Flowers #AtoZchallenge #SkywatchFriday

I never imagined I would be able to take pictures of the sky and post them on something called the "Internet", where people all over the world could view them?

April 2 Binghamton, New York

April is a time of new beginnings.  Soon, this tree, stark against a blue sky with clouds, will be budding out in its own form of flowers.  But today - rain and cold.   We are under a flood watch.

Besides #SkywatchFriday, which I encourage my blog readers to visit and see skies from all over the world, I am participating today in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. 

Today, our posts begin with the letter F.  My theme is "Traveling Through Time and Space."

As a young girl growing up in a small apartment in a housing project in the Bronx in the 50's and 60's, I wanted so much to be able to grow my own flowers.  I loved plants.  My Mom grew geraniums in a west window, and I wanted to be just like her.

One day, I saw a package of dwarf marigold seeds for sale in the local supermarket.  I asked my Mom to buy it for me, and she did.

I planted the seeds in a flower box she bought for me, with some potting soil, again from the store.  I had read about growing flowers from the World Book Encyclopedia my parents had sacrificed to purchase me - in those days, no Internet to conduct research on.

I'd love to say the plants germinated, grew, and flowered.  And indeed, in several days, they did germinate.  I watched, fascinated, as what looked like little loops came up.  The tiny baby plants straightened up, and then put out their first leaves.  They liked the window they were in.

They grew. Before my delighted eyes, the first blower buds appeared.  And then....

One day, I came home from school, to find the plants covered in what looked like spider webs.  Soon, it was apparent they were infested by some tiny insect.  I researched, and it was spider mites.

My Mom bought me some bug spray, but it didn't work.  I tried washing the plants daily.  It only worked temporarily.

I did get a few blooms, but, eventually, the plants died. (I know now that it is really hard to fight spider mites).

But the fire in me to grow flowers didn't die.  It stayed dormant, until, as a grownup, I finally had a plot of land to grow a flower garden on.  The rest, they say, is history.


Now, living in a small city in upstate New York, I want to share pictures of some flowers I took on Sunday.

Iris reticulata (I think).  Feel free to correct me.

White and purple striped crocus.

Snowdrops.

And, my very own crocus.

"F" day on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge as my memories allow me to travel through time and space.