Happy Easter, I hope you had an enjoyable time with family and friends. Friday I drove down to Washington state with my mom. The weather was grey and dull, but we had a great time along the way. Saturday morning in Everett we happened upon this Sea wolf transformation statue by James Madison.

It is around a pole at the corner of the street.

The gray skies behind made for an interesting silhouette.

Standing back you can see the entire statue.

Later in the morning we were in Renton and had a great BBQ lunch of ribs and chicken at Cedar River Barbeque. This painting was on the outside of a building advertising a sewing machine repair shop.

Sunday morning we drove back up along the I-5 and found these daffodil fields on our way to La Connor.

The day was very grey and threatening and very windy.

Usually at this time the tulips are in full bloom but this year they are late.

This sign is for the shop Bunnies by the Bay, it is a delightful shop filled with stuffed bunnies that were originated in the town. This store is in La Connor but as you can see it was closed because of Easter Sunday.

There are some beautiful "painted lady" style homes in this area, this particular one is a long time favourite of mine. A patient of mine painted this house for me from a photo I took many years ago as a thank you.

Late in the afternoon the sun came out and the skies turned blue. This tug boat looked so peaceful cruising along the river.

As you can see the cherry trees in our courtyard are now in full bloom.

The two weeping cherry trees by our pond are looking very nice in the late afternoon sun.

Spring flowers are popping up all along the quay. This morning I went for a walk after breakfast and took some pictures. These beautiful flowers grow in my friend Rita's garden, I don't recall their name but will find out and label them later. They are called hellebores.

I love the purple veins on these crocuses.

Here some daffodils are pushing through the soil and reaching up towards the sun.

These star shaped flowers are growing in large clumps in the gardens along the boardwalk.

The rhododendrons are pushing foward, these plants flower very early in the year and often bloom later again.

Spring has arrived officially today! The day started off cool and wet and then a thunderstorm barrelled through this afternoon with thunder, lightening and now sunny skies. We are about 3 weeks late with our blossoms, but they are arriving daily.

Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods booth at SewExpo in Puyallup...this place is great! I first saw this vendor when I went to Houston several years ago. She has a wonderful selection of buttons, trims, ribbons, beads and many more things. Check out her website at http://www.niftythriftydrygoods.com/ She sets all her various items together in colour groupings.Finding a nice bright yellow is sometimes difficult, but not here.

Back at home again, this field of crocuses is actually someone's front yard! They have naturalized over the years and make a very pretty show. I took these pictures on March 7th.

This white pair with purple streaks of purple are almost translucent.

Here is another view of the lawn covered by the crocuses.

The next day it started snowing in the afternoon. We don't usually get much snow in March but it continued to fall for several hours.

The next morning it started falling first thing in the morning, by afternoon the sun was out and the snow was gone from most sidewalks and roads. These snowdrops looked lovely surrounded by snow.

Down on the quay more crocuses were poking out their heads.

This lone daffodil was proudly showing its pretty head.

I found some mini-irises blooming.

The snow was quickly melting in the late afternoon sun.

Even some of the rhododendron's were starting to put forward their flowers.

This trio of crocuses caught my eye coming out of a bit of snow.

This pink flowering winter viburnum is almost in full blossom now.

Happy Valentine's day, Spring is starting to show it's face! Crocuses are starting to push up their heads through the winter beds of soil.

These purple ones are starting to make a good show.

I love the blue berries on this plant.

These pink blossoms are so delicate.

The snowdrops are multiplying in this bed, soon they will all be in full blossom.

Today is my birthday! 2009 is my birth date year! Last year I turned the age of the year I was born, how interesting these two years fell together. I took the picture of the yellow witch hazel yesterday, it is one of my favourite shots of this plant.

February has more flowering trees bursting forth with colour and sunny blue skies.

This planting of snowdrops were just peeking out last week and now they are starting to bloom! So much for February blahs..I think the month is a great one.

Snowdrops are starting to bloom again, I took this picture in my friend's garden last Sunday. Saturday I walked down again to see and found this delightful little bloom. It is almost bigger than the stem that is holding it.

Next it is a few more blossoms peeking up, keeping the white pansy company.

Last year I noticed this yellow witch hazel not far from the orange one I like to photograph.

It almost looks alien with the thin colourful leaves.

The orange one almost has a yellow glow to its outer edges.

The new shoots are slowly starting to push their way off the main stems.

We've had some lovely sunny weekends, although today it turned to rain, with some wet snow. Let's wait and see what February will bring this year.