I just love forsythia, don’t you? I mean, what’s not to love? Bright, cheery-yellow, shining beacons of light—everywhere. I have never seen so much forsythia as we have here in New Jersey. It seemingly grows wild along roadsides and at the edge of woodlands. It pops up in almost everyone’s yard.

For most of the year it hides behind its homogeneous green exterior and you don’t even know that it’s there. It patiently waits, keeping its secret to itself. Just wait, it says, you’ll see that I’m not just another bush come spring. Just wait ...

And then VOILÀ!—it bursts forth in a glorious array of yellow that glows from within. And you think to yourself: huh, I didn’t know that was a forsythia.

No matter if its exuberance is contained and restrained as in our trimmed hedge ...

... or left to wild abandon along a neighbor’s property line

... growing wild by roadsides and at the edge of woods

... or its lovely sprays cut and brought inside to brighten the sideboard,

forsythia is certain to delight the senses. Soon, it will don its summer coat of green and once again blend into the background until it surprises us all over again next spring.

For some of you, I apologize in advance. The beautiful fountain display at the Bellagio is probably old news to you if you’ve ever been to Vegas. For me, it was an astounding experience. I had tears in my eyes watching this amazing show of water, light, and music. Amazingly, on the night we were able to view them, it featured a favorite of mine: Andreas Bocelli. The show was uplifting, and it transported me beyond expectations. I took this video with my new tiny camera (all hand-held!). I was very pleased with its nighttime quality.

I used YouTube because some people were having trouble viewing my QuickTime vids, but I think the quality suffered a bit. In the future, I want to continue to embed QuickTime in my blog since YouTube compresses them further. If you are having difficulty with all the videos playing concurrently when you open my blog, you need to change your setting. Just go into your QuickTime application and in “Preferences” under “Movies” make sure that the option “automatically play movies when opened” is not checked. Please let me know if this solves your problem!

In the meantime, please sit back, turn up the volume on your computer, and relax. This video lasts about 3 minutes. Enjoy.

The Bellagio is a beautiful hotel. Not only is it home to the wonderful fountains, but also to a unique creation that is installed in the ceiling of the lobby: Fiori de Como, or “flowers of the lake.” World-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly created thousands of brightly colored, hand-blown, glass sculptures and brought them all together in a magnificent work of art. Larger on one end than the other, it spills over the ceiling in a riot of color, demanding your full attention.


To me it has the shape of a huge flower basket [narrower at the bottom and flaring out at the top] that is spilling over with flowers. In actuality, in the eyes of its creator, he sees it as a kind of sea form. Whatever you see when you look at it, you are bound to see beauty.

Different, whimsical ways of seating yourself at the Rainforest Cafe in the MGM Grand caught my eye.

The windows are open and a lovely cool breeze is blowing through the house. It’s taking the stale, closed-up air of winter and lifting it up, up and away, and bringing the crisp, fresh air of spring inside. It’s a heady scent indeed! When I look out the front windows my eyes are blinded by yellow. The forsythia hedge has finally decided it’s alright to bloom. Every day since our return it’s opened a bit more. I like the fractured view of it through our front door [above]. And here against our picket fence, it looks like a big gap-toothed grin. Maybe not to you, but it sure makes me want to smile back.

Last week this time I was leaving for Las Vegas in 30-ish degree weather. Today I sit here typing while the temperature soars to above 80° outside. I finally feel like the pool opening on May 11th isn’t so silly after all. Of course the trees aren’t out yet, so we will have to deal with their pollen in the pool, but that’s a small matter. I like doing the Daily Scoop anyway. It’s relaxing and a good mini workout for my upper arms.

Yesterday we worked in they yard. Rick touched up our metal outdoor furniture with some new black spray paint, and now they look next-to-new. I raked out the big flower bed/rock garden by the pool of all the dead leaves that had been left as a winter mulch. What a job! But I was rewarded by seeing how much the daylilies were up, the jonquils about to bloom, and these tender fern sprouts were also hiding under their leafy bed. Soon they will be lush and green. It’s still amazing to me that ferns actually grow in my yard.

I am still trying to come down off the high of Las Vegas last week. We were constantly on the go. It seems strange to have to drive myself somewhere, and stranger yet, to cook again. Seems like all we did was walk, eat, and drink [not necessarily in that order]. We had a great time and I’m already planning my trip next year. I’ll be bringing more of Vegas to you through my thoughts and photos throughout the week. I have a few short films to share as well, but first we want to figure out You Tube since a few of you are having difficulty with the QuickTime films. If all films start playing concurrently when you open my blog, there are settings within QuickTime to fix that. I just need to ask Rick tonight exactly what they are. So, stay tuned for more of Vegas.

Until then I’ll bring a little yellow sunshine into your lives! Breathe in deeply; inhale spring!