Taking in Life Around Me.....#Sundaystills : Spring Flowers

This #sundaystills challenge is hosted by Terri from Second Wind Leisure. It's a great themed photography challenge that you'll enjoy. I love seeing the other participants interpretation of the theme each week...it causes me to think outside the box. I joined in hopes of it pushing me to get out and take more photos...I have to some degree, but I also like that Terri is okay with us finding photos in our archives, which is also a lot of fun. So check out my photos and then head over to Terri's page to participate or visit other's posts. There are some awesome contributors who always inspire me.

First, I didn't get around to commenting from the week before last...or did I? I honestly can't remember. I better go check..either way, I'll catch up because I do want to see everyones posts. I HATE linking and failing to go around and comment, but sometimes I just struggle with it. So, I apologize.

This weeks theme is spring flowers. I LOVE all flowers, but there's something about spring. New green shoots are popping up from the ground, soon to become the leaves and stems of long awaited color. The trees start to bud and at the right moment, the flowers burst out of them. I find myself daily checking to see what's blooming. They don't last as long as I'd like, but I enjoy them while I can. I did take some random photos here and there, but I had so much fun at our local tulip fields, that is all I'm going to post. Enjoy. 

Last Tuesday, I left my house about 6:30 in the morning and headed down to our local bulb farm, Holland America Farms, to do two things, well, actually three, if you count freezing my behind off..it was very cold. Anyways, I went to try to photograph the sunrise, and take some pics of the tulips, before it got crowded. This local farm has been around since 1980. The owners immigrated here from Holland and are one of the kindest families. For many years the farm hosted a large festival and we loved going. I can't remember what year they stopped, but I was sad. They still had a show field and a self picking field, but even over the years, those have gotten smaller. Anyways. I got there, and there were two other ladies there, but plenty of room to wander and enjoy the flowers. I'm sure I'll go back at some point. 

Perhaps I'll try taking the grandkids to look around and take some pictures. It will all depend on the weather. I took so many pictures, I decided to use the collage option in picmonkey to reduce the number of pictures you had to scroll through. I'll probably post them all on FB tomorrow. 

I think one of the reasons tulips are one of my favorite is that there is such a large variety. Same with dahlias, my other flower favorite. 

The show field is in the foreground and the U-cut in the background. 

Some hadn't quite opened yet. 

It's fun to get different angles. One year I brought my lens ball to try to get some photos but had a hard time with it. Maybe I'll try again. 

I decided to have some fun with these last three photos and used the app Brushstroke to create a bit of "art" with them. 

We have driven down to Woodburn, Oregon to the Wooden Shoe festival, but it's quite a drive, and it's usually very crowded. I would LOVE to go up to the Skagit Valley fields, but that is even further and I'm sure just as crowded. 

In May, we have our local Hulda Klager Lilac Days, which is VERY popular with people all over. I'll probably go to that, though it too has gotten very crowded over the years. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin