The world explodes in color!

70+ degrees today, a beautiful day to be home working in the garden.  I completed the new raised bed for strawberries and did a lot of other small jobs around.  As I did them, I was constantly struck by the explosions of color that surrounded me - one after another that seemed to be singing a song of beauty whether anyone was listening or not!  I hope you enjoy these.

Fritellaria

More kids having fun!

We had Easter Brunch at Kimi's at Solitude - wonderful place and excellent food. We joined Sean's family from North Carolina - Rachel, Kevin, Anna and Kayla (a.k.a. Rosie).  Great food, wonderful conversations, sunny skies, and the kids had a wonderful time.  They saw the Easter bunny come down the ski slope in the morning, much to their surprise and enjoyment.
After lunch, Rachel and Kevin took them sliding and here's a shot - they are having a blast.

A Birthday Party

Carmen (who you have seen many times on this blog) held her fourth birthday party today!  Mimi's Cupcakes was the appropriate place, as cupcakes seem to be the thing now.
Diana and I have been to all 4 of Carmen's birthday parties, and part of the fun is seeing her friends, year after year, growing up as she is! I have photos of them since they were 1 year old, unable yet to walk in many cases. Now they are just terrors at times, fueled, I am sure, by the sugar that they consume.
While I got a lot of photos of the party, here are three that touched me the most.

Playing with the snow

We woke up to snow on the ground this morning; not much, but some - none on the roads around us although apparently it stuck on roads elsewhere. Under the dark cloudy skies, I took these photos and then, with a surrealistic day and attitude, played with them. More representational than exactly documentary, the play appealed to me.

Amaryllis experiment

Well, the amaryllis I had labeled purple is really red (thank you, Gail) and it continues to create and display beauty as it fills out!  Here is a shot done a couple of different ways in post-production as an experiment.  Which do you like best?

Spring, sunshine and beauty

Today the sun shone, and, although the wind was cool, it was a beautiful day.  Diana's plants are flourishing and Murphy adds his wisdom as he sits in the sun.

Watch the first step!

When we travel to and from Sedona, we always stop at the Cameron trading post.  While there is quite a bit of tourist stuff for sale, over in a gallery are some real authentic Native American products - baskets, paintings, flutes, rugs, tapestries, etc..
On the outside of the building were these steps, that took one up to the roof.  The first five are cut off, perhaps to keep young folks from climbing something they ought not to (but would). I took several photos at different angles, never getting exactly what I wanted but still enjoying the subject, so wanted to share this one.

A lizard posed for us on our walk to Horseshoe Bend...