Weather-wise, I am on vacation… I should be able to walk down a sandy, burn-your-feet-it’s-so-hot plankboard path and step right into Caribbean water. Except, I’m still home. Still planted firmly in the Midwest. Still in the Chicago ‘burbs. Mother Nature on the other hand…..
Hello Eighties... in MARCH.
For a solid week now, the temperature has been off the charts. Record highs in the 80’s (F) for 6 days straight so far. Let’s be clear— that is at least thirty degrees above the norm. Snow is quite possible… common?… in March. And Mother Nature got the memo. Everything is in overdrive, greening up faster than I can remember. I kid you not… the other day there were no buds on the trees and bushes… two days ago they started to pop. Now, the petals are already dropping.
It’s beautiful. Distractingly so. I can hardly focus on the road when a flash of yellow from a forsythia bush hits the corner of my eye. Or I round a corner and there is a row of puffy- blossomed white bloomed trees. I feel like it is going so fast I might miss it.
So in remedy to that, I packed a pair of flip-flops (Yay!) in my work bag this morning. Then, at midday I gnawed through the chain that shackles me to my cubicle (okay. well, it feels like it some times)… grabbed my sunglasses and my iPhone and hit the sidewalk. It had not made it to the forecast of 88 yet… it was about 84. Sunny, Breezy.
Let me show you what was blooming in Hinsdale, Illinois today.
Gorgeous Sky. Bright blue with wisps and puffs of clouds floating by.
I know. It's just grass. But, it is soft green grass at the park where I sat on a bench for a while. I kicked off my flip-flops and felt how the sun had warmed the ground. So much better than snow... or brown, dormant grass. See. Not just grass after all.
A delicate Red Bud tree coming to life in front of a little church.
A tidy bed of tulips and daffodils framed by a white picket fence. No. I am not on Wisteria Lane.
This tree was amazing. I don't know what the variety is... but it was so full of blossoms! And it was just buzzing with bees. (Yikes.)
Detail of the blossoms. You just took a deep breath didn't you?
There is something i just love about the "new green" color of leaves in the Spring. And against this blue sky they are even lovelier.
Petite purple violets have already popped up.
Glowing, golden forsythia blossoms.
Pretty lavender azalea bloom.
Lastly, my favorite… Magnolia trees. There were several varieties in the yards along my walk through town… star blossom magnolias and deeper purple-y pink varieties… and then the gorgeous saucer magnolia. Brings me back to the house I grew up in where a huge saucer magnolia tree shaded the flagstone patio.
Saucer Magnolia blossoms. Lightly fragrant and swaying in this unseasonably warm Spring breeze. I could stand under the tree and just *be* for the rest of the afternoon.
Magnolia detail. So pretty.
A pair of lovely saucer magnolia trees' spent blossoms carpet the ground.
It looks like the “hot” temps are going to head out later this week. But, with this early jump on Spring it can only mean one thing; a longer stretch until next winter. That works for me.
(As a side note… go me. I took a walk, took pictures, typed the blog and published all in one day. Had a glass of wine to celebrate… Cheers!)
Sand On The Brain 