Thank to an early Easter in March, I am left without a holiday to decorate for in April. The fallback is spring.
Spring themed decor is scarce. If I see it I grab it for just such an occasion.
And sometimes you are left to your own DIY crafty devices.
We seem to be paying for the mild winter we had with snow in April.
My daffodils and hyacynth don't know what to do.
I thought winter was over. See above for the answer.
The temperatures may have dropped back down a bit but I couldn't be happier that the First Day of Spring is here.
To celebrate we planted some seeds to start growing indoors.
My mom found this vintage Better Homes & Garden "New Garden Book". The title makes me smile because it certainly isn't new anymore but it has some good info in it. They still offer this book by the way and each new release is called "new". I don't know why I find that so funny.
For more a local calendar of when to start seeds and when to transplant them, I use this guide.
To celebrate spring, Starbucks is offering a limited edition Cherry Blossom Frappuccino. It's only available between March 15 and 20. It's pink and green... of course I had to try it. Luckily it does not taste like a Cherry Blossom. It is "a blend of sweet strawberries and cream with white chocolate sauce and matcha drizzle, topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of matcha." Then again it doesn't taste like cherry either, which upset some people apparently.
The thing that amazes me the the amount of news this created. The Cherry Blossom Frappuccino was covered by CNN Money, Fortune, Money and many more. Who knew one frozen beverage could shake things up so much?
The thing I love about crocus is they are the first flower to pop up after winter. (Is the plural of crocus, croci?!) They push through piles of dead leaves and cruddy brown leftovers from last autumn with their cheery petals.
You can be assured that soon after the crocus you will see the daffodils, then hyacynth and then the tulips. When you see them and robins hopping around the yard, you know spring is on it's way!
While I know it's tough to turn the clocks ahead and lose an hour of sleep, I love springing forward one hour into daylight savings time. More sunlight at the end of my day when I get home from work!
Of course, we could go with the best idea and just stay on Daylight Savings forever and end this nonsense.
Maybe it's time for Stewie to run for President again on the "End DST platform".
This has been a Puglick Service Message brought to you by Hugo.
I thought I would jinx myself with yesterdays talk of early spring but with today's weather... I think it's happening! We didn't get to go ice skating, snow shoeing or cross country skiiing but I'll take an early spring.
I love this time of year when Wegmans carries bunches of daffodils. They are so affordable and just scream spring. How do you like my peacock vase? Aaron thought it was a turkey.
It really does seem like spring. There are some wee crocus peeking out in the front yard. I picked a couple of them and put them in water...
And they bloomed! I really think we are in for an early spring. Punxsutawney Phil indeed did not see his shadow this year on Groundhog Day so spring should be here any day!
Spring in Rochester. One day it's nearly 90 and the next there is a frost warning.
Luckily my flowers ignore the weather and just keep on truckin'.
I was counting the days til biking season. My bike loves having it's picture taken.
Drone on a bike. I don't mean the big guy. The thing on his back.
Don't forget your helmets like we did! Dumb dumb dumb!
This spring our neighborhood has been covered in small maple tree helicopters. Do you know what I mean? The seeds that twirl down from the maple trees? I don't remember there being so many before. Fallling in my flower pots, covering the driveway.
I have heard that our late Spring in Rochester is resulting in heavy pollen. I've seen the yellow pollen powder coating on my car. I'm just guessing that is the same reason we have hoardes of helicopters.
Did you know you can EAT maple tree helicopter seeds?! (link and images from wikiHow) Rest easy now knowing that if you are lost in the woods you have a ready food source. I'm thinking of a nice helicopter soup this evening - no, not really.
Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window this morning to see white stuff falling from the sky. It was covering the grass, the trees and the flowers.
Nothing like seeing snow on your daffodils and hyacynth. I guess I shouldn't complain. The latest it has ever snowed in Rochester was on Mother's Day. In 1996, on May 12th, it snowed 1.5 inches in Rochester. The most snowfall ever recorded that late in the year for our city. I figure if we can just make it to Mother's Day this year, everything will be okay.
I think the pugs feel as cooped up by the long winter as we do. Today was finally warm and we took them for a walk so they could soak up some sunshine.
Today is the first day of spring but it doesn't feel like it. The days are getting longer but we still have occasional spurts of snow. I did bring branches of pussy willow inside and they are blooming, so at least it feels like spring inside.
It feels like we traded snow for rain. But they say April showers bring May flowers so we must be in for some fabulous blooms.
Apparently the phrase comes from the 1500's and a collection of writings called A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry by Thomas Tusser.
"Sweet April showers, Do spring May flowers"
My hyacyth have bloomed and I have to say they are amazing. Some of them are a peachy pink color I've never seen before.
They smell so good!
There are also striking purple and lavendar blooms.
The daffodils look pretty great too.
I call this photo series... Pugs Greet Spring.
Or rather they smell it.
It was a long winter for the pugs.
They were pretty happy to romp around my grandmother's yard.
Pugs love spring!
Winter isn't loosening it's grip. These poor crocus didn't know what hit them when we got snow this morning.
I brought some inside and they bloomed!
I am really enjoying this Spring's flowers... my tulips...
.... Red Bud tree....
... the Dogwood the pugs got me for Mother's Day...
... wonderful smelling lilacs...
and dainty white bleeding hearts.
I think spring is right around the corner. My bulbs are starting to pop up.
Aaron got me this potted hyacinth and it bloomed this weekend. We can smell it through the entire house. Smells like spring!
We have a forsythia bush in the backyard, and a couple weeks ago I cut off and brought in a few branches. After being inside in the warmth they bloomed on my mantle.
