Spring is here for sure

 When this Azaelea bush is in bloom, I know that for sure, spring is here.  It is such a splash of color, just before everything else comes out in bloom.  Without exception, it is the first bush in our yard to be in full color and always contrasts with the brown bushes and trees that will bloom a few weeks later.

The giant peony is also set to bloom, and looks lovely with the tulips tucked underneath.

Happy Easter!

Spring is here, and the outdoors has shifted from frozen and cold, to cool and beautiful. My Australian friend recently reminded me in my "Spring is here" blog, that it is autumn there.  But spring is here, for sure.

I took some shots of the yard and tried to record the sound of a bird that I like.  I wish that I knew the name of the bird, but I don't .  I have concluded that he is a small guy and not so colorful, because he is hard to locate.  He has a high whistle, like the sound of someone whistling to bring in the cattle or sheep.  I love the sound of it. It is a sort of high "da dee dee, dee, deee.". Unfortunately, he only sings when the video is not running.    If I ever do catch the fellow singing in one of my videos, I will add him to this site.

For my kids, I captured their father heading out the door with the compost.

Take a look, click here:  

 Composting in the spring

Your Dad misses you.  He and I had to pick up the slack on many of your old jobs that you left behind when you headed for college.

I remember one cold wintry day when our daughter walked in the door with the compost bucket in her hand and said "Well, that is that last time that I'm doing that", with her head all wet, and her feet all muddy.  And it was.  We let her get away with it because he helped out in so many other ways.

As for the boys, I recall them taking the compost out every once in awhile, under duress.  But the end result, thanks to all their dedicated work, is lots of flowers and very rich dirt in the side yard.  Thanks, kids, for all those buckets that you carried.

Joe and I drove past our neighbors and three little kids were having an egg hunt, with their Dad watching them from the front porch.  One of the little boys was so excited that he forgot to run, and stood frozen in place just imagining where an egg might be, with the silliest grin on his face, his shoulders all scrunched together and wringing his hands with delight, that big silly grin on his face.  He was about 6 years old.  We cracked up laughing at him.  It reminded us of the many egg hunts that we had in our side yard.  Joe and I also used to hide the kids annual art supplies along with the colored eggs.  Our kids found hidden in the yard, sidewalk chalk, squirt guns and art materials, like crayons and paint sets.

We used to have a contest to see who would find the last colored egg.  I think one of the eggs actually made it to the 3 or 4 month mark before it was found.  No one ate it.

Here is our back yard during a lovely spring rain.  Click here:  Backyard in spring

Paradise

Colors Galore

Space to Explore

We arrived on Saturday to be met by perfect weather, peace and quiet, and so much color that it was hard to know where to focus one's eyes.

Coming from the black,browns and dull greys of winter in New York, then to the pastel colors of the Abacos is really staggering.

Even though there has been limited time to play on the beach, those few moments that we had are so memorable.  The water is crystal clear.  We saw dolphins, Bally hoo, baby baracudas and jacks.  Joe almost bumped into some angel fish with his head when he was snorkeling out front.  They were so close that he couldn't see them.

Just beautiful.  I will always miss this place.

The Coconut Palm has Value

  We picked up a coconut that fell from our tree out front of our home in the Abacos.  Matt and Joe busted it open using a variety of means that included using a hammer and a machete and incorporated a lot of cheering and encouragement from our two grandaughters who were watching.

Here is Lila showing how it looks inside.  

We grated up the coconut and it had nice flavor.  But we wondered, how healthy is it to use the oil and meat of the coconut? A family debate ensued over the value of a coconut.

The New York Times just put out an article on the value of coconut oil.  It seems as though the problems with the oil were mainly from the items added during manufacturing.  Just using plain old natural ingredients of coconuts isn't so bad after all. 

I would recommend opening up a coconut with guests as a high form of entertainment as long as one stands way back when the men take over.

So Much for the Early Signs of Spring

This morning I woke up early to the sound of the snow plow rumbling by and opened the curtain to find out what was going on.  Snow was silently falling everywhere.

It is the kind of day that used to bring shouts of joy from our kids when they turned on the radio to find out that it was an official "snow day" and school was canceled.

The local school system is closed but not because of snow.  It is because it is Presidents Day, a national holiday, and many people are on spring vacation.  However, the public library  is supposed to be open today, but it  is closed owing to all the snow.

 I hope that this is the last blast of winter before spring sets in.

The Carribbean Garden Show

We went to the Caribbean Garden Show at the New York Botanical Garden this last Saturday.  I wanted to see whether I could identify some of the plants that we have in our yard in the Abacos.  The Show had a lot of the plants that we have, for example, cocoplum, banana and papaya trees, a variety of palms including the sago, coconut palm, royal palm, the thatch palm and the common Palmetto (a type of Sabal palm).  However, the plants that I wanted to identify were not in the show.  Alas, back to work on identifying them.

One person suggested that we stop in Miami and visit the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden and that we might have a better chance of getting into the details and nuances of tropical plant life down there.  It is now a new item on my Bucket List.  

Our friend the staghorn was highlighted at the show.

Even though we didn't identify our plants this time around, the garden show was wonderful and we had a great time except for the part of walking between the car and the show.  The winds were blowing hard and it was unusually cold.  Ah well.  I think I am still missing the warmth of our Abacos.

What Happened? Did we Switch Channels?

As of February 13, we returned to New York.
Our scenes out the window in the morning, shifted accordingly.

The temperatures were chilly  when we got here but have been warming up ever since.

Probably the most complicated part of shifting back and forth between the Bahamas and here is remembering which side of the road to drive on, and to remember where the spatulas are in the kitchen.




The snow is still piled high in many places.

But there is much evidence that spring is on the way.  

There is not much one can do outside yet, other than take daily walks.  Because of the constant melting during the day, black ice is a consideration and one must walk cautiously across it to keep from slipping.