Sunday, March 20, 2011

First Day of Spring

Last night we viewed the "Super Moon" through a haze, after it was high enough to see through the trees.
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And today, Spring began.
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This was no day to stay inside. It was partly sunny, dry and not too cold. -
We started at an early spring plant sale in Bellevue, and then went on to the Bellevue Botanical Garden to see if we could find anything blooming.
Camellias
Daffodils
Flowering shrubs
Hyacinths
Hellebores in a wide range of wonderful colors
Quince
Symphytum
Trillium ready to pop. This is an exotic red flowering variety.
Cyclamen
Pulmonaria
Daphne odora - can you smell the heavenly fragrance?
Euphorbia
Contorted filberts catkins
Edgeworthia
This is a native shrub, Indian Plum, the first to leaf out and bloom here in our woodlands.
Originally a wine cellar on this property, it now houses whatever you imagine.
Yao Japanese Garden
Skunk cabbage is ready to bloom in the bog.
Leaving the garden we headed west across the I-520 floating bridge. The Olympic Mountains are white with recent snow.
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We picked up Jake in Wallingford and took him out to brunch/lunch. He's doing OK, but stays close to home for now. We returned him to his couch and headed for the Fremont Sunday Market.
This is always a fun scene, with a mix of hippies and yuppies ( or the equivalent thereof, if we don't use those terms anymore), with 'repurposed' junk to hand made clothing and jewelry, art, farm produce and ethnic food.
The market is just one street over from the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
WE stopped for coffee and a goody before heading home after a full day of mostly outdoor fun. And I used up my calorie allotment by 4:00. Oh, oh.
They say rain returns tomorrow, but now it will be spring rain. Winter is officially over!

10 comments:

  1. winter is officially over, although we had cloudy skies last night and today-couldn't see the full moon.

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  2. Spring started in India too... We celebrated the occasion by Having the festival of Holi...
    You have given some great pics of the flowers, they are beautiful!!
    Flowers have a capability to make one smile and forget all worries:)

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  3. You guys really know how to have fun. The variety of flowers you have are just amazing! Have a wonderful spring. At least you got to see a bit of the Supermoon. We were completely clouded over.

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  4. Well, Linda, you sure found a few blooms to share! Lovely pictures, and I could ALMOST smell those heavenly fragrances.

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  5. Reading this post I can feel your excitement to have spring back at last. I depend on you to show me spring through your pictures as I won't be out playing in the dirt to feel it.

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  6. Since blue is my favorite color, I loved your shot of the Pulmonaria. Lovely! I like your camera, BTW. Very nice and clear photos.

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  7. You made good use of the nice weather, that is a beautiful garden you visited. Spring flowers are out here but they keep getting beat-up by the rain.

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  8. Your photos are amazing. I feel better already just because I visited your site. Thanks for the lovely color that signals the end of winter.

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  9. With all of the hard winter there in the northern hemisphere I am glad that spring has finally arrived for you all. Your photos are lovely with all of the beautiful spring flowers Linda. We are just entering our autumn, but daytime temps are still up around the mid-twenties Celsius (mid 70's F) - Dave

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  10. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!

    We have so much to look forward to here in the East!

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