Sunday Walks in April, 2016

The first set of shots were taken a week ago on a Sunday walk at the WRAL Azalea Garden in Raleigh, NC.



After a hard freeze several nights prior to that walk, most of my azaleas which bloomed early this year lost most of their blossoms.



The good thing about this garden is they have so many different azalea varieties that plenty of them were blooming.



Some of the larger azaleas at the garden had lost their blossoms like mine but there was still plenty to see.



The garden also has a lot of rhododendrons and other plants in bloom.



I like to see birds taking advantage of feeders in gardens.



The rhododendron below reminds me of one I had that lasted 15 years after I planted it but I lost it in 2008 when we had a prolonged drought.



We've had so many rainy years lately it's hard to believe how long that drought lasted.



I really have lucked out though with beautiful Sundays two weeks in a row.



The rest of the shots are from my walk today at Shelley Lake (also in Raleigh, NC).



Saturday was was stormy but today was beautiful.



That's happened a lot lately (raining on Saturday and sunny on Sunday).



I love buttercups. They remind me of my childhood and making necklaces and headbands with them.

Hard Freeze Week

We had a hard freeze two nights this week.



There has been some damage but not sure how much.



My azaleas bloomed earlier than usual and they are definitely dropping blossoms fast in the cold snap.



I took a bunch of shots before the weather switched back to winter.



When I hear people talking about covering azaleas, I laugh.



I don't have the kind of azaleas that are practical to cover.



I worry more about the new leaves on trees because they don't always recover if they drop new leaves.



I don't mean that it kills the trees but I know with my pecan tree if it has to start leaves over ago, I usually don't get many pecans that year. The first shot is of my pecan tree before the weather got cold.

Mid March through early April 2016

The first batch of shots are ones I took in mid March when I walked to my polling station to vote in the primary elections.



We've had a mixed bag in terms of weather.



We had a light frost after the shots in the first half of this post.



Fortunately the flowers didn't seem to mind.



Usually the only time spring temperatures are an issue where I live is when they fall 5 or more degrees below freezing after trees leaf out and stay there into the morning.



We're close to our average last frost date and at this point I hope we don't get any temperatures much below freezing.



I'm not eager for it to get hot too fast either.



We've had some warm weather but nothing extreme.



As long as it cools off at night I don't mind heat but I'm not a big fan of summer.



I think the cloud below looks like smoke rising.



I love camellias and my white ones have done well this year.



I can't believe how many photographs I uploaded for this post.



I don't seem to look through my photographs and select ones for blogging very often which means I have a lot to choose from.



The problem is I run out of commentary.



I guess the biggest changes from the mid March to the beginning of April is there are more leaves starting to form.



The pollen has been very thick this year so it has been a relief to have some nice drenching rain.



I scattered some wildflower seeds so I'm also happy we've had nice spring rains.



This morning was rainy (Saturday) but it's clearing now.



Sunday is supposed to be sunny.



I don't mind rainy weekends but I like at least one day when it clears for a walk.



I'll probably go on a walk tomorrow and take more spring shots.



I should walk more during the week.



When I worked from home I tended to walk more because I could work late or start early to accommodate walks. 



When I first started commuting to work 3 days a week, I would go on lunch time walks. 



Now that I drive to work and back five days a week my prime goal is to get there early and leave early to avoid the worse part of the traffic.



At this point the only time I work from home is when I have car trouble or don't feel well. 



The advantage of working in the office is that when I walk out the door I'm done.