Spring Rain...

Rain On Leaves, Suzanne Powers

Plomp...plomp...I can hear it when it starts hitting the metal roof...

Rain On The Roof

or my umbrella...pling...pling...

Sepia Umbrella Impressions

counting each drop...

Raindrops On A Red Leaf, Patricia Strand

then quickly building to a crescendo each drop racing the next until...

Summer Rain On Queen Anne's Lace 

it becomes a solid shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sound.

Rain On Seed Pods, Suzanne Powers

Spring rain it's natures' car wash making our world shiny and liquid... 

Luscious Petals, Patricia Strand

Green and Blue, Patricia Strand 

washing away the accumulated dust and pollen, chasing it into small trickles...

Jeweled Leaves, Patricia Strand

dripping off the flowers and trees becoming...

Queen Anne's Lace, Suzanne Powers

streams rushing into the rivers that surround us... 

  Chesterfield Gorge, Edward Fielding            

growing ever larger...
  

 Bougainvillea In The Pond, Ted Guhl

  

until finally it meets the sea...

Sunny Winter Day At The Beach, Dave Bosse

Pink Pleasure

 A Carpet of Pink Flowers

Pink is such a pleasurable color it can be light or bright and comes in many forms, shapes and sizes - Spring wouldn't be spring without its glorious pinks!

Pink Irises

like my neighbor's irises...and the early blossoms of the redbud tree...

 Early Spring Flowering Redbud Tree

  
Pink can be seen in the most unlikely places..

 RoyD Erickson

filling G R E A T   B I G  W A L L  S P A C E S...
 

Edward Fielding

It wouldn't do to not have pink in our everyday lives even in small amounts...it makes life...well...more interesting...even fun!

like going to the fair...  with all your favorites like pink cotton candy and lollypop swirls...

Pink Fantasy

or standing in a shower of flowers with a pink and blue house very near...

Pink Car Hood

Pink can be loud and bold....even shocking!!!    

Pink Blossoms In The Snow 

or a quiet hush and soft as new fallen snow...

Jeffery Johnson

It can be good times and rock 'n roll!... dance'n in your "pink" suede shoes...

or take'n the Buick out for a roll!

Ted Guhl

It can be floating in a boat in far off places...

Suzanne Powers

Pink is everywhere to be enjoyed and cherished...it's a heart that is as big as a tree so white birds can fly right through it!

So no matter where you are just look around...Pink, it's pleasure that's very near to all that you hold...dear.

How Spring And the Redbud Changed My Life

Even though the bird's nest looks abandoned during winter's cold there are signs of life and the hope of the birds returning! How I appreciate nature and it's ability to shake the cobwebs of winter out of our thinking and start us on a new path! 

Red maple seed pods

The Redbud tree is one of the first to show off it's stunning pink flowers, it is life changing - I'm a visual person and beauty affects me, if something is beautiful sometimes it makes me cry. I stare at the tree in bloom in breathless awe not having seen such bright color for eight months. 

The color is nothing less than spectacular, ranging between a purple and a bright pink setting off the dull brown tree trunks  and undergrowth just beginning to transition from winter's lifelessness to the lush bright greens of springtime.

The shock of color sets off the woods like a precious magenta jewel, seeming to give off an aura of brightness in it's woodsy realm.

It is native to the eastern United States and grows as far as Ontario Canada and spreading west to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.  It only grows to 30 feet and has round heart shaped leaves.  

It is part of my heritage and has been here since before the Colonials and Indians giving a feeling of continuity, revealing a hint of the past of what things may have looked like in a primaeval state.

The trees give sustenance, the flowers, buds and pods can be sauted, the buds pickled.  The fresh flowers can also be added to salads.  In southern parts of Appalachia the green branches are used to season wild game and is known as the spice tree.  

I like discovering folkways and I am beginning to understand that the woods are full of new tastes and delights yet to be experienced. I am curious now and want to try a small handful of blossoms on my next excursion.

The Redbud flower arrives early and takes us out of the winter dole drums, regrets of the winter enjoyments and parties now past with a beautiful jolt of sprays of pink branches stretching out, foreshadowing the summer season to come.  

Just when you were counting the months until Christmas wishing for that jolly season the Redbud gets our attention and makes us take notice, giving us exciting thoughts, triggering our memory of past summer fun; a trip to the beach and other good times. 

The beauty of the flowers of the Redbud keeps coming back to me I can't shake it and starts me dreaming about new warm weather adventures.  On with the new and what lies ahead I now affirm.   How I love and appreciate the Redbud tree!

Suzanne Powers Art Gallery:  suzanne-powers.artistwebsites.com