Hope for Spring

                            Today is the last day of March,

and my niece Megan's 18th birthday...

both mean SPRING to me.

But we still have that snow from last week's storm.

I was certain my crocuses croaked...

UNTIL....

I went out to get the mail yesterday and saw this:

I couldn't believe my eyes!

Stabbing up from the snow,

the early spring bloomers

were not defeated.

I never stopped to look this close,

but with my new macro lens,

I am enjoying a new view of life.

I am leaving this cold stuff behind and

heading to my hometown of Cincinnati on Saturday.

I will stay with my mother

and play with my sister and her family for a week

of spectacular SPRING!

My brother-in-law Joe just got a new camera for his

March birthday, so we are going to seek out

photo ops.

My sister Sally says flowers are SPRINGING up

EVERYWHERE!

So, I won't be around for a week,

but I'll be back with SPRING glory.

And, when I return, this snow

will be gone and I can zoom in on

OUR SPRING!

Butterflies

Enough about snow...

today I wanted SPRING,

so I headed to Dow Gardens in Midland, Michigan.

Every spring, Dow Gardens opens its butterfly sanctuary.

I remember taking the kids way back when it first opened.

They gave us flowers dipped in sugar water to

attract the butterflies.

My kids LOVED it,

and I loved watching them love it.

I really missed my kids today,

but it gave me a chance to 

practice with my new macro lens.

One of the butterfly workers noticed several of

us were taking photos, so

she set a butterfly on the pond.

I was enthralled as I edited

the photos and told my husband that

if I come back in another life as a butterfly,

I want to be a PINK butterfly!

Hmmm...I didn't see any pink ones.

I told Hubby he can be the tiger butterfly.

Tiger butterflies like PINK butterflies...

I just KNOW IT!

We would flutter around pretty flowers together

and nip on sugar water

while humans ogle us...

Ahhh, the life of a butterfly.

And, I couldn't resist this little

girl who was so much like my Lindsay...

Fascinated with the fluttery fliers.

I hope that got you in the spring spirit.

Bye-bye, snow...

it's been good to know you...

Spring Pups

While we're still on the topic of spring snow,

my snow-crabbing cousin Kathy

sent me these pictures of her precious Pomeranian

Rusty Jo in the highly unusual Missouri spring snow.

Look at that adorable dollop on Rusty's nose.

Kathy is an awesome writer AND photographer

despite being a snow despiser.

She also has a mean streak because she

won't let me HAVE Rusty Jo even though I have

lots of snow for him to play in and I

think he is the cutest dog on the planet.

Below is Rusty Jo's BFF Jazzy,

Kathy's boyfriend Michael's Pom pooch.

Two CUTIES!!!!

I couldn't resist sharing their cuteness.

And, here's Kathy's bird feeders

that inspired me to seek out feeding birds

here in Michigan and

take some photos.

While at the nature center, an elderly man was

sitting with his binoculars and bird manual, obviously an

expert after decades of bird watching.

I love chatting with experts and he told me to

come back in mid-May when the migrating birds

take a rest in our part of Michigan.

He showed me pictures of the colorful finches

and golden orioles that greet spring.

That's the time I put up my own hummingbird feeders

by my kitchen window.

So, SNOW.....you can GO!

Winter in Spring

Just as I thought the last icicles were melting into spring...

we got dumped with 5 inches of snow!

I know everyone was frustrated,

but I could not deny the beauty.

I headed over to my friend Rol's yard AGAIN.

I LOVE snow, but I hate the cold

that's why I have a love/hate relationship with

winter photography.

But it's NOT winter...

it's SPRING!

This is my favorite photo of the bunch.

I was attracted to the interesting bark on this tree.

Snowy trees are so exquisite.

Rol has some interesting RED limbed plants

in his yard that look beautiful against white snow.

I'm glad I got one more chance to photograph

the glory of winter.

But, not everyone is happy.

My friend Sharyl's sister Tina Schrems took

this cute picture:

Gotta go dig out my crocuses...

UPDATE:

My cousin Kathy who has been bragging to me about her 85-degree,

spring flowers in full bloom weather in Missouri,

got three inches of snow today.

BEAUTIFUL in her magnolias!

And the Bradford pear tree across the street:

Winter just doesn't want to budge.

Spring?

Didn't spring begin on March 20th???

I even showed you my crocuses emerging from

winter hibernation.

I just learned how to stitch three photos together

to make a panorama shot.

I took the shots for the above panorama

about 2:30 yesterday afternoon.

The yard was looking drab like March.

What a difference a day makes!

This is what we woke up to this morning:

(Click photo to enlarge.)

It's still snowing like crazy and

we expect another four inches.

No spring in my step....

YET...

Shooting the SUPERmoon

Was everyone out photographing the Supermoon tonight?

That's the only photo I captured and it's a bit out of focus.

My pictures from last night were better.

I was so excited to photograph the Supermoon,

 I drove around in the afternoon

looking for a good spot.

I decided on our river that flows beside

our downtown.

I must say, my town doesn't have the most

illustrious skyline,

but every town twinkles under a twilight sky

reflecting on water.

Dang it!  Where is the darn moon?

It was already past sundown, almost 8:30,

and the sky was the awesome blue of dusk.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

When I finally saw the moon emerging,

WOWEE!!!  It was SUPER huge!

I read on the Internet that photographing the moon

creates a strange phenomenon.

The camera doesn't capture what the eye is seeing.

The moon looks pretty puny here:

I drove along the river stopping at various spots.

It was dark and I could not figure out the

camera settings.  The shutter was open for SO LONG,

I did not think my photos were turning out.

I was freezing cold, my hands were icicles.

The night was disappointing and frustrating...

so far...

At this spot, I smelled strong sulfur.

I realized that the small house-like structure in the photo below was a

PUMPING OIL WELL!

I'm paying $3.50 per gallon for gas and

we're pumping oil right by our river!

Anyway, I think it poisoned me

because I started getting extremely queasy.

I shot another few pictures

while swearing out loud at the slow shutter speed...

Then sped home where I

glugged down a half bottle of Maalox.

Haven't done that since I was pregnant

twenty years ago.

Because I am tenacious,

I uploaded my photos while holding my stomach

and was stunned at the photos!

I did not think I had captured anything at all.

I guess I didn't really capture the superness of the

SUPERmoon,

but I'm happy to have some twilight skyline photos

of my town.

And, just so I wasn't totally bummed

about the Supermoon...

I borrowed a moon I shot

last night

(Click to enlarge.)

Glad I saved it. (hee hee!)

My stomach needs to go to bed.

Nighty-night Supermoon!