Hi, everyone!
After our April’s Fool snow, we had some sunny but chilly days. Grandma took me to Highland Park to see if any groundhogs were out! It was nice and dry in the hollow tree arch, but I was glad I had my hoodie on! The witch hazel tree was in bloom and I saw lots of winter aconite flowers.
The earliest flowers are always in the Poets Garden, so I made sure to go there! The snowdrops were very pretty, but it looked like the snow had squished the helleborus! The crocus was squished, too! I hope those plants recover, now that there is some sunshine!
The lilac leaf buds at Highland Park were just beginning to turn green! Grandma and I checked all the burrows, but the groundhogs thought it was too cold to come out.
Grandma Sue-san asked Grandma to bring flowers for church the first Sunday in April. I checked the south side of Grandma’s house, where the first spring flowers bloom. The crabapple tree there is starting to remind me of the Highland Park tree arch! Crocus don’t make good cut flowers. My first daffodil friends were just starting to bloom, but they weren’t ready for church. Grandma bought some tulips to make a bouquet, instead!
Last week we had some warmer days to get spring gardening chores done! I checked on the new daffodil planting and helped Grandma fix a railing that came out of the fence. We’ve been putting coffee grounds on the tulip sprouts and so far nobody has eaten them!
Last weekend, Grandma and Grandpa took me out to the bay, so we could get some winter cleanup started there! It was time to take apart the jigsaw puzzle of Kiyomizu-dera temple that Grandma started making last fall! Friday was looking cloudy, so we didn’t go to the Point to watch sunset. Guess what! At the last minute, the sun broke through and there was a very pretty sunset sky! It was cloudy again in the morning for sunrise.
Saturday was warm enough to work outside. I helped Grandpa cut up all the big branches that came down over the winter with the chainsaw. Grandma and Grandpa and I all helped pull them off the lawn and dump them in the woods! When we went back to Fairport, I made more flower friends!
Last Sunday was Palm Sunday! James and Thomas helped pass out palm fronds at church, then they brought me some! Aunt Kara is away, so Uncle Steven brought James and Thomas to Grandma and Grandpa’s for dinner. Thomas picked a Robotix set as his take-home toy!
Yesterday, Grandma and Uncle Steven and I took James and Thomas to the Rochester Museum and Science Center. They were having a special program for school vacation week — Mess-tival! There were lots of special opportunities to play with gooey or messy things! James and Thomas both played with the clean mud. Thomas spent time in the sandy streambed. I wanted to see what Oobleck was, but everybody else had already had enough mess!
James and Thomas had been to the museum before, so they already had favorite things to do. They spent a lot of time on the climber that illustrates rain water runoff from roofs. Then they tried the Hover Ball Challenge. Thomas almost got the ball through one of the hoops!
Then everybody went upstairs to the Keva plank building area. One college student was building a really involved tower! He let Thomas help him with a couple of blocks! James started one small tower, then decided to imitate the big project going up nearby! Grandma and I stayed to help him while Thomas and Uncle Steven went to the Electricity Show.
Thomas built a machine with foam blocks before the Electricity Show. When he got back, someone else had used the blocks another way. I helped Thomas make another machine!
After we had a snack in the cafeteria, we went back to the exhibits on rainwater and runoff. James and Thomas did a puppet show at the Rain Garden theater. On our way out of the museum, James and Thomas did the Tennis Ball Cannon again. And even though it was cold and rainy, Thomas wanted to whisper into the parabolic sound reflector outside!
Today started sunny, but cold. The forsythia and more daffodils are in bloom! Now that we’re halfway through April, I’m looking forward to spring with no more winter interruptions!
Love,
Lion-san
Hi Lion-San,
Thank you for the reminder about using coffee grounds on our spring bulbs. Last year was the first time we’d heard about this and it really worked! 💐🌹
We forgot about the coffee grounds also. We will have to try it next year. Our Lenten rose has lots of flowers on it and the hyacinths in the rose hedge are already blooming as are the daffodils everywhere. However the tulips and crocus flowers been eaten. It looks like you all had fun at the Rochester Museum and Science Center looked like great fun. Joe-san and Tilly are glad spring is coming at last.