5-16, Lilac Bush

It just wouldn't be spring without my annual lilac post!  So these photos were taken on Saturday-- spring.  As you saw in my last post, Sunday was again winter.  This is the lilac prior to 10" of snow and a few nights of freezing temps.  I haven't yet ventured out into the yard to assess the damage.  Sadly, I can tell from my kitchen window that the blossoms do not look nearly as peppy as they did before.  Sven and I even went out and periodically shook the weight of the snow off the branches.  I'm not sure that effort helped the lilac as much as it hurt me.  Since the allergist has declared that I have no allergies and that I'm just a 'highly sensitive person', then I guess I'm highly 'sensitive' to lilacs.  Who knew?  I never did until I shook it all over myself.  The next day I thought I'd died and gone to sinus hell.  Oh well, it's only human nature to love something that can cause you pain, I suppose.  Regardless, the lilac is still my favorite!

"Lilac Blossom, 5-14"

5-14, Life (with a new lens)

Life, as you know, doesn't fall directly under a neat, clean 'category'.....neither does this blog post.  It's a mixture of a little sweet, a little silly, a little tasty and a little snowy.  And now that I have a new lens in my arsenal, I can now record it all that much more closely.  Here are a few shots from our weekend (with my new lens, of course).  It was a very strange,  very nice Mother's Day weekend.  It was a little bit of everything.  Hope all you mothers out there were able to celebrate this day with the ones you love.

Some night-time snuggles with dad before goodnights are said.

The last thing Sven wanted to do was pose for some test shots after a long day at work.  Isn't he a trooper though?  He even smiled!

One of the kids' favorite activities is to snuggle up on the couch together with one of Grandma G's many blankets.  I think Nikolas actually wanted to sleep, but Emalie just wanted to play.

Some serious computer studying going on here......

And then it happened, the forecasters were actually right......S-N-O-W  .....15 hours and 10" worth of it.  Just when you get used to wearing shorts again, Mother nature pulls another crazy stunt!  My poor, poor lilacs.....

While everything outside was freezing, we were all cozy in the house watching movies (mom's picks, of course!) and enjoying Sven's fabulous cooking (see the lobster in there?  Mmmm!)

And the grand finale, when it finally stopped snowing.  I should have measured it-- it was somewhere between 9-12".  It's amazing how different snow can be at different times of the year.  This stuff was no pleasure to shovel, let me tell you.  It's been 3 days and my arms and back are still sore!

Although this looks like a lot of snow, it reminds me of a similar picture I took when we lived in MD and we had literally received 5 FEET of snow.  Ahhh, this is nothing!