SAKURA SAW...

One of the best things, no The Best Thing about my street is that it's lined with huge plum trees. Forget Japan! Each time I step out of my house or round the corner into my currently pink cloud of a street I can't help but gasp. There is a plum tree planted roughly every 20 paces (I paced it out especially for this post!) and they alternate between green leafed (light pink blossom) and dark red leaves (those have the big puffy pepto bismol pink blossoms) At the moment the lighter blossoms are out and the darker ones are budding nicely. It's like living in a fairytale make believe world - at night the blossoms glow in the light of the lamp posts. I wish the blossom could stay forever and that I could capture the magic of it more successfully for you.

Ah, spring...I can feel my bleakness thawing bud by bud. Winter: you did not succeed in killing me.

These blossoms are for Elizabeth* - sadly erstwhile Bluepoppette, but who continues to be a creatively prolific powerhouse while living with 3 feet of snow until May. She is the creator of Squam Art Workshops, now in its second year, which just looks absolutely amazing. Are any of you going? I mean, look at the place:

It would please me greatly if, when asked if I have any travel plans, I'd say, "Well yes, I just happen to be going to a really cool lakeside arts retreat by the White Mountains, how about you?"

I was thinking of going to the fall workshops in September which focus on writing and visual arts (and I'd better make a decision as the classes are getting really full, though there are still some spaces.) I was tempted by the spring workshops in June, which I bet will be buzzed about all over the craft-o-sphere (there are some really amazing teachers at both sessions - they even have Derek and Lauren from The Curiosity Shoppe teaching a workshop) but even though I think I'm so nifty with a needle, a retreat to play with words and art? I could really do with something like that.

*BP forever (waves flimsy homemade flag).