City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York. I am glad to report that our city is finally showing some signs of springtime. No, the tulips are not yet blooming along Park Avenue, but there are lots of flowers showing off in Central Park. After this morning's light rain ended, and after I managed to take care of some required errands, I had a light lunch and headed over the Park with my camera to see what was going on.

Many of the flowers were emerging from a protective blanket of autumn leaves. I quite like the notion of one season helping along another.

After the rain, lots of birds were out looking for delicious afternoon treats. Can you see the brilliant red feathers of the cardinal in the following photo?

Well, I thought you could! Now see if you can find the American version of a robin redbreast in the next photo.

You all did brilliantly! Let me reward you with this beautiful forsythia veil. The lake is just beyond.

Just to remind us that Central Park is in the middle of Manhattan, I let my camera have a look above the lake to show you some of the skyscrapers along the southern edge of the Park. The subdued light does not do justice of the gentle green glow that budding leaves are giving to the tree branches.

There are lots and lots of hellebores in bloom. Some are white, some are in delicate purples, and some are in deep, deep purple tones. They all like to keep their heads bowed.

The new leaves of this tall willow tree are a delicously delicate shade of green.

Ah, here we come to the entrance to my favorite spot, the Shakespeare Garden.

All sorts of miniature daffs are making a statement.

This area has a wonderful mixture of shapes, textures, colors that goes on all year long. I encountered a Park gardener there today who showed me where primroses will soon be joining the mix. He also said that he'd be planting oxlips, too. I told him that I'd just learned about those pretty little oxlip flowers this week (from Celia who writes the Purple Podded Peas blogs.)

Here are more of the showy little daffs!

And here's another indication of the mixture.

And here's a bright eyed showoff of a flower. I could not resist taking a close up view.

In a recent posting I took a photo of this slope when just one or two daffs had the courage to reveal their petals. Now you can see the entire host.

Birds were not the only ones looking for a late lunch. This little fellow was kind enought to pause mid-snack while I took his picture.

The gardener told me that he's seen more blooms every day. This tree was just beginning to get into a springtime fling.

I love to walk around the Park's pathways, because a walking pace lets me see more and lets me stop and take even longer looks. However, some folks prefer to hire a carriage. You can see the top of a church on Central Park West peeking over the wall at the western edge of the Park.

I was glad that I had a toasted cheese sandwich before setting out for my walk. All the same, it's good to know that refreshments are available. One of the signs on this cart proclaims Nuts 4 Nuts.

I began this post with some blue flowers, and found these hyacinths as I left the Park. The delicious scent tipped me to the presence of hyacinths long before I actually saw them.

Tomorrow I will return to work, carrying with me refreshed by what I saw outdoors today. I hope that each of you are also finding time to experience early spring.