Spring!

It's true - Spring is really here!  We've had several days where the temp made it to 60 degrees.  Of course, the next day it might be 30, but we're making progress.  Spring is my favorite time; I love the blue skies, the warmer temps and all the trees and flowers starting to wake up. Last week, I wandered around the yard with my camera to document a little of that beauty.

Beautiful sight of buds on trees

Even the pine trees are showing new growth.

These are Lenten Rose plants. Many of you said you had never seen them before. They like cooler climates and grow in the shade. They are one of the first plants to bloom in the Spring and bloom for a long time. We have two plants, the green/white one and the rose color.

Miniature daffodils

The sun shining on new leaves is a beautiful sight!

These are Grecian Windflowers. They are quite small and grow in a carpet, low to the ground. Once their season is done, the whole plant disappears and isn't seen again until the next Spring.

This is their usual color, but we get a few pale ones, as pictured above.

This is Siberian Squill.  It's another tiny plant, only 4 inches tall. It grows in patches, creating these lovely spots of blue.

"To everything there is a season and a time for 

every matter under heaven."

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Spring Flooding

I mentioned last week that we had to do our egg hunt in the garage because of all the rain we've been getting. The rain has continued, causing flooding on the Grand River which is about 2 miles from our home.  We're far enough away and high enough that we aren't at risk. We went down to the park near us, and took a little drive along the river and I'll show you how things looked.

Usually you can walk under the bridge, but as you can see the sidewalk is covered with water.

This is a drive where people can back up their boats and kayaks to get onto the river, but as you can see, the drive is flooded and no trucks will be unloading boats.

What is that out in the water?  It's the top of a picnic table!  You can see the tree behind it which is usually on the riverbank.

As we drove along the river, we came to this area. The actual river is way in the back. The front area is usually home to cows, but now it's a lake.

This is another park near our home that is very flooded. There are trails by this bridge that we often walk on.  

Here's that same bridge a few years ago...

The ducks don't mind all the water!

These poor people have a barn full of water. If you look at the doorway, you can see chairs sitting in the water.

And here's a road we came to that was impassable.

Thankfully, the water is starting to go down.  I wish we could share this with some of you who've been praying for rain in your areas!

Friday Funny