spring has arrived

spring has arrived in Paris, and the flowers are in bloom. I don’t recall having been to Paris in the spring before, and it’s pretty spectacular… it’s almost as if the beauty of the flowering trees here is kept a hushed secret throughout the winter, and then suddenly, when the weather turns for the better, colors start to explode all around you as you walk down the street.

one particularly dismal street in the winter turned out to have tall, flowering cherry trees planted every several feet along the sidewalks on the way from our neighborhood to the local grocery store. As of late these trees have been showering the ground with petals of pink; traveling along it is a bit like walking on a mottled pink carpet, while pink confetti floats to the ground all around you. Meanwhile, off to the sides, trees and shrubs in our neighbors’ yards have started to bloom. It takes a long time to walk anywhere with Amelia (who is 5) as she continually wants to stop and admire or smell all the different flowers. Of course I let her take as much time as she likes.

on the way to the market today Yvonne took the following picture, which I’m thinking is of a Magnolia tree, though I could of course be wrong. Note that this wasn’t taken in a plantation or in a public garden; it’s someone’s tree sitting outside their house. I liked the picture so much that I am posting it here, and if you click on it you’ll get a BIG version of it that you can use as wallpaper, if you choose.

happy spring!