We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children
that makes the heart too big for the body.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
photography
The sun’s got the snow on the run
What a difference a day makes.
Friday Haiku
They unfurled their blooms
then snow fell like wet cement.
The iris prevailed.
Springtime in the Rocky Mountain foothills
Yesterday, the forecast said it would start snowing this evening. Instead, I woke to smothered flowers and shrubs in my front and back yards. I spent more than an hour outside with a broom, clearing snow from collapsed lilac bushes and apache plume shrubs. I’m probably going to lose my iris display this year. Again. And forget about the poppies.
Sigh.
The finches are handling it pretty well. We’d already called it a season and brought in the long extension cord that heats the bird bath, so that’s a bummer. I filled the dish with hot water this morning and the water has already turned slushy.
The snow’s supposed to continue through Friday and then on Saturday? This:
Wordless Wednesday: feline rights edition
Crosswalk sign in Uppsala, Sweden
Tulips interruptus
Despite already feeling overwhelmed by my gardening responsibilities, I brought 10 tulip bulbs back from Amsterdam. I wanted to have a yearly floral reminder of our trip. Today, I went outside and figured out where I could wedge them in. I prepared the soil and used my handy-dandy tulip-bulb-digger-thingy to make a hole. I set one bulb in the hole and then thought, “It’s been a while since you planted a tulip bulb, maybe you should check for any special instructions.”
Good thing I checked with the interwebs. Tulip bulbs are only supposed to be planted in the fall. Doh!
Amsterdam tulips nearing the end of their bloom.
My bulbs are now tucked away in a paper bag in a basement cabinet. They’ll stay there until September when my phone calendar alert reminds me that it’s really and truly tulip planting time.
Wordless Wednesday: feeling-crushed-by-it-all edition
Image captured in Stockholm.
One of us is not amused
Emma, Our Lady of Perpetual Cute.
Good thing there’s no such thing as climate change
In the last ten months, every house in our neighborhood got a new roof following a hailstorm last summer. In fact, roofers were working on a neighbor’s house minutes ago when the sky turned dark and another hailstorm blew in.
As Marcel watched, hail drifted up against the sliding glass door within minutes.
Here’s a view out the front window.
I’m very worried this storm just ruined all the new roofs. Again. I hope I’m wrong because otherwise there’s a whole lotta shingles headed for the landfill and a whole lotta hammering in our futures.
Day 7: Biking the river in Uppsala
This afternoon, Zippy and I took the train from Stockholm to Uppsala where Zebu has been studying for two semesters. He took us on a walking tour of the university town where I was thrilled to see evidence of a phenomenon he’d described during one of our Skype sessions:
Bikes in the river.
Thanks for making my day, anonymous bike-thrower!
.
Day 6: Things I learned in Stockholm
An elevator (aka lift), is identifiable by a silent HISS:
This is a Western Jackdaw (image from pexels.com because those taken on my phone are poor quality). We kept hearing and catching glimpses of the bird yesterday, but weren’t sure what it was. Now we know. A Western Jackdaw!
It’s possible to walk a whole lotta dogs without any muss or fuss:
The National Library of Sweden has very nice toilets that are FREE to the public, plus nice statuary next to the entrance/exit:
Zebu, Zippy, and a very chill woman.
The last thing I learned? It’s WAY easier to take photos with my camera and download them to my laptop than to transfer between phone and computer . . .
.
Day 5: In which we each take shots in Stockholm
Zebu took the train from Uppsala down to Stockholm after his class this morning. As he showed us around parts of the city, we took turns with the various cameras. Here’s a picture of Zippy and Zebu (lower right corner), walking and talking:
A few minutes later, we passed two young employees standing outside a toy store, blowing bubbles to attract customers:
Zebu then took this photo of Zippy and me beneath one of the regional pink-blossomed trees I’ve been admiring since we set foot in Amsterdam:
And here’s Zippy’s final shot as we headed home on the metro:
It was an absolutely beautiful day in Stockholm and while Zebu confessed to wishing we’d experience one of the colder/grayer/wetter days he’s grown accustomed to, he didn’t begrudge us the warm sunshine.
.
Day 4: Copenhagen, totally
The alarm went off at 6:00 this morning. We got up and went to the Amsterdam airport for our flight to Stockholm with its eight-hour layover in Copenhagen. After having the security guy in Amsterdam confiscate my peanut butter due to its bomb-making capabilities and then spending WAY too much time finding the baggage lockers in Copenhagen, we finally stepped out into the beautiful (but windy!) Copenhagen afternoon.
We went to the Trinitatis Church. By “went,” I mean peeked in long enough to take a photo which, because I’m exhausted, I’m having trouble editing, and then climbed to the round tower. Along the way, I found this fellow in a window seat:
Zippy resting on the climb to the round tower atop the Trinitatis Church in Copenhagen.
Up top we had this view:
View of the old and new in Copenhagen
Then we did some other stuff before heading back to the Copenhagen airport to fly to Stockholm. (Doesn’t that sound like a typical third-grader’s story/book report/research project in which it’s always a mad rush to The End?) Here’s a preview of what’s to come taken from our bus ride from the airport into Stockholm:
Well, that didn’t work. Rather than finding the photo I emailed myself from my phone, all I’m getting is the blue twirly wheel of death. I’m gonna call it a day.
*goes back to change the name of this post from Day 4: Copenhagen, mostly to Day 4: Copenhagen, totally*
.
Day 3: iconic imagery from Amsterdam
We’ve got tulips:
Floating in the Museumplein pool.
Growing in a mound as Tracy stands guard over them in a tiny park.
We’ve got a canal view complete with narrow buildings and houseboats:
We’ve got a bicycle built for three, complete with windshield for the tiniest rider:
And last but not least, we’ve got Stroopwafels:
Gift from Femke, our AirBnB host.
Good thing I documented them here, because these delicious morsels are going fast!
.
Day 2: art in Amsterdam
We did a whole lot today: Climate March + MOCO Museum for Banksy/Dali exhibits + Climate March again + FOAM Museum for William Eggleston’s LOS ALAMOS exhibit plus additional photography exhibits, and then dinner out at SNCKBR. (And yeah, I’m totally cognizant of the fact that there are a whole lotta acronyms in the preceding sentence.)
It’s been a good day here in Amsterdam. So good, in fact, that I’m having trouble picking just one image to represent the experience. (To add more pics would result in a marathon blog post, and I don’t have the bandwidth for that right now.) So I’m going to leave it at this quote that was painted on the wall at the Banksy exhibit:
Actually, this is THE perfect sentiment for the day. You know why? The “art” wasn’t just in those museums. It was also on display in Museumplein where all those people gathered to voice their concern/outrage/hopes/etc regarding the climate change affecting the planet.
We’re a creative species, and it’s gonna take a whole lotta outrage + art + action to get us out of this mess. It’s a daunting endeavor. But today, between the civic action outside the museums and the creativity exhibited inside, I truly believe that is possible.
Art is essential to our survival.
.
Day 1: Amsterdam balcony view
What we see from our AirBnB on Maritzstraat.
We’ve only been here about an hour and I’ve already managed to trip the breaker with the hand blender I brought with me to make my green smoothies each day. I REALLY needed one after that long day of traveling. Bad news is there’s a good chance I fried my brand-new blender. Good news is this place had a little blender so I was still able to have my smoothie.
Other good news? It’s really beautiful here.
.
Wordless Wednesday: spring-in-Colorado edition
.
Now that you mention it
I do find it quite stressful to pack for a trip.
Thanks for noticing.
.
Friday Haiku
Once upon a time
a vibrant mushroom prevailed.
Then, dessication.
.
Happiness shared is the flower
Happiness held is the seed;
happiness shared is the flower.
~ John Harrigan
I just photographed this iris, the first to bloom in any of my gardens this year. This was also the first iris to bloom last year. I’m very happy to witness its delicate beauty again. And I’m also happy to share it here.
.
Every creature means just that
Every creature is better alive than dead,
men and moose and pine trees,
and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.
~ Henry David Thoreau
.
Today I embraced my inner squirrel
I’m working on a synopsis for my work-in-progress and, as anyone who has ever written one can attest, it’s not a pretty process. This time around I’m writing a synopsis before writing the novel which means I’m not locked into anything.
NOT LOCKED INTO ANYTHING = EVERYTHING IS A POSSIBILITY
Or another way to describe it: SQUIRREL BRAIN FREE-FOR-ALL
My ADD tendencies are having a blast-y as I try to reconcile my rough outline with all the brand new shiny ideas firing in my brain.
ZIP ZAP ZOOP.
However, I did make progress today. And when I’d had enough of ye olde synopsis, I put Emma on her leash and we went for a run on the trails.
Nothing clears the squirrel from one’s brain like a run over uneven terrain.
.
Friday Haiku
Which sounds most graceful:
Anhinga, water turkey,
snakebird or darter?
.
Wordless Wednesday: Black-Billed Magpie edition
.
Twofer Tuesday: Tulip edition
Today’s post is brought to you by people who no longer live here. The first tulip was planted by former neighbors, but not when we were gardening side-by-side. Rather, they did one of their infamous “drive-by plantings” when we weren’t looking, and gifted us some miniature tulips.
The next tulip is a senior citizen and was planted by the former owners of our house. Next month, we’ll have lived here 20 years.
That red flower is a lesson in being beautifully tenacious.
.
Tracy Abell 