Sunday, April 11, 2010

Mostly yellow

More spring photos!

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

All photos taken on the grounds of Skylands Botanical Garden on Thursday.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Busy as a bee in cherry blossoms

Can you find the bee in each photo?  Some are obvious of course, but a few are not.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


The bees were hanging out in this clump of cherry trees on the grounds of Skylands Botanical Garden yesterday.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

They were all buzzing around my head and would not leave me alone until I promised to feature them on my blog. Bees must be appeased, you know.

P.S. I certainly hope you are not tired of springy photos just yet. I have more ...

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Cherry Blossoms in Newark, NJ?

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

When you think about a large mass of beautiful cherry trees in bloom, no doubt your mind goes right to Washington, D.C., right? What if I told you that a park near Newark, New Jersey has more cherry trees than D.C.? Branch Brook Park in Belleville has over 4,000 cherry trees of over 14 different varieties, all planted in natural settings, making it the largest and most varied collection in the nation.

When Rick mentioned that we should go, I went online for more information. Their website said their Cherry Blossom Festival was next week. As our spring this year has rapidly been exploding with the last few days reaching high 80’s I thought I’d better call and find out how the blossoms were. The woman at the Visitor’s Center assured me that the trees were at their peak now, not next week. So yesterday over a long lunch hour for Rick, we headed down that way.

It was a nice day, but unfortunately the wind was blowing. And, when we got there we could see that most of the trees were either losing their blossoms in showers of petals in the wind, or they were pretty much done. Darn! We missed it! We decided to see what we could see anyway. The trees are not planted en masse so the effect is quite different from a row-like planting, allowing each tree to show its own unique beauty. They are spread out over a large area. Some trees were still beautifully showy. Here is a sampling of what we saw on our walk.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey
Beware of small cherry tree elves!

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

Just the gnarly shapes of some of the older trees, like this one, were amazing.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


These two women/girls were wearing Easter bunny ears. They certainly picked a beautiful place to spread their blanket!

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

Next year we’ll have to pay better attention so we can hit it during their peak! Those poor people next week at the Cherry Blossom Festival won’t have anything to look at. I think Mother Nature pulled one over on them this year.

But like I said, spring is exploding around here.  It seems like the trees popped overnight about two days ago and every morning when I get up the leaves on the trees have doubled from what they were the previous day. It’s crazy early for that to be happening!

Monday, April 05, 2010

Driving Miss Mia

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

A new category has been added to my blog. Since the addition to our family of our Miata, (more commonly known to us as Mia) I foresee new adventures in our future in which she plays a major role. Therefore she deserves her very own category: Driving Miss Mia. The blog posts will range from me snapping photos along the way, to photos once we reach our destination and who knows what else.

It was a beautiful weekend. Perfect “top-down” weather for sure. On Saturday morning we started our drive up to Monroe, New York and Warwick.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

Our drive took us along the shore of Greenwood Lake.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

A stop for ice cream at Bellvale Farms. They have the best view of the lovely Warwick valley.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

A funny sign on the way back from the Warwick Winery. It says something completely different on the other side as you approach the Winery but we didn’t realize it until we were past it. Next time…

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

And no, we didn’t taste. We just drove there to find out where it was never having been there before.

An old barn along the way.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

Look who’s driving!

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

Later on that day friends Bill and Carol called to see if we wanted to take a drive down to Lake Mohawk in the Sparta area. They have a convertible too, you see. On glorious days the “Convertible Club” (which also consists of neighbors Kim and Mark) get together and go for drives, usually ending up somewhere to eat.

It was a beautiful drive down and I can’t wait to do it again once the trees are out.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

It’s a quaint little town with odd architecture here and there.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

We walked along the boardwalk next to the lake.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

We stopped into a local pub and had a beer, then a slice of pizza and headed home.

After watching this pretty hawk fly over us I had to wonder ... do people in convertibles get bird poop on their heads very often? Certainly something to ponder.

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Here’s what is blooming in my yard today. I hope you have similar brightness in your day!

Front yard:

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Back yard:

Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey


Lynne Robinson, Hewitt, New Jersey

About

Welcome, I'm Lynne. You know me better as a 'new' Jersey Girl. But now I've moved once again, this time to North Carolina. Here I write about my thoughts, good food, and of course, dogs.

© 2006-2023 Lynne Robinson All photography and text on this blog is copyright. For use or reproduction please ask me first.

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