Friday, April 1, 2016

Spring all around us - and blog anniversary

Spring has been in Georgia for several weeks already.  I carry a little camera in my purse and, along the way, take many pictures of pretty trees in bloom.  The pictures are from everyday places in town as we go on our errands.  In early March while we waited on our car having a part repaired we walked next to the garage and this is what we saw.  (Click on collages twice to enlarge.)

Around our home, houses nearby have many blooming bushes and colorful trees.

Trees in blooms are not choosy; they will bloom around modest homes as well as around mansions.

Sometimes I see beautiful trees while driving, but if cars are following me inches away and I can't stop.  If I can park, I'll stop for a few moments.  Below, my husband took a picture of me while I was in a driveway snapping blooms.

There should be a sign on my car bumper saying Will stop for trees in bloom!

Since we don't live in downtown Atlanta where there are tall office buildings, our doctors' offices can be in small houses.  Last week I went to my dentist for my scheduled visit, and was in awe of the Japanese cherry trees blossoming around his small building.  I took 20 photos of the trees and blooms; below are some of them.  It looked like some cotton balls or even snowflakes had been stuck on the branches.

Pink blossoms were bursting out on trees in the parking lot of another doctor's office.

In the parking lot of my husband's lung specialist, red tip buds were also showing deep pink colors.

Blooms were even coming out from the tree trunk.

We drove to the Cobb County government offices to bring back a form last Friday.  They were closed because of Good Friday, but we enjoyed walking around their nicely manicured lawns and their blooming trees.

Then yesterday we had to drive to the Georgia Tag Office to get our 2016 vehicle tag.  The skies were overcast but driving back home, in the distance, it looked like some pine trees had a purplish tint.  We stopped and I took many photos, vertically and horizontally.  There was a multitude of wisteria vines growing wild on most of the pine trees on a ridge.  Even mundane errands bring joy when the surroundings are lovely.


Last Saturday, March 26, was my birthday.  I had hoped to go on a small road trip in the Buckhead area of Atlanta to look at spring flowers blooming around beautiful mansions, but it rained.  In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant in Kennesaw called Provino's.  They offer a free dinner on the day of one's birthday.  I had the "Veal Francese" (French veal) which is veal scallopini egg dipped, sauteed golden in lemon butter & wine sauce.  A small side of pasta with fresh tomato sauce came with it as well as a salad and hot garlic rolls.  My husband had a seafood pasta dish - both were good but I forgot to take pictures.  For dessert they gave me a complimentary dish of spumoni ice cream.  I took its picture with my cell phone.

But since this was not a birthday cake, we did buy a belated birthday cake at my favorite French bakery "Douceur de France."  It was a chocolate cake, called "Chocolate Lover" sheet cake, with chocolate mousse, chocolate truffle and chocolate genoise - delicious!

As I mentioned before, we live northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County.  We are located in the west part of the county and are between 6 and 8 miles from five small towns: Marietta, Kennesaw, Acworth, Powder Springs and Dallas (in the adjoining county of Paulding,) so there is a good choice of restaurants.  Last year for my birthday we went to an award winning Louisiana restaurant in Acworth called "Henri Louisiana Grill."  It had great atmosphere and excellent cuisine.  It is in downtown Acworth across the railroad.  There were blooming trees along the railroad tracks at the time, and I took their picture, of course.

The azaleas in our backyard are in full bloom.  Yesterday the weather forecast predicted heavy rain with strong winds and even a threat of tornado.  I took several pictures before the rain came.

We have three azalea bushes - pink, bright red and a white one.  The white shrub this year is especially nice.  I took several photos with my iPad.  I wish I could take these azaleas to Nashville whenever we move there.  Have any of you, with a green thumb, been successful propagating azaleas with cuttings?  Any tips?

As I was snapping photos of my azalea bushes I could hear Canada geese calling - they were flying toward me.  I aimed my iPad to the sky and was lucky to catch them.  They were flying high so my photos are not very clear, as I did not have time to adjust the iPad.

I almost forgot - my blog was started in 2009 when we visited our daughter for my birthday.  She  was living then in Long Beach, California.  So my blog anniversary coincides with my birthday.  It is hard to believe that I have been blogging for seven years and am now starting on my eighth year.  Time has gone quickly.  I have enjoyed the comments from many wonderful blogging friends, visiting their blogs and meeting some of them, too.  I thank you all for making blogging so much fun for me.  For now, I'll end with an haiku by Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828.)  He was better known as Issa, a pen name meaning Cup-of-Tea.  He was a Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest.

Spring breeze -
the pine on the ridge
whispers it

- Kobayashi Issa

Below is a wood block print by Benji Asada, a painter and print-maker from Kyoto, Japan (1899-1984) entitled The Pagoda of Ninnaji Tanyu.

 In my next post, I'll go on with the second part of the Bulloch Hall quilt show.


47 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

Happy belated birthday - and thank you so much for showering us with spring blossom.

bayou said...

Dear Vagabonde, first of all many thanks for this fascinating array of spring blooms. It is so promising especially on another grey dull day in Belgium, despite a weather forecast which talked about 'spring temperatures, then nicest day of the week and sunshine'. They could not have been more wrong :-( But I long for all what you have shown and am happy that you can enjoy it all so much! I don't know about azalea cuttings but there must be some good advises on the net? And now: drums up! Happy belated birthday, my dear friend! Not only your own, also your blog's and I am so thankful that you did start a blog so many years ago as it allowed me, to get a nice window into your world --- not so much different of mine,just an ocean a part :-). With love, Anke

bayou said...

Just asked my EG (English Gardener) and he confirmed that azaleas can be pinned down to make roots and then been transplanted.

DJan said...

Those glorious blossoms! I can hardly believe how many there are. We are in full bloom right now, but our rhododendrons are just beginning to come out. The azaleas have been out for a couple of weeks. I have no idea how to transplant them, but they seem hardy to me. I'd give it a try. Sending you much love and happy spring thoughts. :-)

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

I look so forward to the best two weeks of the year - when all the trees come to bloom and my world seems to be so much more beautiful. Your picture gave me a lovely preview.

Happy belated birthday and also congratulations on your blog anniversary.

Frances said...

Vagabonde, a very Happy (if belated) Birthday and blog anniversary to you! With this glorious abundance of beautiful photographs, it is you who have given us the birthday gifts! What a spectacular time of the year.

I smiled at your comment that beautiful trees can bloom in all sorts of neighborhoods. That is one of nature's kinder characteristics. Your weather is still ahead of ours. Our temperatures swerve up and down, and sunshine swaps places with clouds and rain. Some days, it seems as if we have several seasons in the very same 24 hours!

Hoping that your magnificent azaleas can travel with you when you all move house.

xo

David said...

Vagabonde, Happy belated birthday wishes! Also, congratulations on 7 years of blogging... Great spring flower photos! We're about a week behind you up here in East Tennessee. Love spring and the renewal that it brings! We wish that we had a good Italian, French or any other quality ethnic restaurant around here...but no such luck. Thai and Mexican are about as good as it gets. There is a decent creperie too. There is a nearby Belgian restaurant but we just aren't impressed. There are a handful of good restaurants but not ethnic ones... Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

donna baker said...

So smart to always take your camera. I drove the ATV through a field of pines and was covered in sheet of yellow pollen. Didn't know pines produced so much pollen. Spring is in earnest here and I love it, though a tornado passed north of our city house this week and reminded me how much damage can occur. Happy blogging and birthday celebrations. I too have so enjoyed blogging. It has brought much to my life.

Marie-Anne said...

Je me suis régalée de tes superbes photos, chère Vagabonde! Oui, le printemps est si beau!!! Chez nous, les fruits sont déjà formés sur les arbres, seuls nos deux grands arbres de Judée (Cercis siliquastrum) sont en pleine floraison avec des fleurs roses même sur les troncs, comme tu dis!!
Je t'envoie mes meilleurs voeux pour ton anniversaire ainsi que pour l'anniversaire de ton blog!
Gros bisous!
Marie-Anne

Jeanie said...

Oh, which to congratulate you on first! Happy Birthday, I think, deserves first mention! Three cheers -- your dinner and cake looked fabulous!

And Happy Blog Anniversary! I've been doing this a long while too and know that it is a commitment to continue for as many years. I'm grateful you have, as you have shared so many fascinating places and things, and of course beautiful photography. This post is no exception and of course you are much more into spring than here in Michigan where we still could get snow and have only seen daffodils!

I cherish the friendship that has evolved over this time and look forward to many more years of visiting your blog, sharing email discussions and more!

Pixel Peeper said...

Happy birthday and happy blogaversary! I love that time of year when everything seems to jump to life and bursts out blooming. One of my friends once said, "It's like spring threw up all over." LOL.

I love your birthday cake...my thoughts are that you just can't ever have too much chocolate.

Sweet Posy Dreams said...

Beautiful flowers, and that cake looks absolutely decadent!

JudyMac said...

A belated Happy Birthday to you! Isn't it a gorgeous world we live in this time of year. It's a shame we only get to enjoy the beautiful azalea blooms for such a short period of time. At least the wisteria lasts a while longer. Glad you are feeling better once again and able to be out and about as before. I need to note the name and find that bakery where you got the scrumptious looking chocolate cake. Yummy!

Meryl Baer said...

Happy blog anniversary and happy birthday. Pictures are stunning. Can't wait until here in South Jersey the trees and flowers bloom. We only have daffodils so far...

Nib's End said...

I was in Carrollton the week before Easter. It was already greener than Chicago and the pollen was as thick as dust on the roads and pooled like yellow paint when it rained, but look what I missed...if only I had come a week later...

Jenny Woolf said...

I am glad that your birthday was lovely and your cake looks delicious! I always like your wonderful collections of many photographs but what I thought when I saw all those images of blossom, is that putting them together as composites in this way, really helps to convey the feeling that blossom has in real life - so many different types, so many angles, and.... well, so MUCH!!! Absolutely lovely. Thank you for a beautiful post.

Rosaria Williams said...

So good to see your beautiful display of spring flowers. Seven years of blogging is a long time, and you have done it with style and passion. Hope to see you around for many more.
Happy, belated birthday.

Magic Love Crow said...

Happy Birthday to you! I love the cake! And, Happy Birthday to your blog! WOW, what beautiful pictures! I don't think I have ever seen so many beautiful blossoms before! We are having another snow storm, as I type this comment! LOL! I think we will be having snow till the end of April this year. It's actually pretty common for us. Big Hugs!

Kay G. said...

Happy Belated Birthday and happy blogging anniversary too!

Kerry said...

This brings back HUGE memories of living in the South. We lived in Alabama for almost 9 years, and every spring I was amazed by the flowering rhodies and azaleas. So beautiful. Some of those things bloom here in Oregon too, but it isn't the same.
Also. I began my blog in 2009 too, and have been a little less active recently, but I do love blogging. :-)

Nadezda said...

Happy belated birthday, Vagabonde! And congrats with your blog's 7 years. Yes, time flies very fast, your blog is very interesting, I read it with pleasure. LOvely photos of blooming trees and I only can dream when the trees bloom here. About azaleas - can say they NEVER propagate with cuttings, never, unfortunately.
What you can do, is to dig some young bushes, to plant them in tubs and move them in Nashville. OR to earth lower branches in a soil near the bush and among 3-4 months they will have own roots and you will be able to divide them off the mother's roots.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Happy belated birthday to you and your blog. You live in a beautiful part of the world for spring time. Your gorgeous pictures of spring in Georgia makes me homesick for the upper south. Spring in south Florida is mostly celebrated with tall sprouts at the top of tall palm trees and huge hedges of gorgeously bright bougainvillea, which isn't all bad, but it's not azaleas and dogwoods either...
Sam

rhymeswithplague said...

Azaleas, dogwoods, redbuds, cherries, Bradford pears -- wonderful reasons all to love north Georgis in the spring. I spotted Atlanta's Swan House when I enlarged the pictures, too.

A very happy birthday (eight days after mine) and blog anniversary to you, Mme. Vagabonde.

claude said...

Quelle magnifique publication, Vagabonde, tout en fleurs et en couleurs et quelque peu gourmande.
J'ai zapé ton anniversaire mais je veux souhaiter une bonne continuation à ton blog et à toi bien évidemment. Je suis en train de me rendre compte que mon blog aura 10 ans en septembre.
J'ai parcouru ta publication précédente et admiré les magnifiques patchworks.
Bises

joared said...

A belated happy birthday greeting to you! These flowering photos celebration of your birthday and spring is just spectacular! Thank you for sharing this colorful display here.

sweffling said...

Happy Belated Birthday and Blog Anniversary from me too!! That chocolate cake looks wonderful:)
Your photos make me feel as if I have been bathing in blossom, so much more beautiful than bubble bath. Thank you for these gorgeous blooms. No blossom out yet near me, I am hanging on still waiting so am even more grateful for yours.

Mae Travels said...

Your photo collages are dazzling!
best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Jono said...

A happy belated birthday and blogiversary to you! We keep getting snow and it was 0F this morning. I will scream if spring doesn't come soon.

Jenn Jilks said...

Happy happy! Such lovely travels and flowers!

DeniseinVA said...

Marvelous to see all these super photographs. Happy Belated Birthday and Anniversary of your blog too. Thank you for visiting my blog. I did visit a history museum in Oslo wth lots of similar houses. I also have not posted all my photos from that trip.

Carol Crump Bryner said...

Oh, such lovely blossoms. I'm green with envy since all we have up here are exploding pussy willows.
A very happy birthday to you, and best wishes for many more blogging years ahead. Now I have to go back and look at all those blooms all over again.

Down by the sea said...

So much to celebrate! Belated wishes for your birthday and blog anniversary. Wow that blossom is amazing we don't have any avenues like that so full of blossom. The azalea's are so beautiful too I do hope that you can follow the advice above and you are able to take some successful cuttings. Sarah x

Paulita said...

Happy blogaversary. Your trees in bloom are gorgeous. Our redbuds are blooming here now, so I figured your post must be a little older than today (April 11). I'm sure in Georgia your spring is far ahead of ours.

Chloe said...

There are a lot of tender colors of blooming. It feels like blooming paradise. :)

Kay said...

A very happy belated birthday and blogavesary, Vagabonde! Your spring photos are just awesome! Wow! I can almost feel the spring fever!

ELFI said...

bon anniversaire à toi et ton blog...avec un retard d'un mois...biz

ELFI said...

je ne sais pas si mon commentaire à passé... avec ce wifi improbable...biz

Ginnie Hart said...

First of all, Vagabonde, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love that you celebrate in style each year. I LOVE the bumper sticker "Will stop for trees in bloom!" And I LOVE how you fill yourself up with the glories of spring there in Georgia. I'll never forget the azaleas, the wisteria, and the dogwoods. Nothing like it in your neck of the woods!

Vicki Lane said...

It seems all of nature was celebrating with you, dear Vagabonde! Happy belated birthday!

Glenda Beall said...

As always, your pictures of the trees and the flowers are breath-taking. We are two hours north of you and our dogwoods are now blooming. We had beautiful Pear trees and Cherry trees earlier and then cold weather turned them brown.
I love spring!
Congratulations on your blog anniversary and on your birthday. So glad you had a good celebration. Love the cake!
I must have missed your announcement that you were moving to Nashville. When will that happen?
I hope you continue to enjoy the beauty around you and continue to capture it and share it with all of us.

Carola Bartz said...

Oh Vagabonde, how much did I enjoy this post!!! The blooming trees in your area are spectacular - I can understand so well that you take many pictures and never get tired of them. Who could? I like your idea for the bumper sticker, someone should seriously do that (there are many more stop-worthing reasons as well, so it could be a real business niche).
I have no experience with azaleas except enjoying them. I think your climate is much more humid than ours which might be better for them anyway. It's too dry here most of the time.

Thérèse said...

Un billet destiné aux amoureux de fleurs. Magnifique publication et un défi certain pour mettre un nom correspondant à chaque fleur ou groupe de fleurs...
Les sakuras sont merveilleuses (merveilleux?) hommage au Japon.
Beaucoup de retard cette année dans la floraison et pourtant le muguet ici à Toulouse est dignement en fleurs, en avance pour le premier mai.

Thérèse said...

Bon anniversaire! A toi, en retard, et à ton blog.

Sally Wessely said...

The profusion of photos of blossoms in this post almost me swoon. I've been away from blogging. Eye surgery caused me to avoid the computer. What a joy it was to see this post. I can just see you taking those photos and being overjoyed at the process of doing so.

Serviced Apartment Guy said...

Is there anything more stunning than cherry blossom? Thanks for all these wonderful photos, there's a CB tree just near me but it seems to have shed now, so it's good to see a few still in bloom!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

The Spring flowers are just stunning (and bring back memories for me from when we lived in more moderate climes. Here in SW Florida, it is too hot for most of the usual Spring flowers.)

A very belated Happy Birthday wish and a wonderful year.

Kay said...

Happy Birthday! I am agog at all your gorgeous photos of spring blooms. I really miss that living in Hawaii.

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