No Trespassing

I spotted the path on my work one day not long ago.... a woodsy drive alongside a private pond in Franklin Lakes, that looked like the road to somewhere beautiful and ethereal and magical. So, I took my camera with me to work yesterday, and on my way home, stopped along the side of the road to take photos. As soon as I started down the path, I noticed right away the 'No Trespassing' sign. Rats! But I also noticed something else... a 'For Sale' sign! That might mean that people could conceivably be driving down the drive to see the home for sale down at the end. So I hopped in my car, and slowly and carefully drove down the winding driveway to see what was at the end. The house for sale looked empty, and not particularly magical. But everything else about it was stunning- the views of the pond, complete with people's small docks, canoes, and backyards reflected in the water. But the flowers! Wow! Mostly shades of pink, and in full bloom, I just stopped every 25 feet or so to hop out and take more pictures. In addition to the pretty photos on my layout, I'll add a few more for good measure.

Skylands

A week ago Friday, Bruce and I drove to a heavenly spot, not far from our home. We intended to go to Ringwood State Park... a lovely mountainous area famous for its wilderness hiking trails. But instead, we ended up at the fabulous New Jersey Botanical Gardens at Skylands, which is technically part of the Ringwood State Park. What a gorgeous place! Incredible trees, flowers, ponds, gardens and meadows abound, and located in the gardens is the fabulous Skylands Manor.  The manor was built in the 1920s for Clarence McKensie Lewis, a wealthy stockbroker and civil engineer. We wandered around for a couple of hours, taking pictures, examining the flowers and gardens, and just enjoying the beauties of nature. It wasn't crowded at all, and we were able to take photos everywhere without having to wait for any annoying people to get out of the frame!  The sky was a deep blue, and there was so much color and rich textures everywhere, I just couldn't keep my shutter still!  I hope you enjoy my little layout, and a few other photos I took that day!

Happy Mother's Day

I really love Mother's Day. I was blessed to have an incredible Mother of my own- she's 101 and although we aren't celebrating together, we talked on the phone, and I'm going to FaceTime with her this evening. She's not only the best Mom ever, but she's cute too!  Here's the card I made her, and I'll tell you, the likeness of her is spot on! She looks like my sister, not my Mom!

I am awash in flowers! Bruce brought me two lovely arrangements home from his outings on Friday, and I received flowers from my Visiting Teachers at Church, and my darling son Ian and lovely daughter-in-law Jessica sent me a beautiful bouquet that just arrived at our door!

Thanks to my sweet kids who sent gifts and cards, (and flowers). I love you all sooooo much! (And miss you like crazy!)

Strawberry Festival

Bruce and I had a busy weekend... Fridays Toys R Us has summer hours with early release (yay for that!), so Bruce picked me up from work and we drove to the nearby New Jersey State Botanical Gardens Skylands, where we enjoyed a fabulous spring walk through the most incredible acreage imaginable.  I'll share those photos and layout with you very soon.  Saturday, we started early, and drove south and west to the New Jersey/ Pennsylvania line, to New Hope, and the Peddler's Village Strawberry Festival.  Part craft fair, part food festival, music festival, and general shopping extravaganza, the Strawberry Festival was packed with people, pets, and products. It was a gorgeous day, with a deep blue sky. The flowers were colorful, and there were lots of fun things to photograph. After the festival, we drove down the road a little, to the town of New Hope, PA, where we enjoyed their historic public library, wonderful old buildings, cute shops, and even a historic train. I'm sure we'll be coming back to New Hope for more adventures later this summer.

Click on the image for a closer view

Nature's Little Miracles

They seem like such small things.. tiny little leaves, small white buds, mild weather, blue skies, new grass, tree blossoms exploding from tiny little compact balls of petals.... but add them altogether and you see the miracle of Spring.

From some photos I took today and yesterday, beautiful things in my neck of the woods.

(Click on the image for a closer view)

Spring 2013

Spring certainly has arrived here in New Jersey. In the past two weeks, we have gone from blah to bloom, from gray to green, from monochrome to Kodachrome! (I must have missed my calling as a copywriter!)

I thought it might be fun to see just how many blooming photos I could put into one small 8" square layout.... and I managed to put in 16!  I hope you're impressed. (I was inspired by my own layout of the past, you can find it here)

I hope the weather is delightful wherever you live... I hear there are still parts of the midwest and Canada under inches of snow! But we had a long, long winter here, and I'm really happy to see the world come alive in such a spectacular way. I'm planning on taking lots of pictures as the weather gets warmer and the scenery gets greener and fuller.

You might recognize some of the images in my layout above, from my last post.
I'm glad you stopped by my blog today!

Midland Park Tulips

Our adopted hometown, Midland Park, NJ, was originally settled by Dutch immigrants, and still has a sizable group of descendants of those early settlers. There are a few little windmills around town, to give a little flavor of Holland. So, tulips abound! The bank next door to our apartment is awash in bright yellow and red tulips, and of course, I went out, camera in hand, to photograph them. This is the resulting layout!

I took lots more photos today, of different types of flowers and pretty Spring scenery. I hope you enjoy!

I love this house... note the adorable, bright colored balls hanging from the front porch!

Hard to believe just a week or two ago, there was absolutely NO green. Now, people are sunbathing in their yards!