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.

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!

The calendar says that spring has arrived. I think not. Our grass has greened up some with the drenching inch of rain we got yesterday, but the thermometer hovers at a chilly 39 degrees. The forsythia hedge in front of our house was ablaze with bloom this time last year when we moved in. As you can see by the photo above, the buds are there—and have been for the past week or so—but they are reluctant to pop. I can certainly understand why. It feels more like winter than it does spring.

They say another rough storm for us on Sunday with howling wind and torrential rains, then snow overnight. What? Don’t do that, I have to catch a plane to Las Vegas on Monday. Stop it—enough already! I have the pool scheduled for opening in one month. This kind of weather was not quite what I was expecting.

I didn’t expect to see the bears in my back yard last night at 7:30 p.m. either. After not seeing them for over a week I had grown lax about looking out first before letting the dogs out. Not a good plan. Two seconds after I let Daisy out she started barking furiously. That could only mean one thing: bears. I looked out to see a bear clinging to the big oak tree. Daisy was squatting to pee and barking. I called her and she came running in. I could see two other bears in the woods, so it was Ursa. I ran for the camera, but of course I was too late.

Somehow it seems normal to have bears in the yard. How strange is that? Last year when we moved here I had no expectations that we would see and come in contact with bears so often. And, I would never have thought I’d actually enjoy having bears in my yard. I would have freaked out! Now they are part of our wildlife family. I worry about them when they are not around. Silly, isn’t it?

I didn’t expect our house in Colorado to to still be on the market nearly one year later. It’s such a lovely house. I cant imagine why it’s still sitting there unsold! Very disappointing and worrisome. While we are still burdened with it, we can’t make any of the small upgrades we so want to do to this house. Please send some positive house-selling vibes our way.

As for my expectations of Las Vegas ... well ... I’m trying not to have any preconceived notions in my head about what it’s really like. I DO expect the weather to be warm and sunny (the weather map says so). I DO expect to have a great time. I DO expect to blog every day from there and bring a little Vegas to all of you. It’s Lynne—Live from Las Vegas!

I also expect spring isn’t too far away. At least I’d like to think so.

While I am working on my five interview answers for Susan in WA, (almost done, Susan!) I thought I’d post about the latest Gracious Parcel squares I’ve completed for Jackie’s on-going charity blanket project. When Jackie contacted me and told me she was coming up a bit short on squares for the next blanket I knew I couldn’t let her down. This time I did three different squares; two of each kind. In case you don’t remember, she asks for the squares to in some way represent the countryside where she lives. Since this blanket was going to be given in the spring, I wanted my squares to reflect things found in the spring and summer.

Lilacs are one of my favorite things, so it was only natural that one of the squares would be dedicated to those fragrant blooms. It took me some time to find the right yarn for representing lilacs, but I found the perfect fit. I experimented with different stitch patterns until I hit on the right one (the box stitch) to make it look like clusters of lilac flowers. It’s soft and smooshy-feeling to the touch.

I had some variegated blue yarn that came with my original “Learn to Knit” kit and thought it would do well to represent a river. When I started playing with the yarn, it just begged for the chevron stitch to make it look like ripples. (The chevron stitch forms a “v”.)

I also wanted to represent the fruiting bushes around her area and even though the yarn is not quite the correct color of red for raspberries, it works. The checkerboard pattern worked up to look like lots of small pints of raspberries (or at least to my imagination it does).

I enjoy doing the squares. They work up quickly and keep my mind and hands busy.  It’s a creative adventure from start to finish: picking out the yarn; choosing the pattern stitch; designing and making the tags. And best of all, it’s for a good cause. You can read more about how you can contribute on Jackie’s blog. She now has a photo up of the last completed blanket. Take a look—it’s awesome! I can see all three of my squares sewn into this work of art created by knitter’s hands from all over the world. It’s a good thing to be a part of.