Spring Archives

April 30, 2016April 9, 2018

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The Rebirth of Spring

“May the sun bring you energy by day, may the moon softly restore you at night. May the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength onto your being. May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.” – Apache blessing

Spring has finally arrived full force in Minnesota and has washed away the barren brown and dirt, and sprung new life. All around, trees are bursting in electrifying green and the fragrant blossoming trees delight not only the eyes but their scent beckons the soul.

I always feel utterly alive and reborn once spring arrives here after a long, cold and often dreary winter. The energy of life and rebirth captivate my soul, as Mother Nature stuns us with her beauty.

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Weekly Photo Challenges

May 2, 2014April 9, 2018

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Springtime in the Desert

This week’s Photo Challenge is to celebrate Spring in photos. Sadly, here in Minnesota we have had the wettest April in 130 years and our Spring is very far behind. We don’t even have leaves on the trees yet nor do we have our gorgeous spring flowers. Instead of lamenting on how awful the last six months of weather has been here in the nordic Midwest, I thought I’d share some beautiful photos from our Spring break trip in early April to Tucson, Arizona.

Springtime in the desert is one of the most beautiful places to be. If you have never been to the Southwest before in the spring, it may sound ironic that spring inside a desert can be green. Yet Arizona experiences a beautiful, green spring with tons of rebirth, brilliant flowering plants, trees and cactus, and song birds from all over the place heading north for the summer. It is a wonderful time to visit Arizona.

Here are some of the lovely Spring photos I took during our recent visit to Tucson. You will see that it is the perfect time to visit!

Cactus are budding and blooming…

March 30, 2014April 13, 2018

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Springtime Desert Blooms

I’m back in Arizona again and spring is in full force. The desert has come alive with flowering trees, cacti and plants. Whenever the wind stirs the air is full of heavenly fragrance and it is magical. Birds are abundant as they make their way north.

I’ve taken a few shots of the desert in bloom, my favorite season to be in Arizona as everything comes to life.

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March 28, 2013April 9, 2018

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A visual feast at Macy’s Painted Garden

This year’s Macy’s Flower Show is a definite stunner to the senses. The theme is The Painted Garden and is inspired by the colorful, brilliant flowers, jewels and market hues of India and Southern Asia. For most Minnesotans like myself, who are literally starved of color right now, the rainbow hues of the Painted Garden offer a visual feast to our hungry eyes.

As you walk through the room, all at once you are at peace as you smell the fragrance of a thousand flowers. Gentle background music lightly hums in your ears, and the room is an elaborate display of colors ranging from a magnificent variety of tropical flowers to the brightly colored hanging umbrellas and gorgeous paintings along the walls.

I still can’t decide what my favorite flower or work of art is at the Painted Garden. But I’d have to vote either for the centerpiece of the show, the elaborate, exotic elephant sculpture which proudly wears a blanket made of 20 different species of dried and fresh plant material or the insanely surreal Phalaenopsis Blue Orchids which are out of this world.

Come, take a look for yourself at some of the gorgeous flowers that paint the 8th floor of Macy’s department store in downtown Minneapolis. You will not leave this post disappointed!

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March 10, 2013April 9, 2018

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The Joy of Spring Flowers

“That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind”. – William Wordsworth

Spring time is still a ways off here in Minnesota where the landscape is still blanketed in snow. Depending on the year Spring can begin anywhere in early to mid April and usually is a confusing time of year when we can see literally four seasons in a week. It can one moment snow and a couple days later be shorts and t-shirt weather.

Minnesotans are hearty people, me included. You have to be in order to live in this kind of climate. You must embrace the bitter cold days of winter and cherish the hot and sticky dog days of summer. Otherwise it would be best to pack up your bags and leave now.

In honor of Jakesprinter’s Sunday Theme: Arrangement, I thought I’d bring you a sneak preview of spring flowers. In all their delicacy, beauty and vivid colors, they are bound to bring a smile on a cold winter day. Also in celebration of this month’s focus on phoneography, all these photos below were taken with my iPhone in Colonial Williamsburg last April. I do of course have many pictures of spring flowers in Minnesota but for some reason these photos are special to me as they were the first flowers of Spring I captured last year. Spring comes quite a bit earlier in Virginia! Enjoy!

“Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world”. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

What could be more beautiful than spring flowers? Spring….I can hardly wait!

To see more interpretations of the theme “Arrangement” click here.

CULTURE TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY

April 15, 2012April 9, 2018

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Photography: From Minnesota with love

I couldn’t help myself. I am overwhelmed by the beauty of spring and the delightful array of colorful spring flowers.

I believe strongly that nature can heal you. Enlighten you. And brighten your soul. I was drawn to visit the Minnesota Arboretum in the outlying suburbs for an afternoon of photo taking and embracing the beauty of mother nature’s rebirth and revival.

Hope you enjoy! No worries, too. After this post, I’m back to Guatemala with a visit to some of Antigua’s famous ruins!

The tulips were so brilliant, they hurt my eyes.

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April 14, 2012April 13, 2018

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The Power of Flowers: Spring in Minnesota

When I was planning out my travel schedule this year, it never occurred to me that I would have the fortuitous opportunity of experiencing three Springs. Spring is one of my favorite times of year. After a long, cold, brutal, colorless winter suddenly there is a huge rebirth of color and everything comes to life. This rebirth of life brings so much joy to me that at times I find myself engulfed in absolute spring fever madness.

I can’t concentrate. I can’t stand to be indoors. My heart and soul are bursting with energy to be outside and to be alive once again. I want to run faster. I want to breathe freer. My soul is begging me to be outside, experiencing the thrill of mother nature at her finest.

Photo of tulip bursting with color and brightness and growing towards the sun…

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March 23, 2012

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Itchy eyes and the early arrival of a Minnesota spring

Spring has come a month early this year in Minnesota. After an unseasonably warm winter with hardly any snow to amply cover the ground or build a snowman, Spring has launched full force in what most people consider “Minne-snowta“.

The ice off nearby city lakes such as my beloved Lake Harriet faded into our memories almost a month early. The trees are in full bloom and the allergy index is high. My eyes are itching, my nose is running and I have desperately scrambled to unpack my summer cloths while the temperatures soar on average 30-40 degrees higher than normal. The average high for today of 44 degrees F is a long ago memory as each and every day another record is set and it feels like June.

In fact, it seems like we just skipped past Spring all together and jumped into summer. But the telltale signs of the trees, bushes and flowers in full bloom reminds me that yes it is still spring. The spectacular showing of brilliant reborn green has been making my eyes water as I marvel at their sensational beauty and watch the world around me come back to life. It gives me joy, inspiration and miraculous hope for the future as I witness the rebirth of Spring and embrace the phenomenal changing of the seasons that encompass the circle of life.

Here are some of my favorite photos I took today during my morning walk around Minnehaha Creek and Lake Harriet nearby my home.