Got Spring?

I was chatting over the Scrabulous board with a L&TM5K reader of the Cleveland area this morning, and it seems that crappy late-winter weather has been wreaking all manner of havoc on that fair city. There has been a burst water main, traffic has come to a standstill, and many schools and offices shut down for the day on Wednesday. A snow day! In Cleveland! What a hoot.

Now, this time of year, it is usually my habit to write my good friends in Boston a nasty, gloating, upbeat little Email message about the glories of early spring, the joys of taking meals on the porch in one's shirtsleaves, how wonderful it is to feel the world come back to life in late February, and so on.

Alas, my seasonal good cheer this year has been dampened somewhat this week by a bad case of what I will, without going into unpleasant details, simply refer to as "the Festival of Vomiting." I probably deserved it. But, I managed to rise from my sickbed this morning for long enough to capture this small portfolio of Spring's arrival at Castle 5000. This one's going out to you, Boston! And Cleveland!

A variegated bloom on the Castle5000 camillia tree.

Sweet little purple primrose blooms in the side garden.

A neighbor's camellia tree gets carried away with the whole spring thing.

The first blossoming of trees over by the park. I saw them again six or seven hours later, and they were WAY more pink.

An odd little flower I like.

OK, that's all for me. I'm gonna go lie down.