The other night

We were leaving a party around dusk the other night, when we looked up and noticed that the sky was putting on quite a showy sunset.

To get a better view we walked the two blocks to the beach.

Where we stayed until the colors softened,

into a pink rosy glow that seemed to engulf us all in quiet,

until the moon rose over the dark sea.

Swamp tour

I had the lucky honor of being one of the parent chaperones selected to go on the first field trip of the year with Jasper's first grade class. We went to Cypress Gardens, a nature preserve outside of Charleston, which was fun to discover as we had not visited it yet...and we'll definitely go back as a family!
The first thing that we did upon arrival was take a swamp tour by boat. I would not say that swamps have been big on my list of beautiful places, in my mind I think of swamps as being buggy, boggy, and stale. All of my ideas about swamps were proved wrong on this tour,

Out on the water at 9am in the swamp there was life all around us, dragonflies and butterflies flitted about, birds soared over head, the inky black water was glassy still, there were no other bugs to speak of except for gigantic spiders weaving huge webs between some of the trees. Our guide explained that the blackness of the water comes from an algae that grows in swamps, this algae eats mosquito larvae, keeping the swamp mosquito free. The Cypress trees growing out of the water also secrete a sap that kills biting insects.

As our guide paddled our small boat through the water he pointed out the heads of mostly submerged shy alligators, only their eyes and the tips of their noses were visible. They were so hidden that I could not even get a good picture of them as they quickly vanished into the water once we got too close.

We were told that the most romantic scene in the movie The Notebook was filmed in this swamp, I think that even the boat full of first graders felt the romance of the spot, how could you not?

My favorite part were the water lilies that bloomed in vast stands on the water, they seemed to be everywhere, and at one point our guide picked one and passed it around our boat so that we could all have a chance to smell it. I had never smelled a water lily and had no idea that they smell so divine, sort of like Jasmine.

Circle of love

The other day, on a family bike ride, we happened up a sacred scene in a park by the sea. There were flowers carefully arranged in a long patterned pathway, ending in a flower circle on the spot where quite clearly there had been a marriage ceremony either that morning or the day before. The petals were fresh and beautiful in pinks, yellows and creams, they were all that remained of what must have been a stunning affair. The space still felt like it held the solemnity of the event.

We stood in a circle of four at the end of the aisle, gazing out from that spot across the ocean, and it really seemed the perfect place to be surrounded by a circle of flowers and love.

Our perfect day

Last Friday Carys and I had a day that was as close to perfect as possible, what a glorious time we had! We were up early after enjoying watching the royal wedding live, I think I was even on a bit of a "royal wedding high", it was such a beautiful event! We headed out to meet my cousin and her daughter at a pretty park in a very old part of Brooklyn called Cobble Hill,

The sun was shining brilliantly and it seemed as if everything was in bloom! After a tasty lunch at a cute cafe Carys and I began a long three mile walk back home through Brooklyn, it was the perfect day for a long walk, with many people out enjoying the spring weather, along quaint old Brooklyn streets full of history,

We walked down mostly tree covered, brownstone building lined sidewalks, with pretty iron work and blossoms at our feet,

Crossing some broad avenues,

Until we came to one of my favorite spots, tucked away right off of the grandeur of Grand Army Plaza with its impressive arch and statues,

There is this group of Cherry Trees that I have visited over the years and it was in riotous perfect full bloom,

Underneath the trees we enjoyed a fairyland,

Soft pink blossoms were everywhere, enough on the ground to gather bouquets to dance around with, Carys was in heaven!

 After having our fill of frolicking for a while under the trees, we walked into the park, through an old tunnel that leads out into the Great Meadow of Prospect Park,

At the end of the tunnel there was a man playing a saxophone,

Those rich sounds filled the air and mingled with the sound of a ukulele, that was being played by a man leaning against a tree further down the path. He was playing the IZ version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, one of my all time favorite songs that sings to my soul,

We wandered out into the meadow and layed down, there were kids playing games, off in the distance we saw some people we know, there were kites flying, and the sun felt so good. The beauty of it all filled us up and spilled over,

 Oh Brooklyn, my Brooklyn, when you are beautiful you just knock me over.

*The perfect day ended with a glass of wine and a surprise dinner of salmon that Frank had ready when we arrived home, which of course made it extra perfect.

Mountain Weekend

We spent this past weekend visiting friends who recently moved out of New York City to the sweet hippie town of Woodstock, nestled in the Catskill Mountians of New York State. After driving out of the city in traffic the night before it was such a pleasure to wake up to the quiet of day break in the woods on Saturday morning,

and the calm of beautiful asian details through out their home....

We had the most magical weekend with sunny perfect weather as the icing on the cake. We feasted on food that we bought at farm stands,

Hiked a trail called "Poet's Walk",

Stopping at this mysterious structure that seemed almost to have grown in that spot,

We enjoyed the bits of foliage that were still changing color,

Meeting some wildlife along the way, my "animal whisperer" boy's favorite part!

My favorite part, truly, had to be the huge bonfire that we made on Saturday night. It felt powerful, wild and dreamy...that's just how bonfires make me feel, especially when I can look up and see a sky full of stars. It really was the best way to finish off a perfect time spent with friends.