A Taste of Spring…

For many years a friend and I would brave the crowds at the New England Flower show in Boston.  We would leave early, plan on having our packed lunches at the show during a lecture, and head home before rush hour.  It was pretty sad when the show was no longer produced.  Happily, for the last few years there has been a much smaller but much closer annual flower show in Providence…the Rhode Island Flower & Garden Show.  This year its theme was “Gardening with Heart” and for the second time my eldest and I took my grandchildren for an early look at spring. 

It was a fun thing to do on a rainy Friday… Mr J and Miss E enjoyed looking out at the traffic as much as the flowers…

Miss E wanted me to take a picture of her smelling every pink flower she passed…

There were hearts everywhere this year…

…including at the sand sculpture where we watched the sculptors forming the castle of Heartland…

The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society is always one of my favorite displays…it  looks the closest to my backyard…

They didn’t last long at the show before tiring but someday I hope they will remember going and seeing spring blooming indoors…

After the kids left I stayed and met Mr O…so I did get a chance to check out the shops and practice taking photos with the 50mm lens which is so great in low light…

Outside a mock greenhouse/office…one of my favorite vignettes…

And inside the mock greenhouse/office…I would love this at my house, including the yellow door…

As always, the garden club displays were fun…How can you not love this bathing suit floral arrangement!

We may be half way through March but I visited the flower show in February and I have been meaning to share this poem since February…it is almost spring but it is still appropriate here in RI…

 

February: Thinking of Flowers

Now wind torments the field,
turning the white surface back
on itself, back and back on itself,
like an animal licking a wound.

 
Nothing but white--the air, the light;
only one brown milkweed pod
bobbing in the gully, smallest
brown boat on the immense tide.

 
A single green sprouting thing
would restore me. . . .

Then think of the tall delphinium,
swaying, or the bee when it comes
to the tongue of the burgundy lily.

Jane Kenyon

Ta Da!

 

First, I wrote out the names and put them in the bowl…

…then Miss E agreed to pull out a name…As you can see Mr J wanted to get in on the action too.

Finally, Miss E held out the name slip …

…and we had the name of the new owner of the Charlie Brown hand mitts!   I was glad that Cinner of  THINGS ABOUT WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, AND WHY would be the recipient when I read in her blog that the temperature had hit 40 below where she lives!  Cinner, please contact me with your address!

All you need…

On the  second day I already had difficulty finding the time and creativity to come up with something for the Picture the Holidays prompt.  Today was different…I still watch my grandchildren on Fridays and it remains one of my favorite days…full of love and joy.  I didn’t have much trouble coming up with a photo for the prompt “All you need is love”.  I did have trouble getting any photos in focus…they still move too fast for me and my camera.

I rather like the slightly out of focus look here though.  Mr J tried very hard to display that sandwich at just the right angle…he was much more patient than I thought he would be. 

Apple Season…

Apple picking is always a good photo opportunity…what is more beautiful than grandchildren and apples…

 

…and apple cake?

At the Fair…

Recently my grandchildren have been enjoying the book Angelina at the Fair  that was given to their Aunt E in 1986.   It is inscribed “Happy 4th Birthday E!  We’ll be going to the fair soon – Just like Angelina!”.  The story concerns an adventurous mouse who takes a younger cousin to a fair where they go on a ferris wheel, a roller coaster, and a Haunted House before the little cousin gets lost.  

Maybe because of this story, when he heard that we were going to the North Stonington Fair Mr J immediately was interested in riding the ferris wheel. 

It was difficult sitting through dinner…

The animals were a little more fun…

 

Dels Frozen Lemonade was enjoyed…

Ribbons were earned for being good farmers…

That ferris wheel was always within sight…

And finally we were there…

He wasn’t frightened at all…

We could see Mom and Miss E waving from the train…

Unlike her brother, Miss E really didn’t like the rides…

Mr O got some great shots of us on the roller coaster…

I like roller coasters and now have someone who will go on them with me…

Miss E did not want any help catching this fish…

Before we left the fair Mr J got to go on a pony ride…

I have been going to county fairs since I was in a 4H club showing my rabbit.  It was nice to return with grandchildren and to remember how hot, dusty, and fun it had been.

Playing with Water…

…remains one of the simple pleasures of life here on a summery day…

A wading pool…

or soap bubble blasters…

 

 

or watering cans…

all help to keep grandchildren cool and happy.

Looking at things from different points of view today…

Watermelon Days…

We have been enjoying watermelon here in Arcadia….

I created this diptych  for CBC’s word prompt “Picnic”.  It was the first time I made one in Photoshop and I will not admit how long it took me to figure it out… That white cup under Mr J’s arm is annoying me but I find those watermelon juice lines and his little smile in the shadows precious. 

Am I the only one that misses the seeds and thinks that the old seedfull watermelons were sweeter even if slightly annoying?   How will children ever learn about seed spitting contests?   Also, I find it interesting that we are now notified that we may find an occasional seed even as we are learning that we may be reducing our risk of heart disease.  I admit that I investigated www. watermelon.org., and while I enjoyed reading the history of watermelon and learning that seedless watermelon does not involve genetic modification I was horrified at this recipe for watermelon jelly logs .  In all fairness I did find this recipe for a Watermelon Cosmopolitan that sounded like something I would try.

After an afternoon of grandchildren I was still left with plenty of watermelon for one of my favorite summer salads since 1995 when I first found it in the newspaper…so easy and so so yummy…