The Road to California started along the Oregon Coast in Seaside where I found these lovely flowering poppies...Then centre of this one looked so pretty framed in the orange/red of the petals.

Remember getting one of those postcards that said....wish you were here?

What a beautiful bronze of a girl about to fly a kite, was found outside a restaurant called Crabby Sue's in Canon Beach. The artist did a lovely job of capturing the concentration on her face.

Sue has some great signage around the restaurant. One time when I come down I hope to find her open.

We found the tide out, and walked out to the rocks around Haystack and found an amazing collection of starfish.

This one was hiding out in the shade.

One of the many vista points you can stop at along the way. The views are quite breath taking.

The lighthouse at the Coquille River is one of my favourite. This is taken from the Bandon-by-the-Sea side of the river.

Can you see the lady's face on this rock called Face Rock? She is looking to the right...

This bay is just to the left of Face Rock, the winds coming off the water are quite strong at times. This day there were not too bad.

This Roosevelt Elk was watching over the rest of the herd we came upon.

This painted lady in Eureka is now the home for some architects.

The Carson Mansion is now a private men's club open only to it's members. I like how the green of the house works so well with the lawns and trees on the grounds.

We walked along Main Street in Ferndale California and spotted this Victorian business front.

This lovely painted lady is now a bed and breakfast located just off Main Street.

If you look closely at the top of the front of this house you can see large O's have been attached to make the design.

This view is from later in the trip, from Hurricane Point looking back towards Big Sur.

Spring influences some quilting designs...I made this needle holder and mini pin cushion for my friend Tricia's Christmas present. Then I adapted a pattern called "Crowdiddy" to make it look more like a lady bird, I gave it to her for her birthday. It morphed into looking like a cross between a lady bird and a platypus! The tulips along the quay this year have been very pretty. I love how delicate this one looks.

I don't know the name of this flower, but it looks so delicate and truly is a greenish yellow.

Who would think that mother nature loves to play with checkerboard prints? Can you see the small spider on one of the blooms?

I love the contrast of the yellow double bloom tulip and the blue forget-me-knot flowers.

The witch hazel leaves are an amazing colour of green and the texture of the leaves and veins are wonderful.

The shape of the branches are very zen and inspirational to me.

Oh! The rhododendrons are beautiful, this purple one caught me eye.

The purple grape Hyacinth were almost finished blooming and got so large this year.

This tulip looked so pretty and tall amongst the yellow pansies.

The blue spring sky with the pink cherry blossoms look so dramatic.

These apple blossoms look so inviting.

Pink dogwoods show off their veins in the leaves.

The shadow on this twisted blossom made such a pretty image.

Red rhododendrons look so luscious.

These white tulips are under a tree by one of the entrances to my condo, I like the white and blue flowers growing with them in harmony.

We've had a few chilly mornings earlier in the month, there was even some fresh snow on the local mountains. This weekend morning you could see your breathe as you walked. The pansy had a bit of frost that was melting off.

This tulip was also covered with with water drops from the melting frost.

We've had some rainy days this May, but when the sun arrives the skies are a beautiful colour of blue.

This white rhododendron looked almost silver with the sun shining on it.

This purple tulip has such a delicate shape and looks translucent against the sun.

I found these seed heads very interesting, they are from the greenish yellow flowers I photographed and shared at the start of this blog. I will have to find out the name of this flower.

I found the yellow centre of this red flower to be so pretty. I may have to create it in cloth one day as a quilt.

The dogwood trees have had some wonderful blossoms on them this year, although the recent rains have left some of them bruised and spotted.

Most of these pictures were shot in the first 3 weeks of May.

Sakura blossom time in Vancouver is here again. Ornamental Cherry blossom have been blooming for the past few weeks. This is Gravely Street in Vancouver between Lillooet and Windermere looking down the hill. Now I'm on Windermere looking up the hill, the trees were just at the perfect time for photos.

Walking up the street I paused to take a look through the trees and enjoy the blue skies.

The blossoms are so lovely and delicate on these trees.

These trees are a few blocks south on 2nd Avenue, I love the tree on the right behind the lamp standard.

I'm not sure what these flowers are named, but the centre almost looks like a bee is buried in the middle.

Blue forget-me-knots are seen along the boardwalk.

Here are some pink forget-me-knot flowers.

Don't forget the white ones...

Driving out to Chilliwack last weekend there were daffodils that you could see from the highway. In the median between the lanes wild daffodils were also in bloom.

These cherry trees are planted near the National Nikkei Heritage Centre in Burnaby. In a few years this will look even more spectacular.