Hi, everyone!
The Thursday before Easter was a nice, warm day, so Grandma and I went back to Highland Park to look for groundhogs! The cherry trees along Reservoir Avenue had pink buds but weren’t really flowering yet. In the Poet’s Garden, the gardeners were helping my helleborus friends recover from the snow. Most of the magnolias just had flower buds, but the earliest ones were in bloom!
Nobody was home at my favorite groundhog burrow, but when we walked a little farther we found another groundhog at home! My new groundhog friend was willing to pose for lots of pictures!
We walked all the way along the lilac bush plantings to the pansy bed. The gardeners were just planting it! I made sure to thank them for making such a pretty place! I could see there were triangles in the planting, but it was hard to tell what the overall design will look like!
There were pretty pink shrubs in bloom on the walk back up to the top of the hill, and I made friends with a great big meadow of spring flowers. Then, as we were walking along, somebody recognized me! It was my friend Penelope-san from F. Oliver olive oil shop! I hadn’t seen her since Grandma and I bought walnut oil to make Thai basil pesto! She and her father were enjoying the sunshine at the park, too!
When Grandma and I got home from Highland Park, I checked to see what was blooming in our yard. The apple trees had green-tipped buds, and more of the daffodil plantings were in bloom. It was such a nice day that when Uncle Steven’s family came over for dinner, James and Thomas brought their bikes. James just learned how to ride a two wheeler without training wheels! After dinner, we all went for a walk/ride on the street. Then Thomas helped Grandma with her jigsaw puzzle!
Grandma and Grandpa and I had Easter dinner a day late with Joe-san and Nancy-san and Moose-san and Tilly. By then, our forsythia was in full bloom! For Polish people, the day after Easter is celebrated as Dyngus Day, when boys and girls run around with pussy willows and water. Moose-san and Tilly and I didn’t do that, but we did help serve the limoncello cheesecake for dessert!
In years when we have lots of warm spring weather, it seems like all the trees leaf out at the same time. Grandma calls that Green Day. This year, after our few days of nice weather, it got cold and rainy again. I kept looking for Green Day, but I didn’t see a single “leafing out” day. We even had another day of snow showers, although the snow didn’t stick!
Last Sunday was sunny in the afternoon but quite chilly. I wanted to go see how my flower friends in Highland Park were doing after the snow! Grandma said I needed to wear my hoodie to be warm enough! The cherry trees along Reservoir Avenue were in full bloom and didn’t seem to mind the cold. The tulip beds were up and the earliest tulips were in bloom. I wonder how the Highland Park gardeners keep the deer from eating them all off? My helleborus friends in the Poet’s Garden looked happy!
The early blooming magnolias were starting to drop their petals, but the later ones were opening their flower buds. The walk through the blossoming trees was very pretty, but there weren’t many people around in the cold!
Grandma and I didn’t expect we’d see any of my groundhog friends, because it was too cold! We did stop at my favorite burrow to see how the lilac bushes were leafing out. There are a few leaves, and the earliest lilac bushes to bloom had flower buds. The Lilac Festival starts in ten days, and I’m not sure the lilacs will be ready! I think the pansy bed is completely planted, but there are still some open spaces in the design! I made a new weeping cherry friend on the way back up the hill!
Grandma and I decided to warm up by visiting the Lamberton Conservatory before we left Highland Park. The display of spring bulbs and shrubs was very pretty! There were turtles everywhere … even in the entry room with the potted plants! The porch for taking pictures has been replaced by a vine arbor!
I made sure to say hello to my croton plant friend and my barrel cactus friends. The Buddha’s hand had a ripe fruit on it! There was a big turtle sunning on the walk in front of the cactus display and more turtles in Shellville and the bachelor annex for misbehaving turtles.
When we got home, Grandma and I took a quick walk around our spring bulbs. The coffee grounds worked and our Praestens Fusilier tulips are uneaten and blooming! The new planting of daffodils is in full bloom, too!
Sunday evening, Grandma and Grandpa took me back out to the bay. We went to the Sodus Point lighthouse to watch sunset. The sky was clear, but it was very chilly and windy and wavy! The water level in the lake has risen by a foot in the last week. It’s not as high as it was two years ago, but we could still have flooding! The only wildflowers I could find blooming were red trillium.
Last night, Grandma made pizza and Uncle Steven’s family came for dinner. It was cold and wet, so everybody stayed inside! James and Thomas started building Uncle Steven’s Lego pirate ship set. After dinner, Uncle Steven and James played Zelda and I helped Thomas with the pirate ship. When it was time to pick up, everybody helped with that! Thomas took home some boxes for the toys he’d already chosen.
Today it’s sunny and a bit warmer. We’re supposed to get more rain this week, too! It’s a little greener outside today, but I may have to wait for Green Day until next year!
Love,
Lion-san
We think the blue flowers that you saw at Highland were what Joe-san and Nancy-san call star flowers. There were a lot of big turtles at the Conservatory. Nancy-san said most of the star flowers are behind the greenhouse. It was nice having you over for Easter dinner even though it was a day late.
Your ground hog friend is almost as cute as you, Lion-san!
Thank you, Grandma Sue! Grandma has all the photos she needs for next year’s Ground Hog Day cards!
Spring is such a beautiful time of year. Glad you got to see so many different spring flowers. We have had warmish weather and very cold days. Our azaleas popped into bloom then cold hit and most of the azalea flowers disappeared. I think it was because of the cold. Great Aunt Betsy.
I hope your azalea blossoms come back out! Ours haven’t even started to bloom, but Grandma says they are a later-blooming variety than yours.