Another rainy morning as I head back to the studio
Again, no sunrise bike ride today.

But I did get to see a beautiful glimmer from the droplets of rain sitting on some
hosta leaves in the back yard! I’ll take a little natural beauty wherever I can find it!

After gracing the table during class tonight, this vase of red roses has made its way
back to my studio. No one claimed them?… I had offered them up as a prize to the
person who made the best bowl tonight. A little incentive to push it a little further,
give it a little design, make their coolest bowl ever. But somehow… I think we all got
too focused, and somehow sidetracked, and before we knew it, everyone had cleaned up
and class was over. And the roses were still there…

I was sent this photo from my good friend Kelly to show off her lilacs in one of my vases.
The bouquet of lilacs is quite impressive. Apparently the town trucks were out doing a big
Spring trimming of all the trees & bushes – and they cut off HUGE chunks of her lilac bushes.
Luckily, Kelly had a chance to throw them in a vase so they could enjoy them for a few
well-scented days! But really?… it looks like Kelly might need a bigger vase?!

However… it’s the beautiful Rosie who really steals the show! What lilacs? What vase?
Who even notices them when you have such a precious little beauty sitting beside them?
Even better?… today is Rosie’s big day! HAPPY FOURTH BIRTHDAY ROSIE!!!

While we’ve had a kinda “crazy” Spring here in Chicago… too early, too warm, too fast…
It’s good to know that there are some Spring “traditions” going on around the world.
Even if our local tulips came & went in March?!!!

The fields of northern Holland explode into a colorful springtime display.
Their dazzling colors are thanks to the years in the 17th century when Tulip-mania
swept the globe and the more eye-catching specimens changed hands for a small fortune.
But, like a rainbow, this colorful rainbow is a short-lived phenomenon. When the flowers
are gone, the land will be cultivated for a rather more mundane crop of vegetables!

Plus, a view of the tulips from a more common eye-level vantage point…

This afternoon was a beautiful bike ride up to the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Our first “kick-off” Garden ride for Chris & I… hoping to get back into the weekly routine!
The ride was great. The weather was great. And the gardens are already in bloom.
Crazy?!… it’s only April 2nd… we don’t usually get to ride up there for another month!!!

Plus, as if the ride & garden weren’t enough, we also counted 51 white-tailed deer
along the sides of the bike trail going up & back. Some in the fields, or hiding in the woods…
others right there on the trail. That’s somewhere around a deer-and-a-half per mile!!!

This morning was very quiet & very serene. With deep shades of blue on the horizon
during this beautiful & unseasonably warm morning. And then I found a grove of
“spooky” trees just south of Belmont Harbor. Yes, I must have ridden past them
literally THOUSANDS of times… and just noticed them today! Finally.

Then, a little further down the path I stopped for a serene moment by myself.
Quiet. Relaxing. Reflective. All too soon it was time to turn around and head back home…

I returned to “the scene of the crime” and back to the spooky trees as the sun continued
to rise. A little brighter, but the trees still seem to be a little sad. Weeping as though
the Winter got the better of them. Although I know it was a surprisingly mild Winter?!

I still don’t know what kind of tree this is?!
Maybe I’ll be able to figure it out when the leaves start to come out in the next few weeks.

After a surprisingly warm Winter, it appears as though Spring has come early
as well. With some surprisingly warm days… and flowers popping up already!
And it’s just the first weeks of March… crazy!!!

With little beauties popping up in my front yard garden! Much better than snow…

Nature’s beauty times two… just a few minutes apart.

Well, I guess it is still “technically” Winter after all…