Last week for Helena’s meme, Pairs, I had three photos because I couldn’t choose. This week I have just one photograph with both bud and flower. I love the lilacs in Highland Park. They are just beginning to pop out, but I think I like them just as much when they are budding as when they are in full flower.
You really can’t tell the exact color the lilac will be from the bud which is a different hue. Both are lovely.
This might be the first ZIZO pair for the year. I’ve been trying to be more creative, but this just works when it’s flowering trees that are the focus. Monday I posted some photos from our walk in Highland Park on Sunday night. I saved these three (yes, one more than a pair because I couldn’t choose) for this week’s Pairs.
Zoom In:
Zoom Out:
Although most of the trees are labeled in the park, I neglected to note exactly what kind of flowering tree this is. Next time I’m there I’ll look. (Thanks to Cheri, I can tell you now that it’s a Kwanzan Cherry tree. She has one in her backyard–lucky lady!)
When I flipped my birthday calendar over to May, I was somewhat taken aback to see that I needed 12 birthday and anniversary cards, and only one or two appropriate ones in my file. I took some time off from Project Life and got busy. The first night, I grabbed a stack of scraps from my pile and die cut a whole group of “happys” with Papertrey Ink’s “Wet Paint” die.
Then I set to work designing some cards. I finished all twelve, but can’t post all of them yet, since some of the recipients read my blog regularly. Here are four–three are a variation on a theme.
All the cards are in their envelopes with the dates they need to be mailed, so today I’m back to working on Project Life. I don’t have many commitments this weekend, so even though tomorrow is May 1, I’m still plugging along, hoping to catch up soon!
One of the few flowers beside bulbs that can withstand the fickle spring weather in Western New York are the pansies. We really needed a shot of color on our stoop so we bought a few pots of pansies this weekend.
Here they are in the cart at The Garden Factory:
And in the baskets on our front stoop. (It’s too small to call a porch.)
I had some fun editing this photo on my iPhone with the new Enlight app. It’s a paid app, but I’m quite sure if I can figure it out, it will be well worth the money. For this photo, I used the “mask” tool which works much like Photoshop. I converted it to black and white and masked the flowers so they would remain in color.
I’m linking this to Helena’s weekly meme: Pairs.
I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. It was a bright, sunny day so I asked Tracy to drop me off at the doctor’s office so I could walk home. I hoped I would find some inspiration for Pairs since I hadn’t prepared anything in advance. It’s just beginning to look like spring might arrive here. There are a few snowdrops, some tiny yellow flowers, and crocus. We’ve never had crocus in our yard, but have decided that will change next year. We’re planning to plant bulbs under both of the trees in our front yard. I just love them. I walked by some pretty purple ones under a tree, and then about three threes ahead there was another group of three. The first ones were open and the second group was closed. Here they are:
Another block or so down the street, I came to this cluster. They seem to be a smaller variety, but what caught my attention was the wonderful backlight.
You can find other Pairs at Helena’s blog here. Today she has a beautiful pair of bright yellow flowers.
We’ve been home from Chicago for a couple of days, but didn’t leave until after church on Easter Sunday. Grandpa is the ultimate scavenger hunt creator for the Easter Bunny. Years ago, when our two kids were teenagers we were vacationing on Easter Sunday. I had taken Easter basket goodies with me and Tracy hid the baskets. When the kids got up, they wanted to know where the clues were. When Tracy told them we didn’t have a scavenger hunt this year, they sat down, and said, “We’ll wait!” So they did, and Tracy created a hunt for them.
Sarah and I found little bunny prints at Party City, and all the clues for Caleb were photographs of familiar places around the house. The hunt took him to several rooms, the pantry, and finally the basement where he found his Easter basket in the dryer.
Seek and Find
After church, Sarah’s church hosted an Easter egg hunt. Caleb had a grand time.
As always, I’m linking up to Helena’s fine meme, Pairs. You can see the others right here.
We’ve had several nice warm days in Chicago. The crocus are blooming in Sarah’s backyard, and on our walk to the playground yesterday afternoon we spotted several robins hopping about in yards, and lots of daffodils and tulips pushing up through the ground. Sarah and Adam live just a short walk from a wonderful school playground which has a section designed just for younger children. Caleb loves to go, and his favorite activity is the swing. I did a series of Burst photos on the iPhone and thought Back and Forth would make a good pair for this week.
As always, our time here has flown by, and we just have two more full days before we head home. Today it’s cloudy, but the forecast for tomorrow and Easter Sunday looks lovely! (The forecast for home, however, is not anywhere nearly as lovely when we return. Good thing I have lots of inside work to do!)
The last day we were in Florida, we went to visit Selby Gardens in Sarasota. One of the things I enjoy doing in a botanical garden is to look for pattern and light. Once I found one of these pairs, I started looking for others. I’m not sure which label works best for these three pairs, what do you think?
Sometimes both sides of a plant or flower are beautiful! I’ll have more to share about our visit to Selby once I get time to edit the rest of the photos. I’m linking up to Helena’s meme and off to see what other pairs were posted this week.
One of the top items on our To Do list for this vacation was to visit The Ringling Museum. We spent the afternoon at the Circus Museum, and walked down to Ca’D’Zan, the Ringling mansion but never made it to the art museum which we know is fabulous. Obviously, we’ll need to come back to Sarasota another time to visit the art museum and go on the house tour.
I’ll have more on this excursion when I do my vacation recap, but on our walk from the Circus Museum to the mansion we passed a grove of banyan trees. They never fail to amaze me and I thought a look up and down (or more appropriately “high” and “low”) would make for a good pair for Helena’s meme.
And then we discovered this hiding among the roots of another banyan tree.
Off to check out the other Pairs at Helena’s.
One of the great pleasures of being on the beach are morning and evening walks. Although I took my DSLR on one walk, most photos are taken with my iPhone which I always have with me. These are both iPhone photos.
Now that we’re on Daylight Savings Time, the sun doesn’t come up as early. On this morning we were walking before the sun came over the horizon.
Last night after the sun had slipped past the horizon.
Linking up to Helena’s meme, Pairs. Check them out.
I’m late posting my Pairs for Helena’s meme this week, but intentionally so. I took a photo on Wednesday morning as we pulled out of the driveway, and one again this morning, our first on Longboat Key. I was pretty sure the contrast would be striking.
Let me just say, I’m happy to be in the South for two weeks, and I’m pretty sure the piles of snow won’t have melted completely by the time we return.
Two posts in one day is unusual, but I’m already a day late for Helena’s wonderful Pairs meme. Those of you that have been following me through several winters know I rely on grocery store flowers to get some early spring into the house. Trader Joe’s had bunches of daffodils this week for $1.49. Grabbing two bunches of them was a no brainer.
I’ve been fascinated with all the different pairs that have shown up on Helena’s blog. I keep meaning to make a list so when I’m at a loss for a pair, I can channel someone else’s genius.
I have three pairs to share with you today for Helena’s wonderful meme. Yesterday afternoon Adam’s parents, Tracy, and I spent the afternoon at The George Eastman House. After we saw the new exhibit on Technicolor, we took a tour of the mansion. Luckily, it was one of my very good friends who was our docent, so we got a great tour. Every year, the Eastman House is filled with Dutch bulbs. George Eastman had three greenhouses and from November to April each year, he had wonderful Dutch bulbs blooming in his home. Excellent records were kept, so the staff at The Eastman House knows what kind of bulbs he ordered. Rather than have a few bulbs over many months, they flood the house with gorgeous blooms from the middle of February to the first of March. Needless to say, the residents of Rochester are very grateful for a breath of spring during our long winter—this year in particular!
Outside and Inside:
Upstairs and Downstairs:
Zoom In, Zoom Out:
This is just a glimpse of the gorgeous flowers we saw, and the exhibit on the development of Technicolor was also wonderful.
Although it was quite unexpected, I ended up with a new car today. It turned out I could move up to the nicest of the Subaru Foresters for less money/month than I was currently paying for my older Forester. It was a no brainer, and it’s the nicest car I’ve ever had. It’s also the very first car with automatic transmission. It’s going to be awhile before I stop thinking I should downshift when I come to a stop!
The dealership had some Valentine’s Day decorations on the windows, so it seemed like the perfect spot for the outside photo.
I’ve owned a Subaru for years, now. After the first winter with All-Wheel drive, I knew I’d never go back. I’ve also relied on the five-speed in bad weather as well, but Matt tells me I’ll have no problem. He moved to an automatic last year, since Betsy didn’t drive a standard transmission. It won’t be long before I’ll be able to test it out. More snow is on the way tomorrow. I hope there’s not too much because Sarah, Adam, and Caleb are headed here from Chicago tomorrow.
The initial forecast for Rochester was that the heavy snows crossing the Midwest would travel south of us, so we were rather surprised to discover Sunday evening that it was expected to move north and come right through here. Indeed, it did. It’s not the heaviest snowstorm recorded here, but it closed the schools, and many businesses as well. Tracy and I stayed at home all day Monday. I only ventured out to take a few photos.
This is what it looked like during the day. This is my neighbor who was snow-blowing his driveway for the second time.
And this was the scene early Tuesday morning after the storm.
And I’ll share one other photo, one I took Monday night after the snow had stopped, and Tracy went out to clear our driveway. The icicles were amazing.
I’m linking up with Helena’s wonderful meme: Pairs.