Lilacs Blooming at the Arboretum

Boston has received some much needed rain, relieving near drought conditions. Along with the rain, came great bursts of growth & blooms. Whatever was not already flowering, certainly is now.



I took a walk in the Arnold Arboretum, just after the rain. The lilacs are in full bloom, about three weeks ahead of time. Just to give you an idea, there are more than 375 lilac plants of 180 different kinds in the Arboretum’s collection.




Here are a few photos of that walk. But I would have to say that as beautiful as the flowers were, it was the smells that were the most amazing. The scents of all of the flowering trees & shrubs were simply intoxicating.




I loved that someone had made this dandelion chain & placed it over this sign.





If you happen to live in the Boston area, it is well worth a visit. You will not be disappointed!












I wish you all could smell these. It was really incredible! Happy Wednesday everyone!

Earth Day April 22

This weekend will celebrate the 42nd annual Earth Day. In commemoration I have borrowed some photos taken by my son, as he walked the Camino de Santiago.

Happy weekend & happy Earth Day everyone!

A great day for a bike ride!

Have a beautiful day, whatever you decide to do!

Pinterest

Oh dear, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time, this weekend, playing around with Pinterest, as if I needed, one more internet activity, to become addicted to. I am a little late in discovering this newest form of social media, so if you are already on Pinterest you will probably know what I mean. The best that I can tell , is that this site gives you cyber bulletin boards on which to pin all those favorite things one finds on the internet. You can create as many boards as you like & save all manner of things, 

like pretty images you love

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or recipes

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...or people you admire

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...or craft ideas you want to remember.

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When you pin something, the source link is automatically posted  for you, so that credit is given to the original creator.

It took me awhile to figure it all out, but once I did, it is actually very easy.

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I found some of the bloggers I love to follow & now I can save some of my favorite images from there posts

* & *

...& also from their Pinterest boards. Saving all of these images, inspirations & vintage photos, plus putting them into categories, is somehow right up my alley

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If you are already on Pinterest, I hope you will visit me there, & if you are not, perhaps you would be interested in it too.

But don't forget it can be addicting!

Update from Emily

A few weeks ago my granddaughter, Emily, did me the honor of being my Guest Blogger. She took this job very seriously & had a lot of fun in the process. We had hoped that she would have the chance to post another blog, but she is now, well into the spring sports season & no longer spends her half-day on Wednesdays with me.

She has asked me to thank all of the people, who left her comments.

She was so thrilled by the response she received.

It was a great learning experience for her. She looked at all of your blogs & marveled at all of the countries that you come from, Japan, France, Australia, Greece to name a few, as well as all over the United States.

She even had a surprise comment from one of her cousins.

Emily said to me,

" Nanny, now I understand why you are so addicted to blogging, everybody is SO nice!"

She is right of course. 

So... thank you from Emily..... 

....& from me too! I truly appreciate the kindness of everyone, that I have had the pleasure of meeting in this amazing world of blogging.

Happy Weekend

The photo below was taken twenty years ago in France. I had to scan the old snapshot, to get a digital image. Last summer I happened to drive by that same little country church, still sitting alone in the same untouched field, but of course the poppies were not in bloom then. 

I like to imagine that they are in bloom again now or that they will be very soon.

The rest of these photos I took last summer. I somehow thought, that they might speak to the celebrations of this weekend.

I hope, what ever you do, that it will be a happy one.

Happy springtime happy Easter!!

101 Photos for Press Freedom

I visited The Art Institute of Boston, part of Lesley College, this week, to view an exhibit of photographs entitled "101 Photos for Press Freedom". The show is a collection of outstanding examples of photojournalism by members of Magnum Photos. Founded in 1947, Magnum Photos is an organization of over 80 of the worlds most renowned press photographers.




According to co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually."




This exhibition has been put together, along with a book of the same name, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Reporters Without Borders, an international advocate group that promotes freedom of the press.




The photographs are simply displayed, reminding the viewer that although exhibited as art, these images also have another & perhaps higher purpose.




The collection, as a whole, tells a story of the world we live in, our cultural differences, our history, our collective memories. Many of the photographs are endearing glimpses of other worlds.




While others are violent, reminding us of the bravery of these photographers, putting themselves in harms way to capture images that would otherwise go unobserved by the world.




Many of the photographs are familiar, images we have seen before in news papers or magazines.




After viewing this exhibit, one can not help but come away with a renewed respect for photojournalism & the men & women of the profession, that bring the world to us.




These images tell the stories of our lives, & one is made aware of how lacking our lives would have been without them.