when it's cold.  In the spring, the rain has a different smell, the earth has a smell, and the first spring blooms have a smell.  To me it's the smell of hope and new things.

When the birds wake you rather than the alarm clock.  This is one of my favorites.  We are not quite there yet, but it's only a matter of a couple weeks.

When the neighbor kids come out of hibernation.  This is my favorite.  There is one magic day each spring when you see kids again.  A day where parents didn't send them outside, they went out on their own.  Here, that magic day was yesterday.  The time change means that it's light until 7 pm - not dark already by late afternoon.  It was forecast to rain, complete with thunder, but didn't.  The sun was in and out of the clouds instead.  And in the late afternoon, before dinner, there were a half dozen kids outside playing.  (Dinner, here, means the evening meal.  Not lunch. But I digress...)

When the kidlet was little, this was a boys neighborhood.  All boys and only one girl.  Spring games usually involved some sort of made up ball game in the street.  It's become a girls neighborhood over the past few years, with only two very young boys.  Now, its sidewalk chalk and hopscotch.  Yes.  Hopscotch.

It doesn't really matter the type of games.  Or if it's a boy neighborhood or a girl neighborhood.  The sound of them playing again - outside - is like having the birds rather than the alarm clock wake you up.