Survivors, leafing out and at it again

- I titled this photo "Survivors" - since these outdoor plants weathered the winter temps this year.  I managed to get them inside every time the temps dipped below 32 degrees f.  And the begonia never stopped blooming. 

- Last evening, as I drove toward the condos, the street I live on looked glorious in the late afternoon sunshine - trees blooming, trees leafing out.  This is the view from the side of my back porch - nothing remarkable, except it's just so wonderful to see the green, after all the drabness. 

- The "ladybug garden club" that maintains the plantings in the weekend walking park have been at it again.  Loved the neckerchief on the stone turtle.  Click to enlarge.

Pedestrianism, along the way and off we go

The true charm of pedestrianism does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking. The walking is good to time the movement of the tongue by, and to keep the blood and the brain stirred up and active; the scenery and the woodsy smells are good to bear in upon a man an unconscious and unobtrusive charm and solace to eye and soul and sense; but the supreme pleasure comes from the talk. - Mark Twain

 - Friend Laura and I took an early Sunday morning walk at the Greenway Park.  One tiny lone daffodil remains from that bunch, but the real story is here is the Lambs Ear.  Laura wanted me to feel it and it really was as soft as a lamb's ear.

- The garden club who maintains these plants always leaves these painted ladybugs around.  Christmas before last, Laura gave Janice and me each one of the painted ladybugs for our gardens at home.  She found them in a shop nearby.  It makes me smile every day.

- The brightness of the sun signals that we are near the end of the walk.  Laura says she makes a spring salad and sprinkles Violets, like these, on top.  Her face lights up, remembering, and she says it is pretty and delicious.

- Can you see the train coming there?  It was racing forward with its whistle blaring and we got in our cars to go in opposite directions.  Pedestrianism was fun while it lasted.