In the Pink

DAY 95

05 APR 09

I know I've been posting a lot of rain pictures; you can expect to see a bunch of flower pictures, too. Why not? It's springtime, they're out, they're pretty, and they're colorful. Plus, they have the added bonus of not wiggling around as much as my children. Or other people. Or animals.

This is one of the shrubs in front of my house. I didn't plant it, but I'm pretty sure it's an azalea. Every spring I get a profusion of pink blooms that brighten my yard and add cheer to my home's façade.

You might see these babies again. I can't help it. They're yet another thing that makes me happy.

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Signs of Spring Abound

DAY 90

31 MAR 09

When spring comes to metro Atlanta, it comes like gangbusters. It's most evident in the sneezing and labored breathing of my poor son, who suffers horribly until the oak and birch pollens have done their thing. It's also easy to see in the plethora of flowerbuds and flowers that pop up everywhere with their sweet scents and bright colors.

These flowers brightened up the tree across the street from my house, and made my day a little brighter every time I stepped into my driveway. Yes, I've been shooting a lot of flowers lately, but there have been so many to shoot! Don't worry, before long, I'll decide I need to get out of my flower rut and start looking for other things to shoot.

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Welcome, Spring

DAY 83

24 MAR 09

When you make the turn into my subdivision, this is the first tree you see. The greeter, if you will. In fact, I was going to give this post a title that somehow incorporated a greeting and a tree, but I couldn't come up with a phrase that made sense so I had to settle for the much lamer "Welcome, Spring". Still, the post title does fit; it seemed as soon as we hit the first day of spring, this tree started blooming.

I love that this tree is what greets me when I come home. It's beautiful. It's cheerful. And it makes me happy.

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Like an Old Tire

DAY 68

09 MAR 09

I seem to be doing a lot of tight shots lately; am I in a rut? I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to say no because of this picture. You see, I wanted a picture symbolizing the arrival of spring. And here just outside metro Atlanta, the blooming of the Bradford Pear tree is a definitely sign spring is here.

On Day 68, I got a few full pictures of Bradford Pears blooming every time I turned around. Unfortunately, it was a bright, sunny, warm day, and the sky in every one of those pictures was horribly blown out. So I had a choice: a tight shot of Bradford Pear blooms or a glow-in-the-dark sky. I went for the tight shot.

While these trees are very pretty in the early spring, the profusion of white blooms always makes me smile, there are a couple drawbacks to these trees. First, they're kind of frail. After this recent snowstorm, every yard that has Bradford Pear trees also has a pile of branches at the curb. Second, the smell. Have you ever smelled a Bradford Pear tree in bloom? If you haven't, I'll tell you how you can without ever even seeing one. Find an old tire and wait until a stifling hot day. When that day arrives, completely enclose yourself in that old tire and inhale deeply. Smell that? It's Bradford Pear blooms.

Ick.

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Contrasts

DAY 63

04 MAR 09

Three days after the snowstorm (sorry I keep mentioning the snowstorm, but it really was a big deal), and my neighborhood still had snow on the ground. Not a lot, most of it had melted away. But we still some.

The contrasts referred to in the post title are not the colors in the photo, but the fact that with snow still on the ground, I looked up when I was waiting in line to pick my daughter up from school and saw the trees budding.

On the ground it was still winter. In the trees, the first signs of spring. I know it's not unusual, but I still think it's very cool.

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