Playing with Tulips

 

I divided the large bunch of tulips that I bought yesterday into two vases, and put one in the kitchen window, and the other on my living room table. 

And today I took photos and played around with them in Picasa...

 

 

 

More Spring Beauty

 

Went for another walk downtown today, and found the cherry blossom trees still in their prime...

And so are the tulips in various flower beds!

Linking to

Tulip Surprise

Among the tulips I bought for myself back on Saturday, one turned out to be "special". 

Can you spot it?

Here's a clue: There are usually ten tulips in a bunch. How many do you see above?

One of them is a "twin"!
Ten stalks, but eleven flowers...

(In the photo of the whole bouquet, the twins are the two slightly smaller ones on the right.) 

Below are a couple of more tulip photos - "just because I took them"... ;)

Tulips

 

I managed a walk downtown yesterday afternoon, to buy myself a bunch of tulips. It was one of those "keep your eyes on the ground" kind of walks, though (i.e. watching out for icy spots) so I've only got photos of the tulips!  

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to buy tulips for 20 February, since that was my mother's birthday. As this month is also the time for tulips in the flower shops, she often got tulips for her birthday. Now I can't give them to her, but while enjoying them on my own table, I think of her. 92 years today since her birth. 13 years in May since she died.

Mum tending her own garden. Looking back, it's hard to quite grasp the fact that I'm a year older now than she was when this photo was taken!

Zooming in on the Tulips (Sepia Saturday)

20th February was my mum's birthday. She was born in 1930, so if she had still lived, today would have been her 91st. (She died three months after her 79th.) In my mind, I still associate this day with the first spring tulips, because she often used to get tulips for her birthday. Nowadays I often buy some tulips for myself for this day, and think of her. 

We have got out of the cold spell here and it's thawing again. Yesterday, I stayed in all day, as the streets seemed to be covered with a very unpleasant mix of ice and slush (and I couldn't think of any suitable footwear for it). Today, the streets and walkways were almost bare again, though. So after lunch, I decided to try a walk to the florist's shop in town. There were still some tricky spots along the way (like when crossing streets), but not too bad. Mission accomplished: I made it there and back without mishaps, and with a nice bunch of tulips of mixed colours to enjoy for the next week or so. 

The photo below is of my grandmother holding my mum when she was only 3 weeks old. And on the table to the left, what do you see? Yes! Tulips!

 Zooming in on the tulips for
Sepia Saturday #558 - Letter Z

Spring Tulips

Most of my walks lately have gone in other directions (or circles!), but today I decided to go and check on the progress of spring in the city centre again.  On a Monday morning there weren't too many people about; but the park is full of lovely tulips, at their very best just now. 

A Brief Glimpse of Normality

I don't think that I've ever before in my life experienced a time when the News actually kept changing almost every hour, like it is doing just now - with the corona virus pandemic and all its widespread consequences in focus.

The Weather of course keeps changing, too - but that we're used to!

Yesterday (Saturday) we had a welcome break in between storms, rain and snow -  a whole day of sunshine and blue sky, a little bit of snow still left on the ground, but streets and walkways mostly bare. So I took advantage of that in the afternoon and went for a longer walk (i.e. not just round the nearest block or two). As I like walking along the river when I can, I decided to actually walk into town, even if I did not intend to go into any shops.

(The big white thing is a sculpture. Made of stone, not ice!)

There were a few people sitting outdoors at the cafés and on  benches etc along the waterside - but I think not as many as on a "normal" sunny Saturday this time of year. 

Passing by a florist's shop, there were lots of gorgeous tulips on display outside... And when I looked in, there was no crowd or queue. So I decided that in this case, clearly it was my duty to support the commercial life! I grabbed a bouquet, stepped in, the sales girl wrapped them up for me - and I  'blipped' my card to pay (contactless payment /Wikipedia). I think that was perhaps the first time I fully appreciated this new (-ish) technology. Not because it's quicker, but because it suddenly struck me that it's also hygienic!

Tulips from Sweden

Today, we're back to grey skies, with another storm on its way inland from the coast. Probably bringing more rain than snow - but that remains to be seen. 

Well, whatever happens next, at least I've got some nice tulips to look at indoors for a few days...

        

Tulip Time

Meteorologically, it's supposed to be Spring here in the southern parts Sweden now. However, I have not yet found any proof in the form of spring flowers outdoors. (Pretty much the only colour yet to be seen is moss-green...)

But last week, I bought myself a bunch of tulips for Valentine's:

A week+ later, two still standing... But as a goal for my afternoon walk today, I went into town to get some more fresh ones. 

No, I don't usually buy myself flowers every week... 
But in the tulip season, I'm easily tempted to spoil myself! ;)

Pretty in Pink

Photos snapped with my mobile phone today in the Town Park. The cherry blossom trees in this park are of a kind that bloom a bit later than those in some of the other parks around town. I like that, because that means we get to enjoy lovely pink trees for a longer period of time…

I also couldn’t resist these lovely pink tulips covered in raindrops. The rain had stopped when I walked into town (after ten) but it was misty, humid, and very still. And the birds in the trees giving a joyful concert!

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Linking to:

Indoors Spring

Last week, a florist’s shop close to where I live had a sell-out. (They may open again somewhere else in the future, but then probably not in my neighbourhood.) I’ll miss them; but meanwhile, I decided to take advantage of the sell-out and bought several new fresh indoor plants for my windows. With prices 50-70% off, I felt I could afford to indulge myself.

I also bought more tulips, even though they don’t last long…
All the more reason to take photos while I had them, though!

 

If fresh tulips are short-lived, orchids usually last all the longer.

As do Saintpaulias and Streptocarpus
(African violets and Cape primrose)

Linking to Through My Lens