Dreaming of France -- Hope

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

I'll keep it brief tonight as turmoil still reigns in my heart, but that doesn't prevent me from dreaming of France.
On the first trip that Earl and I took together to France, we stayed overnight in Chamonix in the French Alps. When we woke up the next morning, it had snowed and these tulips had snowflakes clinging to them.

So, I have hope that spring will come and that things will improve. 

How bout you? Are you dreaming of France?

Thanks for playing along and please visit the blogs of others who join in too.

Saturday Snapshot -- April Snow

Join West Metro Mommy for this weekly meme of photos people have taken and share on their blogs.
We woke up this morning to find that Spring has abandoned us and winter returned in full force.
I tried to go for a run but stinging nettles of icy pellets attacked my face, so I came home. My husband agreed to go for a walk with me, so we could be bundled up.
The weather continued to be cold and blustery, but we paused to take some pictures of the snow on the freshly bloomed flowers.

We also took a tulip selfie. This woman always has gorgeous tulips every spring. It feels like Holland.

The snow also looked picturesque on the creeping phlox.

The weather should return to the Spring later this week. Hope you're having a lovely weekend, bad weather or no.

Still Dreaming of France

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France.

I thought about not posting Dreaming of France today after everything that happened. And not very many people have been joining in, but then decided maybe it's more important than ever to dream about France. 

France holds my heart. The terrorists knew what they were doing when they attacked Paris, because so many of us love it or dream of visiting it. Even Hitler spared Paris. 

And it's so sad that terrorists believe some evil acts could dim the beauty in that city. 

For centuries, each step in the creation of Paris had led to the delights it offers - visually

Gastronomically

Filling all the senses.

I know Paris will recover and that I will visit again.

Thanks for visiting and for playing along with Dreaming of France.

My Spring Garden

I just love all the beauty that spontaneously arrives in my front garden in the spring. 

Hyacinths. These bloom in a couple different colors in my garden. 

Pointy-petaled tulips

Here's a shot of the plants snuggled under their new black mulch thanks to my husband. 

And here's the other side of the garden with it's creeping phlox. 

I didn't get any close ups of the daffodils, but most of them have orange centers against pale yellow petals. 

Hope beauty is flourishing in your life, as well. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Tulips

Every year around this time, I need to share a photo of the tulips blooming in a yard near our neighborhood.
The gardener here has a fabulous display of tulips.

That's some creeping phlox there at the front. I'm not sure what the yellow flowers are, but I'm glad she's diversifying. As much as I love tulips, I hate the way they look after the blooms are gone. 

I imagine sitting on that porch during the spring and seeing all those colorful tulips. Lovely. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Tulips

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
In my small town, there's a woman whose entire yard is taken up by tulips. She has no room for grass. It looks like she has a bumper crop this year. 
I make sure I walk by her house in the spring time to keep track of the tulips' progress.

This year she also added some creeping phlox and small bushes of  yellow flowers as borders. I love creeping phlox. Her flowers are also taking over her backyard.

I hope you get the time to stop and smell the flowers this weekend.

Saturday Snapshot -- Tulips

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
Outdoors the temperature has dropped again, but inside, we have some lovely pink tulips blooming.

Grace received a vase of tulips for her birthday and they lasted nearly two weeks. I don't think my outdoor tulips last nearly that long. It's nice to have color in the house.

I hope you have something beautiful to look at today too.

Colors

When my kids were little, they'd always ask what my favorite color was. I have a hard time with favorites. I have colors that look good on me and colors that I enjoy looking at. As an adult, I rarely have a favorite. But this morning as I walked through the neighborhoods, I realized that I have a favorite color tulip.
Funny that the very first color I think of with tulips is red. I think that's a traditional color. I don't see that many of them any more though.

Pink is another popular tulip color. This one is cool because it has a fringey thing along the top.

Yellow tulips are also fairly traditional. These are too pale for me.

These dark purple tulips are pretty gorgeous too, although the color is a little washed out in this picture.

But my favorite color tulip are these mixes of peach and pink or yellow. I think I'll call it champagne peach.

What is your favorite color of tulip?

Saturday Snapshot -- Signs of Spring

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
This week, the weather continued to be mild, and as I came home from work one afternoon, I noticed some fresh, painfully hopeful green sprouting in my flower gardens.

The plants and the earth are obviously confused by this very warm winter. They're deciding to begin sprouting.
And look at the contrast between the newly green plants and last-year's weathered mulch.

Then this morning we awoke to a few inches of heavy, wet snow and 11 degrees.

I hope those green sprouts are insulated from the cold by the snow. I'm ready for them.
This reminded me of the first time Earl and I traveled to Europe together after we had been married for a year. We stayed in a chalet in the Alps one night and when we woke up the next morning -- snow! On the tulips. Here's a copy of the picture.

Enjoy your day.

Weather Fantasies

We are well past 40 days and 40 nights of rain, yet no arks are in sight.
Let's just pretend that the weather is beautiful. If April showers bring May flowers then we should be floating in blooms pretty soon.
These are tulips growing in front of my house. I thought they were a little late this year.
Every neighborhood has an overachiever and this neighbor excells in tulips apparently.
Here's another vantage point of the yard full of flowers.
Earl and I planned to videotape ourselves in front of these tulips in an effort to win a bicycle trip in Holland from KLM. The deadline was May 1 and we never made a videotape to upload. I guess we didn't want the trip enough.
Similar to Tucker who injured his knee recently when he cracked it on the door he was opening. It hurt too much for him to take part in P.E., but not quite enough for him to go to the freezer and get ice to put on it.