March 9 through April 20, 2019

It has been a beautiful spring although the flowers have had a short life initially due to cold and more recently, after the warm up, due to strong storms. 



I left work early yesterday and when I got home Raleigh where I live was under a tornado watch and Durham where I work had a tornado warning. 



Week before last when I was at work I heard a very loud explosion.



Looking out the window there was a thick plume of dark smoke.



It was a gas explosion and sadly caused a number of injuries and a fatality.



It is scary and sad how something like that can occur out of the blue.



I think it was caused by construction equipment hitting a natural gas line but my understanding is they're still trying to figure out how it happened. 



Today was a beautiful day after all the storms yesterday.



I finally managed to spot one of the bald eagles at Shelly Lake. 



I haven't seen the babies yet but I heard they'll probably be venturing out of the nest soon.



It's amazing to me how fast trees have leafed out this year.



They tiny leaves have burst into full leaves faster than I've remembered seeing it happen in past years.

 

The cardinals are already harder to photograph because they have more leaf cover.



These photographs aren't chronological.



I'm jumping around between the weeks I took pictures.



My large azaleas above were bowed down by storms after I took the shot above so I went ahead and lopped them down a bit while I could reach them.



My back yard has already turned back into a jungle.



I meant to try to do some trimming before there was so much new growth.



Bill and I went to the WRAL Azalea Garden and the tulips were the big stars.



There were some azaleas blooming but the tulips were magnificent.



It was overcast when we were there but still lovely.



I was glad to have some blue sky today though tomorrow is going to be cloudy.



I don't think it's supposed to rain.



I hope not because I'm going to Oxford for Easter dinner.



It's only about an hour's drive but I would prefer it not to be a rainy one.



I'll be interested to see what's in bloom along the way although it was stormy there yesterday too so most of the blooms may be on the ground.



I like ground covers of blooms too so either way is pretty to me. I hope everyone who celebrates Easter has a good one.