Spring has Sprung

Nothing is more beautiful than the sights, sounds, and smells of Springtime.  This past Easter Sunday, before we all fell ill and wanted to die a congested death, we enjoyed the sunshine, the breezes, and the colors of Spring in our community.  Kathleen and I grabbed our cameras and took pictures throughout our community. 

It was a perfect day.  All of the dogwoods were in bloom

Blossoms were everywhere

And in every color

Kathleen looked beautiful having ninjaed clothes from my closet.  I don't care - if they fit and she's happy, that's all I care about.  And besides, they look a heck of a lot better on her than they do on me anyway.

Kathleen looked as pretty as Springtime.

Kathleen took pictures of flowers - I took pictures of Kathleen ...

and flowers,

and funny lookin' dogs with attitude.  This dog barks incessantly and drives everyone in the neighborhood crazy.

And even more funny-lookin' dogs.  This one is named "Scottie."  He's a strange one.  Small but strange.

See this fella? ... He's got a lot of attitude too.  If you walk down the street, he goes nuts.  He was causing some havoc in our community because if you walked down the street, he would clear his fence and take you out.  Not anymore (or at least I don't think he does that anymore) as the owners put barbed wire along the top of their fence.  So unless Bubba here wants to rip apart his belly, he isn't clearing anymore fences.  I thought it was odd that he stood still when I aimed my camera at him to take a picture. 

We took pictures of trees in bloom,

and blooming trees ...

And trees with nests ...

And trees with these nasty things ...

And trees with spinners that came in Easter baskets and ended up stuck on a tree branch.

Of course, I took pictures of our dogs too.  Hannah was "f-r-e-e!"  Yippee!  She's free!

And Adolf was looking all majestic and serious and gorgeous and smart and, and, and ...

tired, until ...

Hannah comes along, and then he wants to play some more.

I took pictures of window pots,

And empty bird feeders.

And full bird feeders.

and gorgeous landscaping in a neighbor's yard. 

I took pictures of berries,

and ornamental garden flags.

and out-of-focus bees.  I tried, I really, really tried.  He just wouldn't let me get a picture in focus.  Dangit.

I took pictures of mulch bails waiting for a garden,

paddleboats waiting for a ride,

and benches waiting for someone to sit and take a load off.

I took pictures of the children and their neighbor friend, Alex, preparing to go on a profitable Easter egg hunt.

And let me tell ya - it was really profitable.  Glen tallied up 5 bucks.

Matthew found 5.60 worth of good, hard cash in the Easter eggs.

I still haven't figured out how she did it, but Sarah found 18 dollars total in her Easter eggs.  The stinker.

Alex found 7 dollars.  That's just enough to buy a ticket to a movie.  He loves going to the movies.

Kathleen and I wandered around to the lake and took some pictures.  It was a beautiful day.  Not a cloud in the sky.

It was peaceful. 

It was quiet,

except for the sounds of our neighbor's waterfall.

His garden looks like something out of a Monet painting.

Only better.   (Kathleen took this picture with her Olympus digital camera)

The sights, sounds, and colors of our neighbor's garden are breathtaking.  He better watch out.  I may just come over and transplant his garden in my own backyard.  And yes, I have already decided to paint some of these pictures.  Won't they make great oil paintings?!! (Kathleen took this shot too)

I thought seriously about taking this paddleboat out on the lake, but then I thought better of it.  The owner may not like a perfect stranger taking liberties with their paddleboat.

but it's such a pretty day and I want to get my toes wet.

Just another picture from our neighbor's magnificent garden.

And another.

Aw, what the heck, how about just one more.

I love this picture.  (Kathleen took this picture, too, with her Olympus digital camera)

And shoes ... I took off my shoes and walked barefoot all the way home. Which was just around the corner.

Where Bubba (or whatever his name is) got a little hot around the collar again,

and Hannah, the cutest dog in the world, greeted us with a lot of licks on my toes.

Isn't Spring wonderful?

(Note: I use a Nikon D300 with a Tamron 28-300 AF lens)

I created the slideshow below with piano music by George Winston "The Velveteen Rabbit."  Enjoy!