Pretty in Pink

I just love this time of the year - flowering cherries, plums, almonds, crab apples - they all have PINK blossoms - I especially like this tree in our back yard.








There are many of them in town along the streets and after the hard rain and winds that we have had for the last few days, there will be pink petals all over the place - looking like pink snow drifts.







Years ago when this tree was younger, there was a finch that would sit on the branches and pick off the flower buds one by one. I imagined that he was taking home a bouquet to his wife.







These are wild bleeding hearts - I don't think my domestic plant is blooming yet. The blossoms look like dancing ladies one way or ladies in their bloomers if you turn them upside down.







This adorable little lady was in the Easter basket that my Secret Pal from church dropped off at my office the Friday before Easter. There was a Lily of the Valley in bloom and lots of really good chocolate in the basket too. A Dor A Ble !!! Thank you Secret Pal!












This is the most perfect dogwood blossom. Actually the what we think of as pink petals are actually "bracts" and similar to the poinsettia, the flowers are the tightly closed part in the center, which will open up in a few days.





This lovely pink blossom is on our star magnolia is just a blush of pink. The pinks are rare and hard to find - but really pretty.

Violets in the chilly spring

Sometimes at church we do "secret pals" - you know the plan - send little treats, pretty cards, fun things to your secret pal over the one or two months time, then have a party and discover who everyone's secret pals were - it is quite fun - to shop for your secret pal, and at times like today, to have a special treat delivered to your office.

One of the lockshop guys walked into my office carrying a little pink gift bag. "Someone brought this for you" he said.

Inside was a little green straw basket holding a little pot of purple violets, (which are now adorning my desk) , a little card indicating it was from my "SP" and this sweet little poem from a book "Sing Song, a Nursery Rhyme Book" written before 1873!


"Oh wind, where have you been, that you blow so sweet?
Among the violets which blossom at your feet.

The honeysuckle waits for summer and for heat,
But violets in the chilly spring make the turf so sweet. "


Thank you to my secret pal - it was a bright spot in my day, and a reminder that even in these coldest of days, that spring will come.


MONI Update - The Shepherd brought her home from the hospital in her new green sweatshirt - she was very glad to see her girlfriends and proceeded to eat and eat. But we're not out of the woods yet - because it's so cold, and because Moni is confined to a small pen in the barn sp he can give her medication, the rest of the girls have also been locked in the barn (he also didn't want Moni to freak when everyone else left the barn for the pasture). They're not too happy about it, but I guess that's life when you're a sheep. They'll get out tomorrow - it's supposed to get up in the high 40's and be sunny all day. Yeah!