Cherry Blossoms and Tulips

One day I would like to get in the car, 

go for a random drive and photograph all of the spring blooming trees.

Every year I say that and I never do it.

The house next door has 2 beautiful Royal Japanese Cherry Trees that are blooming right now!

Flowers that look much like carnations.

This is the view, when you stand under the tree and look up!!

Next up are the tulips the hubs planted last year on Thanksgiving,

he planted 300 in all!

These were so pretty and they did not last long enough.

Not all of the tulips were open when I took this picture,

this became much prettier, especially when the sun was out.

I don't know why I never took another picture,

I kept thinking I had already photographed them and did not need another one.

There were a lot more in the center garden in the front yard,
I never got a good picture when everyone was blooming.
I was a total fail for tulip picture taking this year,
except when we went to 
Holland Ridge Tulip Farm
there I got some awesome pictures that I will share on Thursday!

Today...

Saturday Critters ~ 280 ~

Our Male Goldfinches are changing clothes right now,

winter wear to summer wear, 

soon they will be the vibrant yellow color they become for summer.

The first two pictures were taken on Sunday the 21st.

This Goldfinch seemed to have more yellow and less gray.

This picture and the next were taken on Monday the 22nd...

you can see this Male Goldfinch still has a lot of it's gray, winter feathers.

This picture was also taken on the 22nd.

This picture was taken this morning, 

he will become a much bolder yellow in the next few weeks as he sports his breeding plumage.

Females are similar to winter males, but brighter in summer.

Their song is a chattering of whistles and squeaks, calls include a tinkling whistle.

They are common here at my feeders year round!

This beautiful bird is our state bird!

Sharing today with

Eileen at Viewing Nature With Eileen

A Picnic At The Inlet

It was sunny and warm on Tuesday, the perfect day for a picnic.

We went down to the inlet in Point Pleasant,

and picnicked here in the new picnic area they just recently built.
Homemade chicken salad sandwiches, on fresh wonder bread, the sandwiches were delicious.
I wasn't going to take pictures of the boats, I was knitting, but I just couldn't help myself.

The first boat we saw was the Gambler

Miss Michele III

The Norma K III

This was the Chris C

I had not seen this boat before, all of the boats but this one was familiar to me.
All of a sudden he gave us a big splash,
could it be he saw that I was taking pictures?

The Mikayla Alexa

The TnT

TnT and Chris C

The Jamaica was next...

The Jamaica II

The Canyon Runner

These pictures were all taken on the same day, funny how the sky changes.

So many boats came and went, it was just like a summer day!


It was a Rita's kind of day so we stopped for an ice on the way home.
They did not have my favorite, Juicy Pear, but they did have Watermelon so I settled for that.
With big chunks of watermelon in it, it was delicious...
and the perfect way to end the day!!

On The Way To Allaire...

One adventure, leads to another adventure, leads to another...

We left home to go and ride the bikes at Allaire,

but the beautiful horses were out and I wanted to stop and take pictures...

then I looked to the right and there was a Cattle Egret!!
According to my bird book, 
there is only a very small area in New Jersey in which Cattle Egret are present.
I have never seen one before, so I took a lot of pictures.

And since I can never pick a favorite picture to share, let me share them all...

This "peach" colored plumage represents its breeding plumage.

My bird book says it is a yellow color, 
but it looks peach to me.

Once we got past the Cattle Egret, and that wasn't easy, 
I went across the street to photograph the three beautiful horses that I adore,
and photograph all the time.

We finally made it to Historic Allaire Village...


for a fun bike ride on a perfectly beautiful day...
we have been having a lot of those!

oh...and we had a great turnout for yesterdays 
Yarn Along Post
Many thanks to everyone who took time to comment, 
I always appreciate your kind thoughts.

Yarn Along

My Yarn Along posts are not very popular...
they don't get many views or comments, let's try to change that today.
If you're here, leave me a comment!

I am still working on my

Neapolitan Cowl
with DyeForMe Merino Baby Alpaca Yarn, it is a very soft yarn and a joy to work with.

This cowl is a smooth, easy knit...if you can knit and purl, you can master this cowl.

On another note,
our lilacs are blooming right now, lilacs have been my favorite flower since childhood.



I have a crush on my new "project bag"...
if you look closely at the top fabric, you can see the cute little lambs.



I love the way these fabrics all go together...
This bag is the perfect size to hold most smaller sized projects,
and it is the perfect size for holding this project.




I found these lilacs on an abandoned lot,
good thing I had my clippers with me.