Spring is finally here!!!

Spring is slow to come here in Massachusetts. After living in DC, where it's in the 60s and 70s by February at times, it feels like spring will never get to Gloucester! But we had a gorgeous weekend and the flowers are blooming. Kurt and I spent most of the weekend working in the garden at home, and in our community garden plot, and had a blast. Here are a few pictures of our new blooms.

This one is a passionflower. I watered this plant all winter, but thought for sure I was watering a dead plant. But not only did we have one flower on the plant this weekend, we had two! Aren't they beautiful???

We have a couple hyacinth coming up in the garden, along with tulips and a bush that's full of these little white bells. Anyone know what they're called?

Isn't that the most beautiful purply blue you've ever seen? Only nature can make something that breathtaking!

More Azaleas

We went for a walk last night after dinner and I was able to get some pictures of the beautiful Azaleas in my neighborhood. Just look at all the colors!


There were some funky flowers too that I had never seen before:

And tulips of all colors!

I love this orange one:The Redbud and Dogwood trees were also very beautiful!



Springtime in DC. It doesn't last very long, but my gosh is it beautiful!

Azaleas

This is a picture from the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum's website. It's here in DC and they have beautiful Bonsai trees. This one in particular caught my attention because right now the Azalea bushes are blooming like crazy all over DC. Unfortunately, I haven't been out with my camera to capture all those colors, but I'm hoping to have some time this weekend. Maybe... What with packing and getting ready for the move to Boston on Monday, we're very busy!

When we lived in Japan, we would always go see the Azalea bushes on top of Mt. Takine in the town my husband taught at. The entire mountaintop is COVERED with bushes that all bloom at the same time. It is spectacular! You could see the pink mountaintop from miles away. OH! Japan is a truly breathtaking country, it really is. Their respect and admiration for the beauty of nature is exactly what I wish we had in the United States. Maybe someday...

Hope you are all having equally beautiful springs! :)

Sleepy cold Monday

It's cold. Really cold here. Cold as in "it was 80 degrees last week and now it's 40 degrees" cold.

So here are some pictures to remind you of the weather to come:

Sun-hot leaves...


Doggies who ask to go out and then ask to come in and then ask to go out and then ask to come in and then...you get the picture!

Babies on trees...

You can almost feel the heat of the sun, can't you? I can't wait!!

Textile Museum

Went to the Textile Museum last weekend. There was a Magnolia tree right outside of the Museum. It was gorgeous! DC is really blooming! I can even smell the flowers and I've got practically no sense of smell! It's amazing.
The Textile Museum was founded in 1925, at which time you could only go with an appointment (lah-dee-dah :P). After the founder's death, however, this all changed and the number of visitors skyrocketed from several hundred annually to tens of thousands! That sounds much better, doesn't it?
The current exhibition is called "Red." My favorite pieces included this GORGEOUS dress with the off center neckline. (Excuse the dark photos. I refrained from using the flash in respect for the older pieces).

Another piece I really liked was this blanket. I loved the colors and the geometric shapes. That would look great on a bed, wouldn't it? There's a better picture here.

There was also a Berber headscarf that was very very cool. There was a "before" and "after" headscarf. When a girl enters adulthood, she is woven a cotton and wool headscarf that is primarily white (before). When she gets married, that same headscarf is dyed in a way that only the wool takes the dye, not the cotton (after). The headscarf is completely transformed! The dye reveals a gorgeous hidden pattern made with the cotton by the weaver. Absolutely spectacular!

It was a really fun day. And since it was so nice out, I was happy to be out and about enjoying spring in DC, which usually lasts a couple of weeks anyway before it gets SWELTERING.

Farmer's Market

This was a fun weekend. On Saturday we went to the zoo, which was my first time, but of course the battery in my camera died so I have no pictures of the cute baby panda. Bummer. On Sunday, however, we went to the farmer's market at Dupont Circle and that was a whole lot of fun. The flowers were GORGEOUS, but since we were going to be out for the day, I couldn't buy any without having them wilt on me before getting home. Here are a few pictures:

This last one is the coolest. I forget the name (of course, I'm horrible with names!), but it's gorgeous and has that huge bulb sticking out of the soil. I'll have to get one of these soon!

Also at the farmer's market was this awesome French bakery, where we bought almond croissants. They were huuuuge and FULL of yummy, oh so yummy, calories. We ate one each at around 10:30am and weren't hungry again until dinner time. Now that's what I call filling calories! :) We ate them too fast to take a picture, but I promise to take one next time to make you all jealous! :P