Winter in Albany is terrible. We get hammered with snow and it's cold cold cold. But come May, I remember why I like it here and the feeling gets stronger every year. I went out to my backyard today to procrastinate from writing and was overwhelmed by the blooms that popped up overnight. I took some photos. Remember all of these are from my yard:
Here is the blanket of purple flowers that lives next to my infernal pond:

If you are not familiar with my infernal pond, you have not been reading my blog long enough! But here is a better photo of it. Those are lilypads in the middle:

Here are some big, fat lilac blooms:

And here are some purple little diddies living next to Benedict the gargoyle:

These are cherry something bushes. I forget. They don't make cherries, but they make some very cool tiny white flowers:

These are dandelions. My son says that God invented dandelions so kids would have something to pick. Hence I leave the dandelions for them:

Here is a wider pic of the backyard. Isn't that bench just in the perfect place?

Here I am by the Victorian gazing ball:

A short stroll around the front reveals the rhododendrons:

And another rhododendron. This one getting some action rom a huge fuzzy bumble bee. That sucker is the size of a dumptruck, I swear. Look closely,
Loree Burns. I don't charge much for my photographs!

And here are a few tulips:

Albany was settled in the days of yore by the Dutch and as such we have a long relationship with the tulip. In fact, this weekend is
Tulip Fest here in the capital city of New York. Imagine over 200,000 of these suckers in our downtown park! All the colors of the rainbow. Really, it is a sight to behold. For a great image of just a part of the tulip display,
click here.
The great thing is that after the tulips wither, they dig up the bulbs and sell them to residents of the city to plant in their own gardens for next year. Very cool.
Weather permitting, I'll get some shots of my own. It's music, art, crafts, rides, a little booze, and a lot of flowers. They also crown the Tulip Queen who then has many duties for the year to come. Duties befitting the Tulip Queen. If you're planning on going, look for me on Saturday!