In which we celebrate spring and a birthday and sunshine and flowers

Photobomb:  bald eagle, top left

 My birthday was last week, so we used that as an excuse to go visit the tulip fields up north of Haiku Farm.


It used to be that folks would pack a picnic lunch and take bicycles out on the rural roads to visit the various tulip farms and take photos of the pretty flowers.  

These days, the private growers have "no trespassing" signs on their fields, and the two largest growers have all but invited Disneyland to set up shop during the month of April: the formerly-humble tulip farms now offer gourmet ice cream, face painting, kite flying, and an indoor plant vendor.  The traffic (especially on weekends) is prohibitively scary for bicyclists.

But the flowers are still pretty. 

My parents met up with us for the day, and Mom and I walked around the big tulip fields, taking photos and talking.

The artist adds to her collection of inspiration.

 My mom is a watercolor artist; she started taking classes several years ago, and is amazingly talented.   

This was my birthday card:  my mom's flower picture!

 I fully expect to see a new batch of paintings featuring watercolor illustrations of tulips.  I can hardly wait.

 We messed around with wide-angles and close-ups.

Another photo-bomber: this time, a spider

 This lonely flower, off by itself

 reminded us of Twelve, who looks like the others but is distinctly individual in character.


Then we saw these rogue daffodils

Can flowers run away?  These daffs appear to be fleeing the captivity of the field

 on the edge of the tulip fields, evidently heading south without authorization.  Can plants migrate?  Hmmm.

 After the flowers,

the cake.


And (you know this, right?):  it was GOOD!