Spring Storms & Blooms

Cleveland, OH is the only place on earth where you can go from 87 degrees on Monday to 40 degrees by Thursday in one week.  

On Monday, it was sweltering hot and just trying to get through the task of mowing your lawn before you fainted, was tough.  By Wednesday, the weather changed, storms arrived, brought downpours of rain, and I had to put away the flip flops for more suitable footwear.  Yep, we live in Cleveland, OH and this happens all the time. The weather here is so unpredictable.  We’re used to it, but don’t like it.  It sucks.

Doesn’t the weather man or Mother Nature know that we are trying to start a garden over here?  Geez.  I had to head outside after dinner last night, and completed covered the entire garden with plastic to protect it from the bitter cold and high winds. The garden looks hideous right now, but at least it is covered up and the plants are protected.  Hopefully this will keep the soil warm a bit.  By the time I got inside, I was soaked and freezing.  My fingers felt like they were going to fall off from frost bite.  (not really, but that is what it felt like)  What we thought was amazing, is that our rain barrel has completely filled up from the rain we got this week.  The barrel is either a 50 or 55 gallon barrel and in just a few days of rain, it is overflowing!  We might need to check back with our neighbor to see if we can get a second barrel from him and use it as an overflow barrel.  With the rate at which the barrel filled up, we will have enough rain water to water the garden all season!  Nice!  Now, we can definitely see firsthand why everyone wants rain barrels!  Not to mention, rain water is so much better for your plants than the water coming from your hose.

I love photographing the sky.  The cloud formations lately have been stunning, yet quite eerie.  I can sometimes sit at the kitchen table and watch as the darkness rolls in and changes the skyline completely.  The way the skies looked this past week is like how they would look if we were expecting Halloween to arrive, not Spring.  But, what are you going to do?  Absolutely nothing, just bundle up.  I had to put on my Cleveland Browns hat and warm winter coat just to head outside with the dogs last night.

Earlier in the week, I got some great photographs of our Spring blooms. I have to capture them at just the right time for some stunning buds.  The fern stems are all unrolling, the marigolds are magnificent, the peonies are getting ready to open, and the smell of the neighbors lilac trees fill the air.

Our warmer weather won’t be returning until about Sunday, so I am just going to sit here next to my space heater and keep warm.  And just think, June is just around the corner and I have a winter coat back on!  Something is not right here.