April ~ moments to remember

Where to start? We enjoyed the blooms of spring all month long...so I think I will begin and end with flowers!

One can never have too many tulip pictures! :) We had our own local tulip fields this year...

...and I went on several drive-bys with camera in hand phone in pocket!

Sis-in-law Martha came out from Kelowna for a visit...and that called for another trip to the tulip fields.  They are here only briefly...but make a lasting impression!  Until next year...

We had plenty of sunny days and foggy mornings...with this being my morning view from my pillow.

This was one 'morning view' we weren't real happy about!  It seemed someone decided to do donuts on our front lawn while we were sleeping.  They left their mark.

Besides the blooms...we have enjoyed the birds over here this spring as well.  Some more than others!  I'd be quite happy if the crows kept their distance.

Blackbirds have been singing 'in the dead of the night' at the first sign of dawn...and I've been rewarding them with treats.

The eagles usually leave for the summer months...but these four decided to stick around and watch while the first cut of grass was being harvested. 

Now for some 'personalia'!

Uncle Jake and Aunt Maggie celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.  And then they celebrated again at a surprise party earlier this month!  They are near and dear to me...and have been since that day 60 years ago when I was the wee flower girl.  I wish them many more wonderful years together!

And then there was the wedding of this lovely young couple.  They make the car look really old!  So glad we could share their special day with them.

Dad has been coming out to the farm several times a week this spring...to work in his shop.  He completed a few wooden bowls...like the ones he gifted his oldest two great-granddaughters.  Now he has moved on to another project.  Not bad for 93 years old!

Our Maggie has a soft spot in her heart for anyone who is hurting!  Her little lemonade stand raised a lot of money for Alzheimer's research and got the attention of the local media.  So proud of her!

We have a new community forest trail on the eastern hillsides just a few miles from 'my front porch'.  We decided to check it out a few weeks ago.  Beautiful!  The trail work is all being done by volunteers...and meanders through old growth forest and past babbling brooks.

I joined a busload of women on the annual 'Ritchie Smith Ladies Getaway' sponsored by our feed company. Destination?  Victoria.

Butchart Gardens have never looked so lovely!  (They got their own post right here.)

We happened to be in Victoria during a spring heat wave...when temperature records that had stood for over a century were falling.  It was the prefect weather for walking along the inner harbour.

So glad these two 'farm women' have connections to the same feed company!  We had such a fun time together.  Thanks for sharing your room with me, Lovella and Mary!

We enjoyed the ferry ride back to the mainland in the dining room on the Spirit of BC...where we had a lovely dinner and a ringside seat to the best scenery anywhere! 

Every trip seems to come with a little adventure...or should I say, misadventure?  We will never forget the bus ride back to the ferry...where the bus ran into mechanical problems and finally limped onto the ferry.  We made it across...and then bus rolled off the on other side.  But that was as far as it could go!  50 women sat on the causeway wondering how they would get home. Another bus was called out...and we all arrived home safe and sound.  Just a little later than planned!

On the farm...a new bunker silo was completed this month.

And then it was 'the hosting venue' for a hockey tournament by Ryder and his 10-year-old hockey friends.  And now...it is full to the brim of grass silage!

From the field to the bunker...next winter's feed for our dairy cattle.

Let me end this post with a few more of the blooms of April.

The irises have come and gone.  They came from my mother's garden originally...and I think of her every spring.  They used to bloom for Mother's Day...but have been several weeks early these past few years.  Did I mention that this was the warmest and driest April since the 1930's over here?

Never before have my hydrangeas bloomed in April! From now until fall...there will be hydrangeas to enjoy.

That was April through my lens!  Wishing you all a very merry month of May...