Vroom (Goes Spring) and Violets #SkywatchFriday

Spring has sprung and wow has it sprung where I live in the Southern Tier of New York.  In fact, it's almost too hot (dare I say that, after having had snow flurries last week?) I suspect our spring flowers will be rushing - vrooming if you will - through their bloom time.  I just want to yell "stop" and freeze them in time.

Our skies have been beautiful.  These picture were taken April 23.

This isn't just an evergreen tree.  It's an evergreen tree with a nest in it.  And if you have really keen eyes, you may even see an eagle, but don't get eyestrain trying to do it.

I can't zoom on it too much more but the eagle is in the far right of the photo, about in the mid line between top and bottom of the photo.

To rest your eyes, here is a flowering quince.

A friend drove me to a place I needed to visit yesterday, and on the way home, we passed these Bradford pears.  I didn't realize that I had also caught a sky reflection on the hood of her car.

Beautiful!

Look to the sky.
 

Let's close this out with one more picture, as I love violets so much.

Joining Yogi and other sky watching bloggers for #SkywatchFriday.

 

 

Thankful Today #WordlessWednesday

Spring has arrived, and I am so thankful, today and every day.

These pictures were taken yesterday.

Forsythia.

Some of my daffodils.

More of my daffodils.

My pink hyacinths just opening up.

To finish this up, violets and a dandelion.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Ready - Spring Colors #MusicMovesMe

 It's Monday and it's time for music! 

Today I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.)   

Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, me.

Every other week we have a theme.  This week's theme is "Spring Colors".  And am I ever Ready for them!

A sample of my daffodils, taken yesterday

Where I live, spring explodes in a symphony of colors.  There is the purple of crocus and Lenten rose, the yellow of forsythia and daffodils, and the red of primrose and tulips.

There is the green of newly sprouted grass, and the light green of newly unfurled leaves.  Meanwhile, we welcome back birds that have overwintered in warmer climes.

So today, as I listen to the trilling of red winged blackbirds, I am choosing some songs mentioning spring or color.  

I know so well the feeling of finally seeing blue sky again after our dreary winter white/grey skies.  Here, from 1977, is ELO's Mr. Blue Sky.

On the sunshine theme, how about Pink (it's a spring color!) and her daughter Willow Sage Hart in 2021's Cover Me In Sunshine?

In the early spring, wild onions sprout.  Here's an instrumental:  Green Onions, from Booker T and the M.G.'s from 1962.

 

How about another show song - Ethel Merman and Everything's Coming up Roses, from the 1959 musical Gypsy.  OK, no color in the title or lyrics but - roses.

Speaking of red roses, how about Bobby Vinton and his 1962 hit Roses are Red, (My Love) which mentions both red roses and blue violets?

 

I'll wrap today's set with Bobby Darin's 18 Yellow Roses.

 

 

Easter Decoration #ShadowshotSunday

Seen recently at a restaurant in our area.

 

This is perfect for an Easter #ShadowshotSunday.

Why not come out of the shadows and join up with Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventure with your shadow picture? 

Peaceful Puffy (Clouds) #SkywatchFriday

Finally, we are out of the bleak sky season where I live in the Southern Tier of New York.  True, we don't have puffy clouds every day, and we even had snow flurries on Wednesday, but we can actually see the sky once again.

How about a puddle picture?

Oh, those blue skies.

Wait...the clouds seem to be getting ready to block the blue out.

I'd better enjoy this peaceful scene while I can.

Oh well, it's still pretty.

Joining Yogi and other sky watching bloggers each week for #SkywatchFriday.

Neighborhood #WordlessWednesday

Here are some signs of spring I've found while walking recently in my neighborhood, even as winter returns today for a hopefully brief visit.

Forsythia. 

Field speedwell.

The underappreciated dandelion.

Daffodils

 

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Meme Garden Bloggers Bloom Day April 2025

It's the 15th of the month, and time for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, brought to us by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Spring has arrived (more or less) at my zone 6a garden in the Southern Tier of New York.

I am going to start with my last crocuses.    My crocus bloomed late this year and yesterday I still have blooms.

So I'm counting it.

Here are the other plants announcing spring at my home. First my shady back yard.

My reliable purple Lenten Rose.

Vinca, which is trying to take over parts of my yard.  I really need to get after it. 

This other Lenten Rose has been struggling for years not far from the purple plant but this year it decided to put up a bloom.  

 Look quickly!  This is bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, a spring ephemeral, meaning a flower that only blooms for a brief period.  Indigenous people used the red juice from the underground stem aa a dye.

Finally, my brunnera are starting to bloom. I have three types.

Let's move to the front of the house.  My jonquils started to bloom several days ago. My other daffodils should be starting to open soon, but not in time for today. 

Speaking of opening soon, this hyacinth is giving me a flower bud today.

My first tulip.

Primrose.  I think these plants came originally from my mother in law's property, years back. 

Meanwhile, inside, I also have a couple of blooms to show you.from indoors.

 First, my Plectranthus.  I've had this plant for years now but it normally blooms in the fall.  No matter.  I have three of these on a northern windowsill and it's the oldest one that is blooming.

Finally, one of my three African violets, which has been blooming for months now. 

Sadly, the weather is turning winter like again.  We may even have some snow Wednesday.

Now that you have enjoyed my blooms, I invite you to visit Carol's blog and see what else is blooming all over the world for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Laughing #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and it's time for music!

Today I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.)   

Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, me.

Every other week we have a theme.  This week's theme is "You Pick".

I think one thing we need in these uncertain times is Laughter.  Hence, I am picking some songs with laughter in the title, although some of these songs mention crying more than laughing.  And then, there's rain.  Laughter, rain and crying.  What a combination.

1969 brought us Laughing from the Guess Who.

Laughing in the Rain - Neil Sedaka, from 1974.

Laugh Laugh - Beau Brummels, from 1965 (released December 1964).  This song was promoted in the Flintstones cartoon series in December of 1965.

Here's the song itself.  I didn't know, until researching this post, that this song was produced by Sly Stone.

Let's dive into the archives now, with Billie Holiday and Laughing at Life from 1940.

 Finally, this song doesn't mention laughter in the song title but you can hear Sting laugh toward the beginning of the video.  So I will end this set with Roxanne by The Police because I like this song.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.

Hearts on a Bench #ShadowshotSunday

Taken on a recent sunny day.

Two hearts, one shadow.

The matching seat.

Joining Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventure for her #ShadowshotSunday.

Just (in Time) For Sunset #SkywatchFriday

I was walking at the end of a busy day on April 7, and I realized that, despite the clouds, I was about to see a sunset.  I was just in time.

Somehow, the photos ended up being posted in reverse order (in other words, the last photo I took is the first one posted below and the first photo I took is the last one in this series.  I guess you can consider this a true reverse sunset, as I don't have time to straighten it all out.

Joining Yogi and other sky watching bloggers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

Hark it's April Flowers #WordlessWednesday

I have to celebrate spring today although our weather recently has not been spring like.  We had a dusting of snow yesterday.

But spring still progresses.  Some flowers are a bit earlier than usual.

A local forsythia.

Cinquefoil.
 

Lenten Rose.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Finding April Shower (Songs) #MusicMovesMe

 It's Monday and it's time for music!

Today I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.)   

Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, me.

Every other week we have a theme.  This week's theme is "Rain Showers".  Silly me, I thought it was "April Showers" so that's what I blogged about.  I guess the recent rains we've had made me read the theme that way.

There are lots of songs out there about rain, but not that many about April showers.  So let's start with a song called April Showers, which was originally written for a Broadway play in 1921. I remember it still being popular when I was growing up in the 1950's and 1960's.  It's been covered by many artists but I'm choosing this 1921 recording from Al Jolson.

April Showers. 

 Little April Shower from the Disney movie Bambi.

March Winds and April Showers - Teddy Joyce and His Orchestra, from 1935.

Some songs hat may or may not be specifically about April showers:

Here's a cute children's song: The Kiboomers and April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Rain, from the Beatles. 

 I'll wrap up with Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head, a 1969 hit for B. J. Thomas.

 And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.

 

 

Early Spring Flowers #ShadowshotSunday

Spring has come early to the Southern Tier of New York.  I'm hoping it stays that way and that we don't get a late snowstorm.  That has happened before.  These pictures were taken April 4.

Forsythia. 

My favorite violet.

Flowers, of course, must be pollinated. Just guessing this is a bee ornament.

Joining Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventure for her #ShadowshotSunday (even though it is Saturday, as I will be busy most of tomorrow).

Desiring Spring Skies #SkywatchFriday

 It's nice to see some clouds besides the usual winter gloom, although we are still getting some of that, too.  Yes, spring has arrived where I live in the Southern Tier of New York.

I liked the look of this particular sky.

First nice puddle picture in a while.

Clouds and river.

 

Bonus picture from my guest photographer.

One more for the road - snowdrops in a local park, also taken March 29.  No sky, just Nature's beauty.

Have a great week.

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.

Bald Regal Eagle #WordlessWednesday

Today, I am borrowing from my guest photographer's portfolio. Because my friend has a DSLR and lives in a rural area, she can capture a lot of bird pictures that I can't with my iPhone 13 mini.

While visiting Owego in mid-March, someone pointed out a tree to us that had a bald eagle nest.  With a little patience my friend got these pictures of one of these majestic eagles.

Bald Eagle looking Regal.

Yes, I'm talking to you!

Stop staring at me!

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

April Fool Classics

A Tuesday post from me.  April Fool!

(No, this is a real post.)

After some eight years of doing the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I've had to skip doing it this year, due to circumstances beyond my control.  But I can bring back a previous tradition on my blog today.

Before I joined A to Z, I used to post an annual April Fool post. 

So today, on April Fools Day, I want to talk about The Good Old Days.

April Fools Internet pranks are fun to find each year but if you think about it, enough of the top hoaxes of the last hundred years (including the famous BBC Spaghetti Tree Harvest Documentary) predate the Internet. 

But, thanks to the Internet, I can also bring you this classic hoax from 1957. 

And I can bring you another classic - the flying penguins of 2008.

 It isn't just the fine folks at the BBC that can create hoaxes.  We Americans got hoaxed but good on April 1 1996 when Taco Bell bought one of our great patriotic symbols - or did they? 

Here are some other hoax ads.

 But we used to have a lot of fun "in the old days" with April Fool's jokes in magazines - including special TV supplements published in TV Guide magazine.  I wonder if anyone else remembers this, because I can't find anything online about these April Fools issues except, perhaps some people selling said magazines on eBay. 

Back then, before cable TV systems had online TV programming information, and before cable TV further homogenized the weekly TV listings, a weekly magazine called TV Guide published the listings.  They had tens of of regional editions and I loved to collect them when I went traveling.   Just think of how much work this all took. I still have some of them, too.

At least twice in the early 1960's I remember the issue that would have contained listings for April 1 having a special section, with hoax TV shows and other non-information. 

This, of course, was part of a distinguished April Fools tradition of hoax magazine articles. I just think it would be so cool if anyone else remembered what TV Guide did - and if I could even see some of those issues.

But now, in our modern world, I'll have to rely on an online site tracking the 2025 April Fools jokes.

Let me wrap up by wishing all my readers participating in A to Z a wonderful month to come.