Spring has....um....sprung?

May has been unseasonably cool for us this year but a few days ago, the weather was very spring-like.  The flowers were blooming....

...the goldfinches were feasting by the dozens.....

And then, after a day of Mary-Poppins-turn-the-umbrella-inside-out-and-the-patio-table-over winds, this rolls in.....

The rain made the flowers less than bright but were determined to be cheerful anyway.

We had driving rain like this off an on all day yesterday.  You can see the haze of rain splashing off the table.  The little iris buds are thankfully protected through the onslaught. 

Sunset.  But it didn't bring "sailor's delight" as the red sky promised.  Today was another day of torrential downpours interspersed with spells of....not dryness, really....more like....not raining.

It got up to 49 degrees today and the forecast for tonight is snow as low as 2,000ft.  I suppose if we lived in Prince Albert, Canada, this would be normal.  But we live in western Oregon and it's not normal.  Global warming?  I shake my head as I toss another log into the wood stove.

Flowers

Roses

Roses aren't my all-time favorite flower but I do love them. Richelle raced inside the other morning and grabbed the camera while yelling that I needed to "come look at something right now!"

What I needed to see was the dew still on the roses. She didn't know how to take a micro shot or she would have done it herself. I wasn't sure if I could take the shot without blurring and she was hoping the dew would show up. You have to look kind of closely to see the dew but it's there.

By the way, the shot at the top of the blogspot of the other side of our narrow valley is one that she took as part of her Camera Badge for Girl Scouts. She was pleased to see that I used it.



Lavender


I have one lavender plant and harvested the first crop a few days ago. Richelle and I had fun putting together bunches with ribbons and hanging them up all over the house. This one hangs above the coat closet in the front entry.

Although it's directly in line with the front door, my dear husband didn't notice it until I pointed it out. Cameron, the only male of my acquaintance to be able to find what he's been sent to get, noticed the lavender straightaway.