Monday, March 19, 2018

A Catch Up Post

I basically took a month off of blogging right after my post about keeping up with blogging in January.  That’s the way it goes, right?

It hasn’t been a terribly interesting month, and work has been insane.  Most of the time at the end of the day I just want to come home, crawl under a blanket on the couch, eat lots of junk food, and watch Netflix.  That doesn’t lead to doing much blogging, or much of anything else.

Nick and I have been passing some sort of cold back and forth for the past couple of weeks, so that has also made us much more inclined to spend a lot of time on the couch watching TV.  We’ve been taking lots of vitamins, so I’m hoping we’ll finally shake it for good this time. 

February and March seem to have traded places as far as what the weather is supposed to be like.  We had several beautiful, warm days in February.  Our daffodils and hyacinths bloomed.  It really seemed like winter was over, and spring had arrived early.  Nope.   March has been cold, rainy, and windy.  We’ve had some snow, and there’s more snow forecast for later this week.  We’re kind of at the point where it feels like winter is never going to end.  The daffodils and hyacinths are still holding on, so that’s a hopeful sign. 

We finally visited the North Carolina Arboretum on one of the nice Saturdays in February.  Nick had been before, but I hadn’t.  We had been talking about going for years, but just kept putting it off.  We finally picked a Saturday to go with our friend Alex.  We met Alex at the Farmer’s Market first, and spent some time walking around and perusing the booths there.  It’s still a little early for some things, but we bought some fresh produce and a few jams and sauces.  I absolutely love farmer’s markets and produce stands, so I always find something I just can’t live without. 

After the Farmer’s Market we had lunch and then headed to the Arboretum to walk around.  I wasn’t really sure what to expect, and honestly tried to keep my expectations pretty low so I wouldn’t be disappointed.  I was definitely not disappointed.  It’s huge!  There are so many different gardens, picnic areas, lots of walking paths, and more strenuous hiking trails.  We only had a few hours before dark, so we stayed off of the longer trails, and mostly stuck to the gardens and walking paths. 

Of course most things weren’t in bloom yet, but some of the trees and flowers had bloomed.  We saw some Royal Star Magnolias that were in bloom.  They were absolutely gorgeous!  I think I want to try planting one in our yard, despite my terrible track record with trees.  They’re gorgeous enough to make me want to try again.  Being there and seeing the gardens made me really want to get out in the yard and start planting things. 

I think it will be absolutely gorgeous at the Arboretum once spring is actually here and more of the flowers are in bloom.  We definitely want to go back.  I think it could be nice to take a picnic and spend the entire day there. 

I think that’s really the only interesting thing we’ve done for the past month.  Other than that it has mostly been work and just day to day chores.  I’m hoping we’ll be able to get out and do more once the weather stays nice for a while. 

So what about you?  What have you been up to for the past month?  Is it finally spring where you are?  Or is winter still holding on?

10 comments:

  1. We have another storm forecaast for tomorrow into Wednesday and again on the weekend. The calendar will say spring however. We have stayed indoors for most of the last month too; we don’t have to go out to work any more.

    Your visit looks and sounds wonderful. Before you know it, you will be able to go back!

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  2. I love magnolia trees! We don't see many around here. Winter is holding on here, but we've at least been catching some sunny days here and there, even though the wind is brutal.

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  3. I love walking around botanical gardens. Magnolia trees! How gorgeous. I know what you mean about the blogging blues. I'm in a trough too.

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  4. Yeah, February and March did kind of switch places. We've had a cold snap here, too. And I hear you about illness. I got my second bout last week (well, two weeks ago), and it's lingering...

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  5. Life happens! And now you have crocus. It's still cold here in Michigan. Go figure. Your field trips sound fun and it's good to catch up on all you are doing. Longing for spring.

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  6. Winter is still holding on here. That's fine by me, especially if it keeps bringing snow, which it has been doing.

    Since you want it though, I hope it warms up where you are soon. I also hope you guys stop passing that cold around, and can get to feeling better.

    Glad you got out for the day... Sounds like a lovely place to visit. Bet it will be even more lovely to visit in late Spring/early Summer.

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  7. Winter is still dragging on here in the UK. We're still getting some frost and snow, and lots of freezing wind. But the narcissi and crocuses are undeterred!

    The arboretum sounds great. No arboretum here in Belfast, but we have a lovely botanic garden close to the university. In summer it has a magnificent rose garden (I see the technical term is a rosarium)

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  8. It has been years since we have visited an arboretum. Nearest one is in Balboa Park in San Diego and it is lovely. We appear to be going from summer to summer here in Riverside county. Sigh. Beautiful post.

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  9. Hello! Busy here too, took a couple weeks off blogging myself. It is about to get cold again here. I am excited for Farmers market season here! My town has town has one that will start in May. https://westofthefifthmeridian.blogspot.ca/

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  10. Thank you for checking in! We love magnolias and dogwoods, and look forward to them blooming every spring. We're not quite there yet, though ... another snowstorm is supposed to come through tomorrow morning. Ugh.

    We are members at the NY Botanical Garden. It's such a nice place to visit, like it sounds like your arboretum is!

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