Saturday was finally warm and sunny enough to get Mia out to stretch her legs. Top down, windows down, wind in our hair.

(Note: I think this photo is kind of funny. Since I was wearing my sunglasses at the time of taking the photo, the camera focused on the writing on the side mirror instead of on me like I had intended so I am blurred out. See my new hat?)

We decided to do a big loop: up to the lovely town of Warwick through Greenwood Lake and then come back down through our favorite little back road to Upper Greenwood Lake with a side trip to the Warwick Valley Winery.

At least some people who live on the road that goes past the winery have a sense of humor. I love this sign!

The road is so tiny and narrow that going much faster than that would be suicide anyway.

The winery is smack in the middle of what is called the black dirt region near Pine Island, New York which is famous for growing onions. Follow the link to learn more about it. The dirt really is black!

We were surprised to see the parking lot full of cars and nearly every picnic table was taken up with people enjoying the sunshine. We are always trying to find a nice place to have lunch when we take Mia out and for some reason we always forget about the winery. Too bad we had lunch at our little local diner down the hill before starting our drive because the food coming out of the cafe at the winery looked delicious—especially the pizzas! Next time!

We ordered a glass of Black Dirt Blush and sat down at a picnic table outside to people watch and soak up the sun. We think a dog had claimed our table sometime in the not too distant past. Do you agree?

We sat and sipped our wine, the sun warm against our backs, and watched as people ate, drank their recently purchased bottles of wine and spread blankets on the newly greening grass while little children from various families banded together to play.

The wine was such a pretty color in the sun! I know I keep going on about the sun, but we haven’t seen it much. (Fun side note: Rick has his yearly physical a week ago and all was fine except his blood work showed a slight Vitamin D deficiency! Dr. said he thinks more sun is needed.)

I thought the recycle “bin” for the empty wine bottles was interesting.

Such an enjoyable couple of hours! It was so nice to finally get out and take advantage of a beautiful spring day.

There are promises of Spring all around.

In the budding of the maple trees.

In the robins that are too numerous to count in our yard. Their monotonous songs saturate the early morning hours.

In the chicken-scratch dance of the Fox Sparrow, first sighted this weekend.

In the budding forsythia.

In the as-yet-unopened daffodil.

And the hope and expectation that rides on the very first lilac buds this bush has ever offered, which started as a tiny twig from my Mom’s lilac bush from her yard. I just wish she were here to see it bloom.

Spring is coming. Slowly, ever so slowly,  but surely.

In case anyone was wondering ... I’m still here. A few friends have checked in saying “everything okay with you? you haven’t blogged in a long time.”

Yep. All is okay. Just nothing to say. Nothing to take photos of. Gray. Gloomy. No spring yet.

Just BLAH.

Kind of like me. blah.blah.blah.

Here is a video of our front yard turkeys. That’s me in my glamorous bathrobe tossing them some food! Watch for the tom’s behavior as he bumps a female, and right after as he “dances” away. As I type they are in the yard again this morning.

A new season has been created here in New Jersey: Sprinter. Not Spring. Not Winter. Sprinter. Another snow swept through yesterday leaving everything looking like someone had traced around all the branches and trees with a big fat white marker.

The buds are confused.

And oh ... remember those little catkins I was so excited about? I think they were wise to wait.

Pretty? Yes. Wanted? NO.