Luckily for me, my wonderful husband bought me flowers yesterday for no reason at all, and they made the perfect subjects to practice on.  I <3 macro!

And it even showed the salt on this chip!  I’m so impressed!

My girls & I went for a little walk around the neighborhood to see what flowers we could spy.  They really wanted a photo of this tree because it makes “pink snow” – you know, all the little pink petals that fall, and I’m sure have some of you sneezing a LOT these days.  They thought it was so pretty.  Then we talked about if we were a bird, which branch would we want to live on.  It was fun!  I’ll be putting some more springtime shots on my Facebook fan page – with NO LOGO – so you can grab them if you like.  Remember, those are low-res, so if you want high-res ones, just shoot me an e-mail.  I’m happy to share!

See this poor little tulip?  Covered with snow, trying to break free of winter’s grasp?  That’s how I feel right now…like a little flower yearning for Spring, yet covered with Winter’s ice.  I think I go through this every year.  When the hulabaloo of Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Year’s are over, there’s not much to do, especially for the stay-at-home mom of two young girls.  My days are filled with staying in because it’s too cold to go out, coughs, sniffles, mentoring sisterly arguments, entertaining an almost four-year-old who thinks things are “boring,” and basically just cleaning up the same mess over and over again.  It sounds depressing, I know.  And sometimes it is.  So, I thought to help lift me, and possibly YOU, out of these winter blahs, I’d post some signs of Spring.  Who cares what Punxsutawney Phil says, right?  We can still have a little Spring early.

Here are some photos of flowers I’ve taken over the years.  I don’t always know what to do with them, but nevertheless, I still keep taking them.  They are yours.  Take them.  Drag them and drop them onto your desktop.  Use them to brighten your winter as you wait for spring.  And I will leave you with this quote: “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”  ~Josh Billings