Crazy Arkansas Weather

Not that I'm complaining, really I'm not (we're just thrilled not to be freezing anymore!), but this spring the weather has been so crazy here. Arkansas is well known for it's drastic changes in weather, hence the saying "if you don't like it, wait three days, it'll change". On Easter, we hit 92 degrees. We hadn't seen any rain in awhile, so it was "water the yard" time. Today, just two weeks later, it's only 48 out with a high of 57 and raining off and on. Now that's more like spring! Small wonder everyone stays sick though. Somehow, the plants seem to cope just fine. It certainly didn't hurt their blooming out. In our neighborhood there are a lot of dogwoods, redbuds, and other flowering bushes. So while Easter may have felt like mid-summer, it at least looked like the splendor of spring.

I almost waited too long to photograph the dogwoods, some of the flowers were already falling. The house has two small dogwoods on either side of the front walk, and one large dogwood on the property line. There are several redbuds, a giant one in the back, and one that's even larger on the side as well as some smaller ones in the front. The photos on the bottom row were taken on the street over from our house. The picture on the left was taken too early in the morning to tell, but the whole street is lined with pink and white dogwoods.

Tulip Thieves

This may sound really silly, but I am still really MAD about it. I'm thinking it could be a mixture of strange pregnancy hormones, my favorite flower being RED tulips, or a sense of feeling at home at our new place. I don't know, but at any rate, I am still upset! Yes, get ready for the crazy rant, because here it goes! The gentleman who owned the house before us did a lot of yardwork, he must have taken great joy from working outside gardening. He had bulbs planted all over the place, as well as some roses and various other beautiful plants. Since it's turned spring, it's been a constant surprise to see what else is going to pop up in the yard. My favorite has been the beautiful, large red tulips that came up at the corner of the house. Every day, we walk past them on the way to the car, and every day I don't have the heart to cut them. They open in the mornings, and close in the evenings. When the sun catches them, they are the most vibrant red, just gorgeous. It's really amazing how long a tulip's lifespan is also. That is, until someone CUTS them down! And TAKES them. So one day last week, I get home from work and look down at where the tulips SHOULD have been. Chopped off! Gone! As well as some other tulips from a small round bed. Neither of us could believe anyone would have the nerve to come THAT CLOSE to the house and cut the flowers. I'm thinking there has to be an explanation, maybe someone was confused and got the wrong house? Maybe someone had permission to cut years ago and doesn't realize that ended when the house sold? Maybe, some squirrel forgot his anniversary and decided to tempt fate by going in the cat's yard to steal her some flowers? I just hope whoever took them got as much enjoyment out of them as we did. Because if I ever catch them...