Abundance of Color

Saturday I took advantage of the men from this house playing golf most of the day, the great weather, and the Spring timing and set out for a few hours at the Tulip Festival.  I go just about every year.  I take my camera and take photos of flowers, trees, landscapes that I then use for card making for the coming year.  Not only that, but I soak in all the sunshine I can and it never fails me to come away a little lighter of heart than when I got there.

Here are some of the things I saw:

How can you see this kind of natural beauty and not feel a little more at peace?

Happy Springtime, friends!

Signs of Spring

I had my first tulip blossom yesterday. I came home from work a lovely peach colored bloom stood all by itself in my triangular flower bed near my front door. I love weeks like this when the weather is good and warm and the flowers respond.

May there be many more to come.

Made It After All

 Yes. I made it to the Tulip Festival after all.  Friday afternoon, I spent a few hours with my dear friend, Amy, checking out the tulips.  Lucky for me, she liked to take as many--or more--photos than I do.  That makes the time spent, all the cheerier.

 I love the variety the Thanksgiving Point gardens hold.

Something brand new this year, is a collection of bronze statues of Jesus Christ in various depictions from the scriptures.  This one, of Jesus walking on the water, is heroic in size.  Eventually all 12 or so planned bronzes will be this size, and will fill an whole new contemplative garden space. It will be lovely to see when it is done.  It was already pretty impressive.

Warm Before the Storm

Since it snowed again last night (WHAT?! This is the final day of April, for crying out loud!) I thought I would share some tulip festival photos form this week. Seeing a break in the yucky weather, I took my chances (along with busloads of other people) and thoroughly enjoyed the springime riot of color. Here is what I saw:

Festival Time

This is your personal invitation:  Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival is going on now!    It opened last weekend, but Mother Nature hasn't quite cooperated this year, so it is running a little late.  So the management has extended the official festival dates until May 7th.

Each year for the past, well, at least six years I have gone out to see the wave of tulips in bloom.  Some are early bloomers and some are late, but there is always a ton to see, and photograph.  This is my favorite spot to shoot flowers that I use for note cards throughout the year.

Tulips are my favorite flower, and while I try to grow them in my yard to enjoy, I just can't hold a candle to the tulip beds at Thanksgiving Point.  Gorgeous, I tell you.

It is a little pricey to get in and tour around the acres of gardens, but once a year, think of it as a spurge!  $10 for several hours--if you tiptoe slowly enough--is money well spent.  Weekends are VERY busy, and even weekdays are more crowded than non-festival times of year.  But these little stalks of beauty are fabulous and to see millions, or so it seems like, at a time--it is a wonder to behold.

For more info, check out this link:  http://thanksgivingpoint.com/calendar/events/tulipfestival/index.html

See you out and among the tulips sometime in the next week or so.  Enjoy!!