Winter's last hurrah

On Saturday, April 12th, I took a walk along the Niagara River. It was a warm day and people were outside, doing yard work and enjoying the relative warmth and sunshine. The water was a light shade of blue, reflecting the sky. The trees, of course, are still bare and show no signs of growing new leaves, but that will come. I remember two years ago, when the fruit trees blossomed too early, in late March after a week of 80 degree days. That turned out to be a disaster. That unusually hot week was followed by a hard frost and those early blossoming trees produced no fruit at all. So, the fact that there are no blossoms or hint of leaves this year is OK.

lavender crocuses amidst the new grass growing... a sign of a new season

The yellow crocuses seem to be so very joyful, a reflection of sunlight.

These crocuses bring an intense color back to a world that had been starved for color.

A dog enjoys its outdoor time.

The Niagara River in early spring.

Another view of the Niagara River in early spring.

Wetlands in the northern part of Grand Island.

A closeup of a tree that apparently doesn't seem to mind having "wet feet."

Just three days later, the snow came back! Winter didn't want to relinquish its grip. But winter's grip was far weaker than it had been just a month earlier, when Western New York was treated to the second blizzard of the year. I went to Beaver Island State Park to take pictures of the snow-covered daffodils and the geese in the snowy place by the river.

When I went outside on Tuesday morning to fetch the newspapers, I was treated to this sight.

So, of course, I went to Beaver Island State Park to see more April snow scenes. That's where I saw these geese near the river.

This goose was looking for... something... not sure what.

I headed over to River Lea, where I saw that the pet cemetery that was made by a group of kids under the direction of a member of the Grand Island Historical Society was covered in snow.

The bench outside of River Lea.... covered in snow and not a great seat for the weary walker.

Old and new stuff, along with snow, in the garden at River Lea.

The gates at River Lea lead to a snowy trail on a cold April day.

The hardy daffodils can handle a little bit of a snow cover.

Soon, spring will be here to stay. But, for now, the change in seasons is a delightful thing to watch.

Out of the house... at last!

I don't know what to call this past winter that's not synonymous with "frightful," as in "Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but in here, it is so delightful." Um. Well, maybe for an hour or two... but weeks and weeks stuck inside? What else can I say but "yuck" and "double yuck" to all of that.
 

Oooh, it's cold out here!!! Can I go and hibernate now?

Still, there are fun and interesting things to do while trapped inside because of a fear of frostbite and hypothermia.
Let me think of them:

• Climb the stairs over and over again. After all, why go to a gym when you've got this great piece of exercise equipment right in the house?
• Make stuff with yarn.
• Draw and paint.
• Watch soap operas.
• Bake cookies.
• Bake brownies.
• Eat items mentioned just above and gain a million pounds.
• Read lots of books.
• Play games on the internet
•  Take pictures of stuffed animals.

 

Valentine Bear enjoys the refreshments at the book club meeting at the Grand Island public library. Mmmm, chocolate!!

 

No weather disaster can deter a Stuffed Bear party.

Well, anyway... we had two blizzards, which were entertaining to watch, with swirling snow and an enormous wind. It didn't respond much to applause, although, after the first blizzard, it appears that calls for "encore" were well received. Fortunately, we didn't get yet another encore after that March 12th blizzard. Hmmm. March seems to be pushing it but, yes, that's right.
So, now that winter appears to be behind us ( I don't want to tempt fate by making a definitive announcement about the end of winter), it's time to turn to life being a constant adventure. Last week, I went to downtown Buffalo. mainly because I needed to buy some art supplies. As I was walking down Ellicott Street, I encountered a rather hazardous street crossing. So I decided to take a detour through the library to avoid that street crossing.
The downtown library has been remodeled and is awesome! It has a cafe and little bookstore and interesting exhibits. But I really was just walking through when, all of a sudden, I came face to face with a life size and very realistic looking reproduction of the... Wicked Witch of the West!!! 

In half an hour, those slippers will be mine! All mine!

I'll get you, my Pretty, and your Little Dog, too!
Wait a second. I don't have a Little Dog and I'm not sure about the Pretty part, either. But my neighbors on both sides have Little Dogs and they are Little Yippy dogs... enough to annoy any self-respecting Wicked Witch of the West... or Northwest... probably Northwest... isn't where the polar vortex originate? And that was highly wicked. So, knowing that the Wicked Witch wasn't going to steal my cat, I walked right up to her. I nearly said something nonsensical, along the lines of "Cats rule, dogs drool," but I refrained, which was kind of unusual for me. A security guard told me that, if I got any closer, the witch would talk to me. I looked at the witch but she had nothing to say.
The witch didn't speak because she wasn't plugged in.
Once the witch got her electricity fix, she began to speak... or scream... or screech.
She was funny.

The rare books room at the downtown Buffalo library

She was just the thing to get me to go into the rare books room, where there is a display of the books of L. Frank Baum (1856-1919). He's the guy who wrote "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," that great story that was turned into an even greater movie. But that was only the first book. There were fourteen Oz books altogether. The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library has a copy of the first edition of each of these books. They are exhibited under glass in the rare books room. It is a fantastic and beautiful exhibit. If you are anywhere near Buffalo, I'd suggest taking a look at it.
Anyway, that's it for today... oh, except when I walked out of the library and started my walk to Hyatt's (the art supply store), I saw this in the library's garden... something alive and colorful!!!

I get excited when I see crocuses...

These crocuses are like little reflections of sunlight.