Tulip Crazy!

I confess . . . this spring I became a little bit crazy for tulips.  I don't mean just buying them by the pot load, but taking shots of them.  Every morning it became a ritual -- a few cups of java to get me going and then I was dragging these little puppies into the family room where we get incredible light streaming in from the southeast.  

 I tried catching them at all stages -- when tightly budded to fully open and onto the blowsy stage when the petals are about to fall off.

And that didn't include the obsession with color -- oh, my . . . !   From softest pinks to cherry red to cha-cha orange and finally to the ultimate yellow.  

 

What more can I say?  Like I said -- just plain tulip crazy.  And now there's not a trace of them in the garden at this time.  The bulbs slumber under the soil, waiting for the time to rejoin us next spring.

Oh sure, I'll probably browse the flower shops to see if there are any available, but that wouldn't be the same as, after a long New England winter, you find the first ones peeping up at you amid the melting snow and mud.  

These images are available at my online shop, Red Bubble.  From greeting cards to journals and notebooks, clothing, travel mugs and more, add something lovely to your life.  Because right now, we deserve a bit of lovely in our lives, don't you think?

Hoping you're all healthy and staying in fine fettle!

Cheers,

Kelly

Is it truly Spring?

These are dismal times for so many of us around the world, and our hearts are aching for those who've lost their life and for their families and friends.  And yet Nature continues and evidence of spring abounds, even up here in New England despite a snowfall yesterday.  

Tulips #1 by me

Forced to stay home from work, I'm finding that so much of what I've pushed aside over the past years is now calling to me, tapping at my feeble, frenzied brain, reminding me that creativity and the need to express oneself never truly disappears.  It may fade into the background of our 21st century lives; it may be packed away at the back of a desk, waiting patiently for us to re-discover all over again.  

Tulip #2 by me

I'm going to take this enforced time to rediscover the joy of creating, even if it's something small and simple.  I've been culling through my photographs from the garden and feeling that a backyard garden can be a wondrous place.  I've been unwrapping paints and markers and pastels, lugging out canvases and sketchbooks, dusting off paint brushes and tossing out those that were welded together in neglect.  I just spent the last hour or so updating my blog (my art website was hacked last fall and I lost that, plus the email address attached to it!), posting a new banner that makes me smile.

Spring is a time for a new beginning.  It's as simple as that.  I hope you all stay safe and healthy in these coming weeks, months.  I intend to stop by your blogs -- if they're still alive! -- and revisit many of you.  And I hope I gain some new fellow bloggers, or Instagrammers, or FB friends. 

Spring Tulips 3 by me