The World Is Brightening Up

I've been waiting not too patiently for some color to return outside. This time span between the freshening-of-the-landscape snows and the greening that comes with warmer weather is my least favorite, everything brown and grey and lifeless. My neighborhood in particular has little flowering landscaping so to find some color, I must to go into town. Last week I needed to visit the post office to mail my taxes, and I suspected that the garden of the building across the street would have some spring bulbs blooming in it, and I was right.

Several different colors of tulips were blooming here and there.

Even this somewhat scraggly azalea by the corner of the next building over was a welcome sight on this day of showers moving through.

And the other day I noticed how the tall cottonwood trees along part of my walk had leafed out, that bright new green that will soon turn a richer darker green. It inspired me to grab my sketchbook and watercolor kit yesterday to see if I could capture the feel in an impressionist style rather than my usual more precise inked and colored in style. This gravel road, shaded in the afternoon by those tall tall cottonwoods, skirts the dog park and leads to the human park behind it. I'd like to try this again as I didn't get that soaring feel of the trees, make the road smaller, thinner to allow for taller trees. But this was quite fun and freeing to do. And though it's still too cool to go without a jacket, being out in that fresh air was wonderful, now that the main pollen offender for me has finished doing its thing.