When the Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks arrive I know it’s Spring. We only have these lovely birds for a week or so, then they move on to wherever they live in New Jersey besides our back yard. Here are two males.

Each of them has a slightly different rose pattern on their breast. Take a look.

Beautiful, aren’t they? They just arrived on Wednesday as our company left. Now I have to keep a keen eye out for the hummingbird’s arrival which usually happens around Mother’s Day which is coming up on the 13th of May. I expected them early this year because of the earlier than normal Spring, but maybe they will come exactly on time.

But our weather has been a bit strange. One day we had over 90 degrees F, then we’ve had chilly weather for the past week with rain and temperatures barely reaching 60 degrees F some days. Last night at 1:15 (or should I say this morning?) we had our first thunderstorm of the year. It’s having a hard time making up its mind.

On Monday we took a walk in Skylands Botanical Garden. Here are a few blooming things that we saw.

The azaleas were magnificent!

Breathe deeply and you might catch a whiff of sweet lilacs! Sheer heaven!

Peony Power!

I don’t know what this is, but I like it.

The forest ferns had a good start; better than mine!

And these unique and lovely Jack-in-the-Pulpits were out on the forest edge all by themselves. It looks like they are having a conversation. They are truly interesting looking plants.

I do love Spring—even when it’s fickle!

I just got back from taking Alex for a walk even though it’s a bit blustery out there today. As we passed the little wooded area in front of our house it was hard to miss the large areas of bright orange on one of the cedar trees. What the heck?

At first I thought it might be mushrooms since it just appeared since our rain the other day. On closer inspection nearly all the cedar trees in that area were oozing orange goo. It looked like something from outer space! Yuck! You know me, had to grab the camera.

This tree had a different pattern of goo.

Up close and gelatinous! It’s very wet and sticky.

When I came in I googled “orange goo on cedar trees” and came up with something called quince rust. In a way I was right in thinking it was a mushroom since it is actually the fruiting body of a fungus. Here is a link to a pretty good article about it. It says it won’t permanently harm the tree, so that’s good.

Still … it’s very weird. What do you think? Would you like to have some orange goo of your own? I can scrape some off and send you some!

I am proud to reveal the new un-white guest bedroom ~ ~ ~ !

Rick helped put the room back together yesterday and I ironed the curtains before putting them up. The curtain rods needed a little attention since they were pulling away from the walls and the screws were somehow stripped, but other than that all went well. We are really happy with the whole feel of the room now. We think it’s very inviting and cozy! And a big change from what it used to be.

Not the best photos in the world since it was a dark day. (Not complaining about the darkness at all since we finally got some much needed rain—2.34 inches worth!)

The green space is all around us (outside). The rain over the past few days has really made the trees unfurl those leaves at a rapid pace. I love the color of new green. There is nothing quite like it. It’s nothing like the middle-of-the-road green of summer. I love this time of year!

Just a few more photos from my trip to Skylands last week.

This row of cherry trees never let me down!

This little guy was flitting around from blossom to blossom. Pretty, isn’t it?

Statue with golden forsythia as a backdrop.

Or if you prefer, a statue with a pink cherry as a backdrop.

Close-ups of a grape hyacinth and a pasque flower. Things look so strange when you take a really close look at them, don’t they?

My fig tree is just starting to leaf out and already has baby figs coming! Right now we are alternating its inside vs outside time because we are still having some nights that threaten to dip below the freezing mark. I don’t want to risk the new leaves or the baby figs getting nipped!

Photo taken yesterday against the backdrop of the garage door while it spent the day sunning outside. Taken again with the Lensbaby.